Student Learning Outcomes - Geography and Sustainability Undergraduate Program - School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability

Core Student Learning Outcomes

Students will acquire an understanding of and appreciation for the relationship between geography and culture.
Students will acquire an understanding of and appreciation for the role that geography can play in community engagement.
Students will develop the ethical aptitudes and dispositions necessary to acquire and hold leadership positions in industry, government, and professional organizations.
Students will read, interpret, and generate maps and other geographic representations as well as extract, analyze, and present information from a spatial perspective.
Students will understand through lectures but also local, regional, and/or international travel the interconnection between people and places and have a general comprehension of how variations in culture and personal experiences may affect our perception and management of places and regions.
Students will have a general understanding of physical geographic processes, the global distribution of landforms and ecosystems, and the role of the physical environment on human populations.
Students will have a general understanding of cultural geographic processes, the global distribution of cultural mosaics, and the history and types of interaction between people within and among these mosaics.
Students will have a general understanding of global human population patterns, factors influencing the distribution and mobility of human populations including settlement and economic activities and networks, and human impacts on the physical environment.
Students will be able to think in spatial terms to explain what has occurred in the past as well as using geographic principles to understand the present and plan for the future.
Students will have a general understanding of how the physical environment, human societies, and local and global economic systems are integral to the principles of sustainable development.
Students will have a general understanding of the various theoretical and methodological approaches in both physical and human geography and be able to develop research questions and critically analyze both qualitative and quantitative data to answer those questions.
Students will be able to present completed research, including an explanation of methodology and scholarly discussion, both orally and in written form and, wherever possible, utilize cartographic tools and other visual formats.

Bachelor of Arts in Geography

Students will develop a solid understanding of the concepts of “space," “place” and “region” and their importance in explaining world affairs.
Students will understand general demographic principles and their patterns at regional and global scales.
Students will be able to locate on a map major physical features, cultural regions, and individual states and urban centers.
Students will understand global and regional patterns of cultural, political and economic institutions, and their effects on the preservation, use and exploitation of natural resources and landscapes.

Cultural and Regional Geography Emphasis

Students will develop a solid understanding of the concepts of “space," “place" and “region” and their importance in explaining world affairs.
Students will understand general demographic principles and their patterns at regional and global scales.
Students will be able to locate on a map major physical features, cultural regions, and individual states and urban centers.
Students will understand global and regional patterns of cultural, political and economic institutions, and their effects on the preservation, use and exploitation of natural resources and landscapes.

Environmental and Natural Resources Emphasis

Students will understand the key concepts in physical geography of environmental systems, process linkages, variable scale, and "cause and effect" and how they relate to the influence of climate, geology, and human activities in shaping the earth surface.
Students will be able to use accepted field, laboratory, geospatial, and statistical techniques to quantify the quantity, characteristics, and history of physical phenomena for geographic research and natural resources management.
Students will be able to use the scientific method including critical thinking, sampling, hypothesis formulation and testing, and controlled experimentation to assess environmental problems, and be able to effectively communicate research objectives, methodology, results, interpretations, and conclusions in oral and written formats.
Students will be able to synthesize geographic knowledge and apply innovative research strategies to solve problems in resource conservation, environmental change, and sustainable development within the community, region, and world.

Geotourism Emphasis

Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental principles, concepts and knowledge of Geotourism from the perspective of the National Geographic Society’s guidelines.
Students will be able to identify the principles, practices, and philosophies, which affect the economic, social, cultural, psychological, and marketing aspects of human travel and the tourism industry.
Students will be able to articulate the key concepts and methods used to investigate and make sense of the role, significance and impact of tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.
Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the asset theory, cost-benefit analysis, tax policy impacts, and other economic and statistical aspects of tourism, approached from the elements in the Geotourism perspective.
Students will be able to examine research designed to determine economic impacts of the Geotourism industry.
Students will be able to evaluate the conflicting agenda of society’s various stakeholders and the need to reconcile environmental, economic and sociocultural concerns.
Students will be able to critically examine community Geotourism issues and develop coherent solutions.
Students will be able to demonstrate effective written, oral and visual communication skills to present these solutions.
Students will be able to apply the principles of Geotourism to a local, regional or national community to develop a tourism policy and plan based on Geotourism parameters.