Geography Minor

Geography is the true interdisciplinary science. It examines the physical and cultural landscapes of the Earth, focusing on the environments that people inhabit, alter, and create. Courses in geography are intended to support the general education of students, provide a background for students of teacher education, and introduce students to the wide variety of employment opportunities available to the trained geographer. Geography provides a link to bring together disparate and divergent academic disciplines and can support and strengthen any major.

T-BIRD SPOTLIGHT

Name: Corey Merrell

Graduated: Class of 2005

Current job: High School Geography Teacher

“Dear SUU: You really prepared me to jump into a rewarding career. The professors inspired a passion for learning with their excitement and their willingness to work with students in a personal way.”

POINTS of DISTINCTION

Geography augments and enhances education in any other field
Many job opportunities from internships to high-salary positions.
The SUU GIS program places essentially 100% of its certificate recipients in the workforce or graduate school.
Small classes and laboratory sizes means more personal attention from faculty and staff.

POSSIBLE CAREERS

There is a common misconception that the job possibilities for geographers are limited to either teachers/professors or cartographers. In reality, geographers hold a wide range of job types from jobs like government analyst, transportation planner, urban planner, tourism planner, forest ranger and park ranger to travel angent, airline pilot, journalist, meteorologist, clamatologist and many more including military positions both enlisted and civilian.

AVAILABLE RESOURCES

The GIS lab is split into two areas: a teaching lab (with 32 workstations) and an advanced lab (with 8 workstations). It includes a plotter, large scanner and a digitizer. Software licenses include the latest versions of ArcGIS and Edas Imagine. Cartography lab space and mediated classrooms are also available as is the greatest laboratory of all, located right outside: the American Southwest.

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT

Opportunities may be available for internships and cooperative education through the GIS program.
Also, opportunities for research may exist with Geography faculty, the GIS program, and local agencies.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Department Name: Physical Science
Department Contact: Paul R. Larson
Website: www.suu.edu/cose/physci/gis
Email Address: larson_p@suu.edu
Department Phone: 435-586-7900
Department Fax: 435-865-8051