Department of Geography and Environment (GRAD)

The graduate program of the Department of Geography and Environment aims to produce leading scholars and practitioners who will make vital contributions to contemporary geographical, social, and environmental knowledge, research, teaching, and institutions. The department approaches this goal by creating an environment in which exceptional Ph.D. and M.A. students can draw on the strengths of faculty and research centers to develop and sharpen their own research interests, capabilities, and programs around critical geographical problems. The graduate curriculum is designed to promote a broad sense of the geographical tradition in its evolving relationship with other sciences, social sciences, and humanities disciplines, and to provide a disciplinary and interdisciplinary platform for more specialized scientific and scholarly investigation.

The program offers opportunities for graduate students with diverse backgrounds and goals to receive training in varied and integrated aspects of the discipline and to work directly with faculty members on specific research projects. Master's and doctoral degrees are offered, but the programmatic focus is on the doctoral degree. As much as possible, all programs are tailored to the needs and interests of the individual student. The student's academic advisor and committee members have prime responsibility for developing, with the student, an appropriate course sequence and research program and for providing mentoring of the student. The program aims to foster maximum flexibility for individuals while ensuring a uniformly high standard of geographical training for all graduate students. Graduate students work closely with research centers and programs related to their interests, including the Carolina Population Center, the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science, the Institute for the Study of the Americas (UNC–Chapel Hill and Duke University), the Center for the Study of the American South, the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, the Southeast Regional Climate Center, the Sheps Center for Health Services Research, the Curriculum in Ecology, the Center for Urban and Regional Studies, the Curriculum in Environment and Ecology, and UNC–Chapel Hill's schools of public health and medicine. Up-to-date lists of geography faculty members and courses, along with additional information about the graduate program, faculty research projects, and other information are available on the department's website. Students build strong research, teaching, and professional skills with emphases on data analysis, project design and management, and oral and written communication that prepare them for careers at universities and in public and private sectors.

A large proportion of graduate students receive financial assistance. Sources of aid include teaching assistantships and work on sponsored research projects within the department, University-wide competitive assistantships, nonservice fellowships and merit scholarships, and externally awarded fellowships.

The department occupies the top two floors of Carolina Hall and has access to extensive computational laboratories needed to fulfill its research and teaching mission, with specialized facilities dedicated to spatial analysis and the use of geographic information systems. A range of geographic data sets is readily available. An extensive collection of geographic books and periodicals, including an exceptionally strong collection of foreign periodicals, is held in the nearby Davis Library, while Wilson Library houses a large map collection.

The Department of Geography and Environment offers advanced programs leading to the master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees. While both the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees are offered, the major emphasis of the program is on the Ph.D., even for those not yet possessing an M.A. Incoming students are roughly evenly mixed between those with and without a master's degree.

All graduate students are required to complete three core courses (GEOG 702, GEOG 703, and GEOG 704) presenting the foundations of geographical theory, communication, and research. Thereafter, the program of study is flexible and tailored to the needs of the individual student. Students select the appropriate coursework and dissertation topic in consultation with their advisor and dissertation/thesis committee.

The Department of Geography and Environment has faculty strength in five overlapping areas of concentration. These represent coherent foci and areas of active faculty research, not mutually exclusive categories. Indeed, many students and faculty members work on projects that span more than one area. So, while intensive training is offered in a number of diverse areas, the program is noted for its integrative and cross-cutting approaches. The department's diverse graduate students are pursuing a wide variety of research at UNC–Chapel Hill.

Departmental research specializations include

Biophysical Geography and Earth Systems Science. UNC–Chapel Hill geographers examine the biophysical environment as an integrated system, emphasizing the linkages and feedbacks between terrestrial and atmospheric form and function. The focus is on the interactions between the structure and composition of the earth's surface, its soils and vegetation, and the atmosphere with those processes that actively cycle energy and material through them.

Culture, Society, and Space. UNC–Chapel Hill geographers investigate the intersection of space, place, landscape, and region with social and cultural processes, including issues of identity and representation, spatio-temporalities of social belonging and exclusion, and the production and circulation of value and values. This work encompasses a diversity of methodological approaches, scales, and concerns, from urban dynamics and symbolic spaces to rural landscapes, agrarian and industrial change, and social geographies of race, class, gender, health, and religion.

