Summer 2022 Course Announcements

GEOG 1001-200/201
Environmental Systems: Climate and Vegetation

Instructor: Sarah Posner, GPTI

GEOG 1001-581
Instructor: Teresa Chapman, GPTI

The objective of this course is to provide you with an introduction to the Earth’s climate system and patterns of world vegetation. We will emphasize the many linkages and feedbacks between the non-living (abiotic) and living (biotic) components of the earth system.  

Topics we will cover include radiation, temperature, winds and pressure, the water cycle, climate change, and biomes.  This course will prepare you for subsequent, more specialized courses in climatology, hydrology, ecology, and biogeography (ecosystems and cycles). This is a natural science course, and graphs and basic algebra-level math calculations will be used to help understand the concepts covered.

GEOG 1011-581
Environmental Systems: Landscapes and Water

Earth’s landscapes – the natural surfaces composed of rock, soils, water and vegetation – are always changing. These landscapes host life and human activity. Knowledge of how the Earth’s surface changes is necessary to ensure public safety, provide food and water security, and support ecosystem management – and thus this knowledge is relevant to diverse career pursuits. 

Topics covered include the basic geologic processes of plate tectonics, volcanoes, and earthquake. We then explore how the land surface is shaped by water and physical processes, focusing on weathering, soils, hydrology, fluvial processes, glaciers, climate change, and human impacts. By the end of the course, you will be familiar with the primary physical processes involved in the formation of the Earth’s landscapes. You should also be able to generally describe how these natural sciences are related to important scientific and societal issues.

GEOG 1962-581 
Geographies of Global Change

Instructor: Diego Melo, GPTI

Some geologists argue we live in an epoch in which humans are the main geological agent on the planet’s surface, or what they call the Anthropocene. However, such a term does not explain which humans, where, and since when brought about such a significant transformation. Moreover, it evades discussions of intra-human differentiation, power, and scale. As such, we ask: how does our understanding of our current epoch define how we conceptualize contemporary issues, such as climate change, transnational migration, geopolitical conflict, and environmental pollution? In this course, we introduce and critique the notion of the Anthropocene through specific perspectives in human geography and political ecology. We also build a conceptual toolbox to analyze current affairs, such as labor mobilities and migration patterns, war and peace building, and the creation and spread of toxic environments. Through key concepts in Marxist and More-than-Human geographies, the course will allow you to engage critically and rigorously with mainstream narratives about globalization and interpret social, economic, political, and environmental changes from the planetary to the international to the molecular scale.

GEOG 1972-001
Environment-Society Geography

Instructor: Phurwa Gurung, GPTI

What is ‘nature’ and how do people from different cultural worlds and histories know and interact with it differently? What kinds of dominant assumptions and power relations drive human transformation of the earth and its non-human inhabitants? How do such transformations often affect specific groups of people unevenly, and how are they responding to it? This course will critically examine these profound questions at the heart of environment-society relations today. 

Topics we will cover include anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity conservation, wolves, waste, water, environmental racism, justice, and ethics. We will consider eight analytical perspectives that are useful to unpack how and to what effects environmental problems are defined and solutions proposed. Drawing on cases including from the United States, the Amazon, East Africa, India, and the Himalayas, we will pay special attention to the power dynamics involved in the conceptualization and management of nature, as well as to the specific inequalities and the social movements challenging them. By the end of the class, you will have a robust toolkit with which to interpret and critically engage in global environmental debates. 

This class fulfills a MAPS requirement and a requirement for the Geography Major; it is also a great introduction to “Environment-Society” Geography Track.

GEOG 1972 - 581
Environment-Society Geography

Instructor: Diego Melo, GPTI

Are you interested in studying global and regional environmental issues from a political ecology perspective? In this course, we explore ten analytical approaches that are useful to understanding the relationship between humans and the environment. Through a combination of lectures, readings, and documentaries we ask: What is “nature” and how do people in various places with different histories conceptualize it differently? What drives human modification of the earth’s ecosystems, how are specific groups of people differentially affected by these modifications, and how are social movements throughout the world acting in response? Topics we will cover include anthropogenic climate change; environmental hazards, racism, and justice; wildlife conservation, land enclosures, and electronic waste; forest management, water-based social movements, and the rights of nature. We work toward an understanding of “nature” that is inseparable from the history of colonialism, capitalism, and the gendered division of labor, as we learn more about environmental justice debates in the United States, Ecuador, New Zealand, Tanzania, and India.

This class fulfills a MAPS requirement and a requirement for the Geography Major; it is also a great introduction to “Environment-Society” Geography Track.

GEOG 1982-200/201 
Global Geographies: Societies, Places, Connections 

Instructor: David Bacharach, GPTI

Introduces a comparative framework for recognizing and understanding the diversity of the world’s societies and cultures. Units explore both local scale issues such as economic growth, inequality, political conflict, ethnic and racial dynamics, and climate change impacts, as well as broader scale trends associated with globalization, international development, migration, and the historical legacies of colonialism and imperialism.

