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MASTER'S DEGREE IN GEOSCIENCE

GIS, PLANNING, AND THE ENVIRONMENT FOCUS

For the Geoscience Masters, a minimum of 30 semester hours are required in all the Thesis concentrations, with 12 semester hours in core courses, 12 hours of electives, and 6 hours of Thesis. The Environment and Planning program focuses on the skills required in a variety of planning environments. Students have greater flexibility in this track to focus on a suite of courses that prepares the student for employment in local and state planning, environmental management, government, consulting, and myriad other areas. The Department requires that students have GEOG 240 (Introduction to Planning), GEOG 391 (Statistics) and GEOG 317 (Intro GIS) (or their equivalents) as part of their undergraduate coursework. If not, these two courses are treated as deficiencies and MUST be taken in the first year as they are prerequisites for GEOS 520 Geoscience Data Modeling. They do not count towards the 30-hour requirement for the Master's Degree. In addition, students must demonstrate proficiency in a research tool (satisfied by GEOS 502 or 520). Consult your advisor or the Graduate Handbook for more details.

CORE REQUIREMENTS

 COURSE 18 HOURS
GEOS 500 Geoscience Research & Literacy 4 hours
GEOS 530 Field Methods in Cultural Geography 4 hours
GEOS 520 Geoscience Data Modeling 4 hours
GEOS 599 Thesis Research/Writing 6 hours (Required)
RECOMMENDED ELECTIVES GIS, PLANNING, AND ENVIRONMENT 12 HOURS TOTAL
GEOS 584 Seminar in Planning 3 hours
GEOS 580 Seminar in Urban Geography 3 hours
GEOG 417G GIS Analysis & Modeling 3 hours
GEOG 419G GIS Applications Development 3 hours
GEOG 423G Transport, Location, and GIS 3 hours
GEOG 474G Environmental Planning 3 hours
GEOS 505 Seminar in Biogeography 3 hours
GEOS 517 GIS Database Management 3 hours
GEOS 571 Quality of Life Seminar 3 hours
GEOS 5xx Other Approved Courses 3 hours each

Graduate Students are also required to participate in the Departmental Graduate/Faculty Seminar Program.

For more information about this track, contact your geography advisor, visit the Department office (EST 304), or call (270) 745-4555.

To send an email message to request more information, just click on: david.keeling@wku.edu

To return to the Department of Geography and Geology homepage, just click on the Department icon above.

This page last updated on 3/31/09.