Geographic Information and Analysis. UNC–Chapel Hill geographers apply geographic information sciences as an integrated set of spatial digital technologies to investigate biophysical and social phenomena. They use and develop tools, techniques, concepts, and data sets associated with geographic information systems, remote sensing, data visualization, global positioning systems, spatial analysis, and quantitative methods.

Globalization and International Development. UNC–Chapel Hill geographers study the consequences of processes of globalization (and the anti-globalization and global justice movements they stimulate); international development and its effects on the geographies of international and local capital, labor, technology, information, goods and services; postsocialism, political economy, political geography and geopolitics, and political ecology.

Nature-Society Studies and Human-Environment Interactions. Drawing on analytical and theoretical perspectives from ecology, socioecological systems, political ecology, science studies, and cultural studies, UNC–Chapel Hill geographers investigate the social contexts, drivers, and consequences of environmental change and struggles over land use and resources.

Following the faculty member's name is a section number that students should use when registering for independent studies, reading, research, and thesis and dissertation courses with that particular professor.

Professors

Shorna Allred (52), Environmental Justice, Conservation Social Science, Conservation and Land-Use Decision-Making, Global Sustainability, Community Resilience, Southeast Asia and U.S. South
Michael Emch (29), Medical Geography, Spatial Epidemiology, Health and Environment, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing
Banu Gökariksel (28), Urban, Cultural, and Feminist Geography; Social Theory; Globalization and Modernity; the Middle East and Southeast Asia
Clark Gray (35), Population, Environment and Development; Survey and Statistical Methods
Elizabeth Havice (36), Political Economy and Ecology, International Development, Commodity Studies, Environmental Politics, Trade Politics, Fisheries Systems
Scott L. Kirsch (23), Historical, Cultural, and Political Geography; Science and Technology Studies
Charles E. Konrad (16), Synoptic Climatology and Meteorology
Elizabeth Olson (41), Critical Health Geography, Care Ethics, Child and Youth Geography, Inequality
Sara Smith (33), Political and Social Geography, Nationalism, Health, South Asia
Conghe Song (24), GIS, Remote Sensing, Earth Systems
Gabriela Valdivia (32), Political Ecology and Resource Geography, Extractive Economies, Indigenous Communities, Latin America
Erika Wise (34), Dendrochronology, Climatology, Water Resources

Associate Professors

Javier Arce-Nazario (43), Landscape History, GIS-Remote Sensing, Translational Geoscience, Critical Physical Geography, Water and Sustainability
Paul L. Delamater (44), Health and Medical Geography, Access to Healthcare Policy, Spatial Analysis, GIS
Christian Lentz (39), Development, State Formation, Nationalism, Nature-Society Relations, Agrarian Studies, Southeast Asia
Nina Martin (31), Urban, Economic, and Migration Geography; Globalization and Urban Change; Urban Planning and Policy; Civil Society
Aaron Moody (18), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Biogeography
Diego Riveros-Iregui (42), Ecohydrology, Watershed Hydrology, Biogeochemistry, Land-Atmosphere Interactions, Tropical Hydrology, Climate and Land Use Cover Change
Chérie Rivers (47), Black Geographies, Decolonial Praxes, Indigeneity and Sustainable Farming, Black Atlantic World

Assistant Professors

Amanda Gay DelVecchia (49), Freshwater Ecology, Biogeochemistry, Watershed Science, Groundwater – Surface Water Exchange
Ruth Matamoreos-Mercado (50), Land, Critical Indigenous Geographies, Moskitia, and Central America
Danielle Purifoy (48), Black Geographies, Environmental Justice, Uneven Development, U.S. South
Paul Taillie (50), Wildlife Conservation, Vertebrate Community Ecology, Global Change, and Remote Sensing

