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Human Geography Undergraduate Certificate
Human geography, the study of human interactions across space, is vital to helping students understand the world by locating their lives within and across space and place. This 12-credit certificate will engage students with contemporary national and global issues as they locate patterns and processes of human-created change in local, regional, and global environments. Through courses for the certificate in human geography, students will understand and be able to articulate: why location matters to agricultural land use, industrial development, and urban design; the reasons for population growth and international migration; the consequences of economic development; the impacts of technological innovation, communication and industrialization; and other aspects of human life such as struggles over political power and control of territory that amplifies the inequalities between developed and developing economies.
WHAT IS Human Geography?
Human Geography is one of four key sub-disciplines within geography (along with physical geography, environment-society geography, and geographic information science). Human geographers explore questions about our human worlds, including political, economic, cultural, and urban dimensions of society, space, and place. Human geographers use qualitative and quantitative analytical techniques to understand patterns and processes of land use, industrial and economic development, urbanization, population and migration, territorial control, political power, and social identities that constitute and influence our increasingly globalized world.
Careers
Students earning the Human Geography certificate learn a wide range of critical thinking, research, and analytical skills that are highly valued by employers. Students with backgrounds in human geography find jobs in all levels of government, nonprofit organizations, and in industry.
Where Our Graduates Find Jobs
- American Red Cross
- Amnesty International
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Heifer International
- National Geographic Society
- National Park Service
- Teach for America
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- U.S. State Department
- World Bank
- Local, regional, and state planning agencies
- Environmental and engineering consulting firms
- Policy research institutes
- Private corporations
- Humanitarian organizations
Student Clubs and Organizations
- EcoAction
- Student Clubs and Groups
- Supporting Women in Geography (SWIG)
- UnderDoGS (Undergraduate Students in the Department of Geography)
- Gamma Theta Upsilon Honor Society (Geography honor society)