Undergraduate

Degrees Offered:

Bachelor of Arts in Geography
The Geography major leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree. The teaching emphasis in geography in on the formulation of concepts and theory, analysis of environmental and census data, data presentation techniques, interrelationships between human and natural elements, locational analysis and environmental and urban problem solving. An important feature of the geography major is a recommended full semester, off-campus internship that enables students to work in public and private agencies.

B.A. in Geography, Concentration in Environmental Studies
The Geography majors may specialize in environmental studies. The Environmental Studies concentration combines the core geography degree with an interdisciplinary social science and physical science focus in the environment. In the expanded (60 credit) curriculum, geography is combined with other earth sciences, chemistry or biology, and economics or legal studies.

B.A. in Geography, Concentration in Urban Studies
The Urban Studies concentration uses a similar structure as the basic geography degree, but focuses electives and collateral courses toward topics in urban and regional planning. The Urban Studies concentration is designed to complement students majoring in a wide variety of academic fields, i.e. geography, sociology, anthropology, economics, business administration, and the natural and life sciences. Students complete a curriculum of on-campus course work and off-campus internship in a local, national or international organization.

Bachelor of Science in Geoscience
The Geoscience major leads to a Bachelor of Science degree. Geoscience includes the study of earth materials, earth processes and earth history as well as the study of the earth's oceans and atmosphere. Stu dents in the geoscience majors are prepared for careers as professional geologists working for environmental planning and remediation companies, mining and petroleum industries, government agencies and civil engineering and construction companies. The geoscience major also prepares students for graduate study in the geological sciences and related specialities. Nearly all courses taken within the geoscience major include laboratory and off-campus field studies. A minor in geoscience is also available.

B.S. in Geoscience, Concentration in Environmental Science
A concentration in environmental science is offered as an option within the geoscience major for those students seeking careers in the environmental consulting industry. This concentration includes biology, chemistry and nontraditional environmental geology courses not required for the standard geoscience major. Earth Science teaching certification is available for majors who also complete the professional teaching sequence.

Minor in Geoscience and Urban Studies
Teacher Certification (Social Studies)
Students pursuing teacher certification must be admitted to the Teacher Education program and follow the professional sequence outlined in the Undergraduate Catalog. The social studies teacher is expected to have a broad understanding of the cultural and environmental factors which shape the individual and society. To meet the approval program for certification in social studies, course work is required in each of the following: anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science and sociology. A detailed description of the requirements is available in the office of the faculty program counselor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Minor in Geographic Information Science
New for Fall 2009: Geographic Information Systems -- Remote Sensing
Geographic Information Science (GIScience, or GISci) is the study of the fundamental theories behind and applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and core geographic information technologies such as Remote Sensing (RS). The GISci minor provides students with a solid theoretical foundation, the necessary practical skills, and a geospatial way of thinking about environmental and other problems that have a geographic dimension. The minor seeks to educate natural science and social science majors who are willing to build marketable skills and are interested in a challenging field with high demand within New Jersey and far beyond. GIS combines location information with associated descriptive information to manipulate and analyze the information spatially; it helps to answer questions such as "What's out there?"; "What spatial and temporal trends are happening?"; "What are the ramifications if the world were different?". Remote Sensing from the air and space provides critical geographically extensive information that cannot be obtained from the limited perspective of the ground, extending our senses beyond the range of visible light and into the multispectral, locational, temporal, polarization, ranging, and angular domains. GIS and Remote Sensing technologies are widely used -- often together -- in diverse areas such as transportation planning, urban management, market analysis, retail site selection, health care planning, epidemiology, facilities management, landscape architecture, environmental impact assessment, natural resource management, hazard mitigation and response, hydrology and water resources, wildlife habitat and biodiversity, agriculture, forestry, renewable energy resources, soil degradation, oceanography, glaciology, atmospheric trace gases, aerosols, and clouds, coastal processes, terrestrial ecology, mineral prospecting, wind/solar power resources... the list is almost endless. Final approval of this new minor is pending final Board of Trustees Approval.

Combined B.S./M.A.T. in Geoscience with Teacher Certification in Earth Science (Preschool-Grade 12)

ADVISORS:

• Undergraduate Geography Advisor (students last name A-M), Dr. Gregory Pope, 973-655-7385, email: popeg@mail.montclair.edu
• Undergraduate Geography Advisor (students last name N-Z), Dr. Harbans Singh, 973-655-7383, email: singhh@mail.montclair.edu
• Undergraduate Geoscience Advisor (students last name A-G), Dr. Josh Galster, 973-655-4123, email: galsterj@mail.montclair.edu
• Undergraduate Geoscience Advisor (students last name H-P), Dr. Michael Kruge, 973-655-7902, email: krugem@mail.montclair.edu
• Undergraduate Geoscience Advisor (students last name O-Z and all GOED majors), Dr. Matthew Gorring, 973-655-5409, email: gorringm@mail.montclair.edu

Links:

• CSAM Undergraduate Course Catalog PDF Format
• MSU Undergraduate Course Catalog
• Undergraduate Admission Office