Adjunct Faculty

Angel Hsu (Department of Public Policy), Data Science, Environmental Justice, Urban Heat Island, Climate Change
Pamela Jagger (University of Michigan), Energy, Livelihoods, Poverty, Forest Economics and Policy, and Human-Environment Interactions
Carlos Mena (Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador), GIS, Latin America, Population and Environment, Remote Sensing, Dynamic Modeling
Dinesh Paudel (Appalachian State University), Sustainability, Community Forestry, Development, Disaster Recovery and Resilience
Tamlin Pavelsky (Department of Earth, Environment, and Marine Sciences), Hydrology, Remote Sensing, Climate Change
Diego Quiroga (Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador), Environmental Life and Sciences
Elizabeth Shapiro (Duke University), Market-Based Environmental Initiatives and Policies in Latin America
Andres Vina (Michigan State University), Environmental Change, Biophysical Properties of Vegetation, Human-Environment Interactions
Colin West (Department of Anthropology), Human Ecology, Households, Global Change, West Africa, GIS, Remote Sensing, Agent-Based Modeling

Professors Emeriti

Stephen S. Birdsall
John W. Florin
Wilbert M. Gesler
Richard J. Kopec

John Pickles
Peter J. Robinson
Stephen J. Walsh
Thomas M. Whitmore

GEOG

Advanced Undergraduate and Graduate-level Courses

GEOG 406.  Atmospheric Processes II.  4 Credits.  

Principles of analysis of the atmosphere are applied to the analysis of environmental phenomena. The link between the atmosphere and other environmental compartments is explored through environmental case studies.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENEC 406.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 410.  Modeling of Environmental Systems.  3 Credits.  

Uses systems theory and computer models to understand ecosystem energy and matter flows, such as energy flow in food webs, terrestrial ecosystem evapotranspiration and productivity, related to climate, vegetation, soils, and hydrology across a range of spatial and temporal scales.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-NATSCI or FC-QUANT.
Making Connections Gen Ed: QI.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 412.  Synoptic Meteorology.  3 Credits.  

An analysis of synoptic weather patterns and the processes responsible for them. Climatological aspects of these weather patterns are emphasized. (EES)

Rules & Requirements  
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 110 or 111.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 414.  Climate Change.  3 Credits.  

An investigation of the scientific basis of climate change (past, present, and future), the current state of knowledge concerning future projections, and the implications of climate change for society and the environment.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-NATSCI, RESEARCH.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 415.  Communicating Important Ideas.  3 Credits.  

This hands-on course will set you on a path towards making a positive difference in the world through effective communication of ideas that are important to you. Emphasis will be on practical skills in listening, clarifying your message, having a narrative focus, creating effective graphics, giving engaging oral and poster presentations, social media use, communication with journalists, operating in the judicial and political arenas, and community outreach and public talks.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: CI.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 416.  Applied Climatology: The Impacts of Climate and Weather on Environmental and Social Systems.  3 Credits.  

Applied climatology involves the interdisciplinary application of climate data and techniques to solve a wide range of societal and environmental problems. This projects-based course investigates how climate impacts a range of sectors, including water resources, urban environments, ecosystems, and human health.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-NATSCI, RESEARCH, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: PL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 419.  Field Methods in Physical Geography.  3 Credits.  

Involves evaluation of landscapes by examining nature and biophysical elements influencing landscape form and function. Course emphasizes data collection, analysis, and interpretation using GIS and field methods. (EES)

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Field Work.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 423.  Social Geography.  3 Credits.  

A study of the spatial components of current social problems, such as poverty, race relations, environmental deterioration and pollution, and crime. (GHA)

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 424.  Geographies of Religion.  3 Credits.  

This course considers the theoretical and empirical dimensions of religion from a geographical perspective. The course introduces the key theories linking space, place, and religion and helps students apply these new theoretical tools to examine some of the pressing issues in the contemporary study of religion.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections Gen Ed: CI, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 428.  Global Cities: Space, Power, and Identity in the Built Environment.  3 Credits.  

This course addresses questions of power, politics, and identity in the urban environment, with a focus on the emergence of key selected global cities and the processes that both created them historically and which are currently transforming them locally and globally.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-VALUES, RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, GL.  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit. 6 total credits. 2 total completions.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: PLAN 428.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 429.  Urban Political Geography: Durham, NC.  3 Credits.  