This class fulfills a MAPS requirement and a requirement for the Geography Major.

GEOG 1992-581
Human Geographies

Instructor: Dr. Caitlin Ryan

Examines social, political, economic, and cultural processes creating the geographical worlds in which we live, and how these spatial relationships shape our everyday lives. Studies critical geopolitics, ecological change, international development, population dynamics, urbanization, and migration to explore how these processes work at global scales as well as shape geographies of particular places. 

This class fulfills a MAPS requirement and a requirement for the Geography Major; it is also a great introduction to the “Human Geography” Track. 

GEOG 2053-581 
Mapping a Changing World 

Instructor: Sarah Kelly

Do you know how to read maps, know what different types are used for, and where to find data to make maps? Do you want to know when you can trust the information on a map is correct, current, or relevant to some question you have about the world around you? Then this class is for you!

You will learn how maps are used for all sorts of applications (news stories, social media, travel diaries, historical documents, hiking and navigation, web mapping, etc.) You’ll learn how to read a topographic map, how to work with map scale and map projections, and about using Internet mapping services, such as creating online maps. You’ll work with maps showing the human and physical landscape including population parameters, soils, topography, and much more. We’ll talk about maps as propaganda, and as tools of social and political power. 

The course does not assume previous experience with geographic information systems, statistics or mapping technologies. This course satisfies the mapping requirement for the Geography major, and serves as a great introduction for students considering a Geography major or minor.

GEOG 3023-581
Statistics and Geographic Data

Instructor: Francis Naylor, GPTI

From fitness trackers to Facebook to polls on politics and other issues, our world is flooded with data. Careers in Data Science are in high demand, and technological and societal changes make data available on nearly everything.

In this course, we teach you how to understand and model the relationships between data and your world. You'll learn how to collect data, learn modeling techniques, and develop questions that we can answer with statistical methods. The course is hands-on and will guide you in using the latest statistical software to produce graphics, answer questions, and find patterns about the world around us.

This course does not assume any previous experience with statistics. It satisfies the statistics requirement for the Geography major, and serves as a great introduction to data modeling for any Geography major or minor.

GEOG 3053-100 
Geographic Information Science: Mapping

Instructor: Sarah Kelly

Mapping and data visualization supports many tasks in Geography, Environmental Studies, Earth Sciences and Human and Social Sciences. Maps can help you explore spatial data, perform analysis, and present meaningful results. Knowing how to put together a database and process layers of terrain, water, roads, and thematic data (vegetation, population, etc.) in order to make a map is an extremely useful skill that many employers are seeking. Come learn what it is all about!

This course provides a technical introduction to mapping and information design in a GIS environment. We’ll cover principles of scientific visualization, graphical design, and mapping. You’ll learn how to manipulate scale, work with and change map projections, how to select informative colors, how to classify map data, and how to symbolize data, and how to quantify patterns of error on maps. In lab, you will design maps and create a working cartographic database. By the end of this course, you will be capable of creating high quality cartographic displays and work comfortably with Desktop ArcGIS software to process spatial data.

Some prior experience with Apple or Windows computing is expected. No previous experience in ArcGIS or mapping technologies is required. GEOG 3053 is a prerequisite for the Geography GIS courses. A beginning course in statistics is strongly recommended and may be taken concurrently.

GEOG 3251-001
Mountain Geography

Instructor: Professor Peter Blanken

GEOG 3251-581
Instructor: Dr. Sam Smith

The world’s mountains are fascinating and mysterious landscapes. Created by geologic activity, shaped by water and ice, and transformed by vegetation and human activity, mountain landscapes offer a unique perspective into historical and current events. Using mountain landscapes as our study area, this course will examine the interactions and connections among key topics in physical and human geography. Daily presentations and frequent hands-on activities will apply geographic concepts to the Colorado Rockies as well as mountain ranges around the world. To explore our mountain landscapes, local examples will be used to examine how wildfire impacts local forests and human communities, and investigate how historic mining and continuing human activities have shaped the mountain landscapes in our backyard.

GEOG 3402-001
Natural Hazards

Instructor: Luca Palasti, GPTI

GEOG 3402-581
Instructor: Dr. Sam Smith

This class examines the interaction of society and natural extremes, with particular attention to exposure, vulnerability, preparedness, mitigation, and recovery from natural disasters. Our social science approach differentiates this class from courses on natural disasters taught as natural science, where the emphasis is on the physical processes (like tectonics and volcanism). We treat the subject as both an academic field of inquiry that provides insight into social structures, human behavior, and environment and society relationships, and as a professional field in which students learn methods and skills that can be applied to careers in environmental and hazards management. 

While we will briefly cover the physical science of hazards like hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, the focus is on human geography: how people and institutions perceive and respond to hazards and how development in hazardous areas increases risk. Given the time, we will also briefly examine technological hazards and disasters.

