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The Department of Geography in Boulder attracts some 3,500 undergraduates to its courses every year, and has approximately 190 undergraduate majors in Geography. Undergraduates receive a broad, liberal education that integrates the study of human activity and the natural environment, with possible concentrations in physical geography, human geography, environment-society relations, or geographic information science.  The graduate program of the Department of Geography offers both MA and PhD degrees.  There are currently about 90 graduate students enrolled in the program, with a slight majority of these in the PhD program.  The MA program was founded in 1930, and the PhD program began in 1965; the first PhD was awarded in 1968. The Department is ranked as one of the top programs among the nation’s doctoral-granting departments of geography.  CU Geography has one of the nation's highest rates of PhD placement in academic geography programs as well as one of the highest rates of external funding for graduate student research.

We've been integrating the study of human activity and the natural environment since 1937, when Harold Hoffmeister was appointed CU's first Assistant Professor of Geography.  Geography was jointly-housed within the Department of Geography and Geology until 1957 when it was granted autonomous status, with Albert Smith as its first Chair, serving from 1957 to 1960 and beginning a tradition of rotating chairmanship in the department, which continues to this day.  In 1959, Geography moved into the Guggenheim Building, where the Law School was formerly housed.  Our PhD program was initiated in 1962, with the first PhD awarded in 1968 to Ian Campbell.  In 1972, Gilbert White and Ken Erickson initiated an interdisciplinary major in Environmental Conservation, which in 1993 became the separate program in Environmental Studies. For more history, see our Faculty Timeline and Department Milestones.

We maintain expertise in the four core themes of Geography, and these are interwoven throughout both our teaching and research. More than most Geography programs in the US, we offer a comprehensive and balanced approach to the discipline. This allows our students to combine fields of inquiry – from indigenous mapping and fire ecology to GIS and social landscapes of war and recovery – in ways that only a comprehensive Geography degree can. Our students are not only exposed to a broad array of geographical training, they also have opportunities to learn from and take part in cutting-edge research in their specialized fields of interest. Our faculty are among the world's top scientists in their research fields, with extensive international collaborative connections and affiliations with the interdisciplinary research institutes for which CU and the city of Boulder are famous. No other Geography department in the country receives as much external research funding as CU Boulder. More than a third of our faculty have joint appointments or affiliations in research units such as the Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS), the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Studies (CIRES) and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). 

With an active faculty doing cutting-edge research in all corners of the discipline and the world, CU Geography takes students far beyond the classroom. Students and faculty work side-by-side on research projects, and many of our classes teach practical field skills, such as doing an actual ethnography study, surveying in Denver for an urban geography class, measuring water flow of Boulder Creek, or learning to use high resolution GPS to map the campus. While many of our graduate students work with faculty advisors on collaborative research, many also develop their own independent research projects, developing academic expertise and broader recognition as they earn their degree.

We train our students for a dynamic job market and support them as they transition from student to professional.  Our graduate program is consistently ranked among the top two or three US departments in placement of PhD's in academic careers. We are able to fund a higher percentage of our graduate students than most other Arts & Sciences departments, and we have both the highest completion rate and the shortest average time-to-degree of any other Arts & Sciences department at CU Boulder. Our graduate students are also successful in winning external funding for their research and in publishing their research while completing their degrees. Our undergraduate program includes honors and internship components. We are able to support our undergrads with a number of need and merit based scholarships.

With over one-third of our faculty appointed to campus research institutes, there are many opportunities for students to participate in cutting-edge research. Many of our graduate students publish as lead or co-authors with their faculty advisors. CU Geography ranks 2nd in the nation among geography programs in National Science Foundation doctoral dissertation research funding. Many of our undergraduates work with faculty field projects in biogeography, snow hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, glaciology, and ethnography.

With a history of field-oriented research, CU Geography specializes in learning outside of the classroom. Faculty fieldwork sites range from the Greenland icecap and the temperate forests of Patagonia to the savannas of East Africa and the plateau of Tibet. Our faculty work in rural as well as urban areas, arctic and mountain regions as well as tropical areas. Many of our classes are also field-focused with cultural geography students exploring the hidden landscapes of the Front Range, hydrology students conducting spring snow surveys at 12,000 feet on Niwot Ridge, and remote sensing students ground checking RS data for their class research projects.

Geographers have an ongoing concern with the acquisition, manipulation, and representation of spatial data. The widespread adoption of digital technology coupled with management of very large spatial data sets has led to the development of Geographic Information Science. Particularly with respect to digital information, the nature of geographical data that vary with scale, time, and spectral characteristics presents unique problems for geographers and environmental scientists. In our world of massive amounts of information, geographers use remote sensing methods for collecting and integrating geographical data. They utilize cartography and geographic information systems to uncover spatial patterns and trends, to reconstruct past environmental conditions and to predict future scenarios. The use of such methods requires expertise not covered in human and physical geography concentrations. Conceptually, the societal, political and ethical implications of geographic information in policy and decision-making are only beginning to be understood, and this forms an important component of study in geographic information science. The dissemination of geographic knowledge at all levels of education forms another important component of this concentration. Our program not only provides training in GIS and computer mapping, but is a national leader is Geographic Information Science research and theory. The professional geographer specializing in human or physical geography must realize that spatial data is increasingly collected and archived in digital form. Professional training in geography places increasing emphasis on the understanding of statistical and computing tools for data processing, analysis, and display. Our program has been one of the first to recognize this trend, and to develop the special faculty talents and modern laboratories essential to accommodate this type of training. We train students for a variety of positions in academic, government and private industry careers requiring technical skills in spatial data handling. We also provide opportunities to link GIS training with Geographic Education Our students can learn methods of computer and computer-assisted map production, preparing them for careers in mapping agencies and private mapping firms and publishing houses.

We strive to create a warm and friendly environment by providing opportunities for students in the geography department to get acquainted outside the classroom. The weekly coffee/bagel break, in our casual Guggenheim 101 lounge, is a great way for students to meet their fellow majors, Geography grad students and faculty as well. We host a number of annual informative events for undergrads such as the Grad School and Career Night symposiums. CU Boulder's Geography department also hosts a local chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU). The chapter fosters social and professional ties across the field of Geography in our department and throughout the local academic community. GTU hosts events each semester and works with the department's graduate representatives to plan the fall and spring picnics. GTU also facilitates the mentor program for new graduate students. All geography graduate students are eligible to join. If you have questions, please contact our graduate student reps on our People page. For more information on the national GTU, visit the .

We also recommend joining the Geography Club. The provides a place for undergraduate and graduate students to connect by fostering interest, discussion, and increased knowledge about the world around them. We stay connected through social events such as movie and game nights, orienteering, hiking, career events, and volunteering. Students can work to promote geography and geographical thinking on campus and in the community through events such as Geography Awareness Week, GIS Day, and the Campus Sustainability Summit.