An interdisciplinary exploration of urban social problems, bridging the literature on urban geography with that on urban politics. Students will be required to complete 30 hours of service for an organization that works on an urban social issue.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-POWER or FC-VALUES, RESEARCH, HI-SERVICE.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, EE- Service Learning.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 430.  Global Migrations, Local Impacts: Urbanization and Migration in the United States.  3 Credits.  

This course explores the relationship between patterns of urban development in the United States and migration, in both historical and contemporary contexts.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 435.  Global Environmental Justice.  3 Credits.  

This advanced course brings geographical perspectives on place, space, scale, and environmental change to the study of environmental justice. In lectures, texts, and research projects, students examine environmental concerns as they intersect with racial, economic and political differences. Topics include environmental policy processes, environmental justice movements, environmental health risks, conservation, urban environments, and the role of science in environmental politics and justice. (GHA)

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-POWER, RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 436.  Governance, Institutions, and Global Environmental Change.  3 Credits.  

Interdisciplinary course for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Focuses on multiscale environmental issues and related social, institutional, governance, and policy challenges. Examines key concepts and theories involving global environmental change and problem-solving efforts.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 437.  Social Vulnerability to Climate Change.  3 Credits.  

How does climate change affect vulnerable human populations? We will attempt to answer a shared research question on this topic by reading the peer-reviewed literature and by conducting a semester-long data analysis project incorporating social and climate data from around the world. This is a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE).

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL, RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Mentored Research, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENEC 437.  
GEOG 440.  Earth Surface Processes.  3 Credits.  

This course will focus on the processes of soil formation, erosion, and landform evolution with an emphasis on the interaction of geomorphic processes with surface hydrology and ecosystems. (EES) Course previously offered as GEOL 502.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: PL.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 110.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: EMES 502.  
GEOG 441.  Introduction to Watershed Systems.  3 Credits.  

Introduction to hydrologic and geomorphic processes in watersheds as applied to problems in flood analysis, water quality, and interactions of hydrology and environmental sciences. Drainage networks, nested catchments, and distribution and controls of precipitation, evaporation, runoff, and groundwater flow. Includes local field trips. (EES)

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: PL, EE- Field Work.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, ENEC 202 or GEOG 110; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 442.  River Processes.  3 Credits.  

Introduction to landforms and processes associated with flowing water at the earth's surface. Hydrology, sedimentology, and theories of channel formation and drainage basin evolution. (ESS)

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 444.  Landscape Biogeography.  3 Credits.  

This course is concerned with the application of biogeographical principles and techniques to the study of natural and human-modified landscapes. It includes local and extraregional case studies. (EES)

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 446.  Geography of Health Care Delivery.  3 Credits.  

This course examines the role that geography plays in shaping how people interact with the health care system. Topics include health care delivery system types, facility and personnel distributions, access to care, health care utilization, as well as GIS, spatial analysis, and decision support systems.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 447.  Gender, Space, and Place in the Middle East.  3 Credits.  

Examines gender, space, and place relationships in the modern Middle East. Investigates shifting gender geographies of colonialism, nationalism, modernization, and globalization in this region. (GHA)

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ASIA 447, WGST 447.  
GEOG 448.  Transnational Geographies of Muslim Societies.  3 Credits.  

Examines modern Muslim geographies that are created by transnational flows, connections, and imaginaries that cross national and regional boundaries across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and beyond.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 451.  Population, Development, and the Environment.  3 Credits.  

Introduction to contemporary and historical changes in human population, international development, and the global environment and how these processes interact, drawing on population geography as an organizing framework. Previously offered as GEOG 450.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: ENEC 451.  
GEOG 452.  Mobile Geographies: The Political Economy of Migration.  3 Credits.  

This course explores the contemporary experience of migrants. Various theoretical approaches are introduced, with the emphasis on a political-economic approach. (GHA)

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Field Work, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 453.  Political Geography.  3 Credits.  

The geography of politics is explored at the global, the nation-state, and the local scale in separate course units, but the interconnections between these geographical scales are emphasized throughout. (GHA)

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: PWAD 453.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 456.  Geovisualizing Change.  3 Credits.  