GEOG 3682-581
Geography of International Development

Instructor: Dr. Caitlin Ryan

In the time of COVID-19, we are entering an unprecedented era of International Development. As the virus, social injustices, political upheavals, and economic crises rage on around the world, it is important for us to consider the role development has played in getting us to where we are today and what development will look like going forward. In this class, we will look at the origins and history of development as an international capitalist project and also movements demanding a better, more inclusive development.

GEOG 3692-100/101
Introduction to Global Public Health

Dr. Gay Lynn Olsen

GEOG 3692-200/201
Instructor: Kevin Mason, GPTI

GEOG 3692-581
Instructor: Dr. Caitlin Ryan

This course explores critical issues in global public health through a biosocial lens, incorporating the biological, economic, political, social and cultural influences on health. We take a candid look at the challenges of quantifying health as well as the issues of past health and development initiatives (with a focus on developing countries). We examine the tensions between intellectual property rights and the fundamental need for affordable medicines as played out in the cases of TB and HIV. We delve into the roles of the World Health Organization, nongovernmental organizations and ministries of health in addressing both infectious and non‐communicable diseases. We explore health care systems and consider the essential elements of systems which improve accessibility and quality of care for its citizens. We look at the future priorities of global health, including the impact of climate change on health. By engaging in discussions, structured in class activities and written assignments, students will wrestle with the complexity of issues that make up the rich field of global public health. 

GEOG 3742
Place, Power, and Contemporary Culture

Instructor: Shruthi Jagadeesh, GPTI

What is ‘power,’ and how are spaces produced through relationships of power? GEOG 3742 introduces students to key theories and contemporary debates in critical and feminist geography through a focus on the themes of power, space, and culture as conceptual frameworks. We will apply critical geographic perspectives on power to the topics of: colonialism and imperialism; states and territoriality; transnational migration and human rights; conflict and nationalism; environmental politics and social movements; and connections between local and transnational activism. 

The course is structured around four units: 

1. feminist geographies; 
2. postcolonial geographies; 
3. environmental injustice and queer ecologies; 
4. decolonial geographies. 

While many of our readings are theoretical, we will draw from contemporary examples from different regions of the world – Canada, India, Iran, Lebanon, Mexico, Russia, Tajikistan, South Africa, Ukraine, United Kingdom – to ground our studies.

GEOG 3822-581
Geography of China

Instructor: Fan Li, GPTI

China is one of the fastest changing countries on earth.  With hundreds of new cities under construction, rapidly accumulating wealth among the middle and upper classes, a precarious environment and resource-base, and rising geopolitical ambitions, understanding a changing China is more important now than ever before.  Yet as China’s influence grows, it seems to become more misunderstood than ever. 

This course aims to explore China’s changes, as well as dispel common myths about contemporary China, through the lens of human geography.  

We explore China’s diverse environmental and cultural landscapes, its historical geography, and the challenges of rural development, urbanization, environment, energy, and climate change.

GEOG 3930-750
Geography Internship

Instructor: Dr. Heide Bruckner

Want to make the most of your summer? This course offers students the opportunity to apply, and further develop, skills and Geographic knowledge by working in a professional capacity as an intern. The internship course is designed to help you expand your professional network and deepen your learning through on- or off-campus.

If you are a Geography major or minor, with at least a 2.0 GPA, you are eligible for the Geography internship program.  Send a completed Internship Agreement Form, signed by you and the internship sponsor to Dr.Bruckner, by June 15, 2022.  

For detailed information, visit our internship program page.

Any questions or concerns, including how to find an internship, can be directed at the Internship Coordinator, Dr. Heide Bruckner. 

GEOG 4603/5603 
GIS in the Social and Natural Sciences

Instructor: Professor Stefan Leyk

This course is designed as an introductory class to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) suitable for students (graduate and undergraduate) from Geography, Environmental Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Ecology/Biology, Anthropology, Economy, Education or Sociology who are interested in learning about GIS tools and their underlying principles and how to apply GIS to analytical and mapping-related tasks. 

Students will get basic skills for working in a GIS environment without formal prerequisites in Cartography or Statistics. I will introduce basic theoretical and practical elements of GIS and GIScience that are important to get started on a GIS project, handling and managing geospatial data, creating maps and conducting GIS analysis. Students will work in ArcGIS and QGIS software on tasks typically encountered in the social and natural sciences. 

The format of class meetings will alternate between lecture/demo/in-class exercise components and more extensive computer exercises. This way concepts discussed in lecture will be directly put in practice to better understand underlying mechanics, results, problems and important implications resulting from decisions made based on such results. 

This class will be taught remotely and class meetings and in-class exercises will be held as video conference sessions. 

Prerequisites:
Familiarity with file management tasks in Windows, confidence in working with software tools. Students are encouraged to set up their own laptops with software provided (ArcGIS with student licenses). 

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