This course investigates the challenges, tools and techniques, and important applications of visualizing and analyzing geographic data that is temporally dynamic. We tackle technical challenges in obtaining, analyzing, and visualizing dynamic processes in space though maps, and discuss the consequences of our choices in how to re/present these processes. Students will produce original geovisualizations of dynamic data related to their field. Recommended preparation: experience with GIS software (GEOG 370 or GEOG 491).

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-QUANT.
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 457.  Rural Latin America: Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources.  3 Credits.  

This course explores a systems and cultural-ecological view of agriculture, environment, natural resource, and rural development issues in Latin America. It serves as a complement to GEOG 458 Urban Latin America. (Regional) Honors version available.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-CREATE or FC-POWER, RESEARCH.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 458.  Urban Latin America: Politics, Economy, and Society.  3 Credits.  

This course examines urban social issues in contemporary Latin America. Cities and their residents will be considered in relation to each other and to North American examples. (Regional)

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: BN.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 259; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 460.  Geographies of Economic Change.  3 Credits.  

This course is designed to explore changing geographies of production and consumption in theory and in practice.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-KNOWING, RESEARCH.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 464.  Europe Today: Transnationalism, Globalisms, and the Geographies of Pan-Europe.  3 Credits.  

A survey by topic and country of Europe west of Russia. Those features that make Europe a distinct and important region today are emphasized. (Regional)

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 468.  Environmental Justice in Urban Europe.  3 Credits.  

While much attention has been given to Europe's "green" cities and the region's examples of sustainable development, less attention has been given to the ways in which the uneven distributions of environmental degradation have social and spatial ramifications within and beyond the region. This course will provide an overview of environmental justice in urban Europe to consider the key concepts, topics, debates, and trends shaping people and places there.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: NA.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 470.  Political Ecology: Geographical Perspectives.  3 Credits.  

Examines foundational concepts and methods and their relevance for understanding nature-society relationships. Discussions on environmental change and conflict and how nature is bound up with relations of power and constructions of identity.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-POWER, RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 477.  Introduction to Remote Sensing of the Environment.  3 Credits.  

Covers fundamental theory and mechanics of remote sensing, related theoretical aspects of radiation and the environment, and remote-sensing applications relating to terrestrial, atmospheric, and marine environments. Hands-on experience for application and information extraction from satellite-based imagery through biweekly laboratory assignments. Prepares students for GEOG 577. (GISc)

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-QUANT.
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 480.  Liberation Geographies: The Place, Politics, and Practice of Resistance.  3 Credits.  

An examination of the theory and history of resistance in the modern world, including instances of contestation from 'foot dragging' to the formation of social movements, and exploring the relationship between place and protest.

Rules & Requirements  
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, GL.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 491.  Introduction to GIS.  3 Credits.  

Stresses the spatial analysis and modeling capabilities of organizing data within a geographic information system. (GISci)

Rules & Requirements  
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
Same as: PLAN 491.  
GEOG 492.  Radical Black Thought.  3 Credits.  

The premise of this course is that the possibilities articulated by radical Black intellectuals and artists in Africa and its diaspora are key to dismantling systems of oppression. It includes theories of unfreedoms derived from experiences of oppression-colonization, slavery, mass incarceration, racial inequity. It also examines radical Black responses to unfreedoms through practices of mental (de)colonization and moral courage, epistemology and pedagogy, human-earth relationships and environmental justice.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 493.  Internship.  3 Credits.  

Open to junior and senior geography majors. Geography internships combine substantive geographic work experience with an academic project designed to integrate theory and practice. Field work is included.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: HI-INTERN.
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Academic Internship.  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit. 6 total credits. 2 total completions.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 541.  GIS in Public Health.  3 Credits.  

Explores theory and application of geographic information systems (GIS) for public health. The course includes an overview of the principles of GIS in public health and practical experience in its use. (GISci)

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 542.  Neighborhoods and Health.  3 Credits.  

This course explores how neighborhood context influences the health of the populations living in them. It includes a survey of neighborhoods and health theory and empirical examples. (GHA)

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 543.  Qualitative Methods in Geography.  3 Credits.  

This course teaches qualitative methods in geography for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. We will cover interviews, focus groups, visual, and other methodologies. We will also discuss modes of analysis, coding, and writing up qualitative research for publication.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, CI.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 544.  Geographic Information Systems for Impact Evaluation and Health Studies.  3 Credits.  

Examines the theory and application of geographic information systems (GIS) for impact evaluation for intervention studies. The course will focus especially on health and economic interventions in the developing world. The course includes an overview of the principles of GIS in impact evaluation and practical experience in its use.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 555.  Cartography of the Global South.  3 Credits.  

This course presents cartographic techniques for better map design, with a focus on mapping the geographies of the Global South. Modern techniques and software will be used for developing and demonstrating proficiency in what are considered standard map design techniques, and we will also study examples from places and map makers outside of dominant cartographic traditions, and maps meant for actors and audiences in the Global South.

Rules & Requirements  
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 567.  Geospatial Data Analysis with Google Earth Engine.  3 Credits.  

This course teaches students key concepts and skills for geospatial data analysis using the rich geospatial data resources, tools, and cloud computing facility on Google Earth Engine for environmental monitoring, mapping, modeling, and visualization. The course will enable students to pursue geospatial data analysis ranging from local to global scales to extract critical information for scientific understanding of the environment and for making science-based policies to address the environmental challenges we face today.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-NATSCI or FC-QUANT, RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: PL, QI.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370; Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 577.  Advanced Remote Sensing.  3 Credits.  

Acquisition, processing, and analysis of satellite digital data for the mapping and characterization of land cover types. (GISci)

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-QUANT.
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370 or 477.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 591.  Applied Issues in Geographic Information Systems.  3 Credits.  

Applied issues in the use of geographic information systems in terrain analysis, medical geography, biophysical analysis, and population geography. (GISci)

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-QUANT.
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370, 491, or equivalent.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 592.  Geographic Information Science Programming.  3 Credits.  

This course will teach students the elements of GISci software development using major GIS platforms. Students will modularly build a series of applications through the term, culminating in an integrated GIS applications program.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-QUANT.
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370 or 491.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 594.  Global Positioning Systems and Applications.  3 Credits.  

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) fundamental theory, application design, post processing, integration of GPS data into GIS and GPS application examples (such as public health, business, etc.) will be introduced.

Rules & Requirements  
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 597.  Ecological Modeling.  3 Credits.  

This course focuses on modeling the terrestrial forest ecosystems processes, including population dynamics, energy, water, nutrients, and carbon flow through the ecosystem. (GISci)

Rules & Requirements  
Requisites: Prerequisite, BIOL 561 or STOR 455; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 598.  GIS and Systems Modeling.  3 Credits.  

GIS and Systems Modeling are theory and methodology that use GIS, quantitative models, and systems analysis to describe processes, interactions, and feedbacks in complex systems. Simulation experiments of systems models can be used as a "laboratory" to answer many "what if" questions, which can be used for the evaluation of policies and scenarios.

Rules & Requirements  
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 370 or 491.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 650.  Technology and Democracy Research.  3 Credits.  

Are technological choices open to democratic participation? Through a novel research workshop format, this graduate and undergraduate course explores political and geographical dimensions of technological change around key environmental issues--energy, water, and waste.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: HI-SERVICE.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, CI, EE- Service Learning.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 691H.  Honors.  3 Credits.  

By permission of the department. Required of all students aspiring to honors in geography. Directed readings, research, and writing.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Mentored Research.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 692H.  Honors.  3 Credits.  

Required of all students aspiring to honors in geography. Preparation of a senior thesis.

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: RESEARCH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: EE- Mentored Research.  
Requisites: Prerequisite, GEOG 691H.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
IDEAs in Action General Education logoGEOG 697.  Capstone Seminar in Geographic Research.  3 Credits.  

A systematic study of the approaches, key concepts, and methods of geography, emphasizing the application of these approaches through hands-on independent research designed and implemented by the students. (Core)

Rules & Requirements  
IDEAs in Action General Education logo IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-KNOWING, RESEARCH.
Grading Status: Letter grade.  

Graduate-level Courses

GEOG 702.  Contemporary Geographic Thought.  3 Credits.  

History and philosophy of the geographic discipline, with particular emphasis on developments in recent decades.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 703.  Geographic Research Design.  3 Credits.  

Introduction to the theory and practice of geographic research. The range of methods available for problem identification and solution are considered through development of specific research proposals.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 704.  Communicating Geography.  3 Credits.  

Seminar introduces new students to current geographic sub-disciplines, faculty research interests and areas of expertise within the Department, and university resources. In this required core course in Geography's graduate curriculum, students also engage with issues of communication, professionalization, and career development in Geography and related fields.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 705.  Advanced Quantitative Methods in Geography.  3 Credits.  

Application of selected multivariate statistical techniques to the analysis of geographic phenomena and problems.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 706.  Demographic Methods.  3 Credits.  

This is an introductory course in demographic research methods. Common methods for measuring demographic indicators (fertility, mortality, migration, population growth, and marriage) will be presented.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 710.  Advanced Physical Geography - Biogeoscience.  3 Credits.  

Examination of the major processes controlling environmental cycling of material and energy at the landscape level, and development of a quantitative understanding of the physical and ecosystem processes responsible for landscape pattern and evolution.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 711.  Advanced Physical Geography - Hydroclimatology and Bioclimatology.  3 Credits.  

Examination of topics focused on the atmospheric and the vegetation and land surface parts of the hydrologic cycle at the micro to global spatial scale and short-term to millennial temporal scale.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 715.  715 Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics and Human-Environment Interaction.  3 Credits.  

Examination of topics that integrate social, natural, and spatial sciences within the context of human-environment interactions, with an emphasis on landuse/landcover dynamics and spatial digital technologies for linking landscape form and function.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 720.  Cultural and Political Ecology.  3 Credits.  

This course examines the foundations and current literature on cultural and political ecology. Focus is given to the appropriation of "Nature," degradation and deforestation, conservation, famine, postcolonial peasants, resistance, Indigeneit, and property, land distribution, and governmentality.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 760.  Geographies of Economic Change.  3 Credits.  

This course is designed to explore changing geographies of production and consumption in theory and in practice.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 790.  Spatial Analysis and Computer Modeling.  3 Credits.  

This course introduces students to spatial analysis techniques involving points, lines, areas, surfaces, and non-metric spaces, as well as programming basic geographic models on microcomputers.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 801.  Research Seminar in Earth System Science and Biophysical Geography.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary faculty research topics in earth system science and biophysical geography. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 802.  Research Seminar in Geographic Information Sciences.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary faculty research topics in geographic information sciences. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 803.  Research Seminar in Nature-Society Studies and Human-Environment Interactions.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary faculty research topics in nature-society studies and human-environment interactions. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 804.  Research Seminar in Social Geography.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary faculty research topics in social geography. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 805.  Research Seminar in International Area Studies, Development, and Globalization.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary faculty research topics in international area studies, development, and globalization. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 811.  Seminar/Readings in Earth System Science and Biophysical Geography.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary readings in earth system science and biophysical geography. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 812.  Seminar/Readings in Geographic Information Sciences.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary readings in geographic information sciences. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 813.  Seminar/Readings in Nature-Society Studies and Human-Environment Interactions.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary readings in nature-society studies and human-environment interactions. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 814.  Seminar/Readings in Social Geography.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary readings in social geography. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 815.  Seminar/Readings in International Area Studies, Development, and Globalization.  3 Credits.  

An in-depth seminar devoted to contemporary readings in international area studies, development, and globalization. Topics and instructors vary.

Rules & Requirements  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 900.  Special Work in Geography.  1-21 Credits.  

Required preparation, two courses in the one hundred bracket or permission of the instructor.

Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.  
Grading Status: Letter grade.  
GEOG 993.  Master's Research and Thesis.  3 Credits.  
Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit.   
GEOG 994.  Doctoral Research and Dissertation.  3 Credits.  
Rules & Requirements  
Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit.   

Department of Geography

Visit Program Website

Chair

Conghe Song

csong@email.unc.edu

Director of Graduate Studies

Clark Gray

cgray@email.unc.edu

Student Services Manager

Nell Phillips

nphillip@email.unc.edu