Active Course List

Preparation of an alternate plan paper under supervision of the student's graduate advisor.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Gender and Women's Studies (MS)

Students assist or co-teach an undergraduate Women's Studies course under the supervision of a faculty member.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Placement in a community or university-based internship provides the student with experience and practical skills in a particular field of work or service and/or provides an opportunity to pursue a specific research interest.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Nonprofit Leadership (GC)

Preparation of a thesis under supervision of the student's graduate advisory committee.

Areas of Interest:

People and Cultures

Programs:

Gender and Women's Studies (MA) | Gender and Women's Studies (MS)

An introduction to Geography and its themes of study. The course will familiarize students with where places are located in the world together with their cultural and physical features. Students will be tasked to think critically and diversely about various cultures and features of the modern world.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 8 - Global Perspective | Goal Area 10 - People and the Environment | Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

An introduction to the science of understanding earth's physical environment, with focus on the processes that drive fundamental earth systems. Includes investigation of natural hazards, earth-sun relationships, climate and climate change, weather, flora and fauna, soil, landforms, and surfaces processes driven by rivers, glaciers, wind, rock decay, gravity. North American and world-wide examples are used to demonstrate spatial distribution and interrelationships. Some coverage of human-environmental relations.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 3 - Natural Sciences | Goal Area 10 - People and the Environment

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Earth Science (BS) | Earth Science Minor | Geography (BA) | Geography (BS) | Geography Minor | Geospatial Science (BS)

This course will introduce students to the diverse physical, social, environmental, economic, political, and cultural aspects of the major regions and countries of the world. Students will gain knowledge of the similarities and differences in the cultural and natural environments in various regions. Other areas introduced in this course will be the significance of each major region at the global scale; relationships between regions and their population; and ways and means by which people live their lives in diverse societies.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 5 - History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences | Goal Area 8 - Global Perspective | Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

International Business (BS) | International Relations (BA) | International Relations Minor

Cultural aspects of interactions between people and their environment focusing on spatial patterns of population, agriculture, politics, language, religion, industrialization, and urbanization. Emphasis is placed on the processes that create the cultural landscape and on management of land and natural resources.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 5 - History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences | Goal Area 8 - Global Perspective | Diverse Cultures - Purple

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Ethnic Studies (BS) Business/Corporate | Ethnic Studies (BS) International Community and Human Services | Ethnic Studies (BS) Local Community and Human Services | Ethnic Studies (BS) Public/Government | Ethnic Studies (BS) Racial/Ethnic Communities in the United States | Geography (BA) | Geography (BS) | Geography Minor | Geospatial Science (BS) | International Business (BS)

This non-lab gateway course introduces geospatial thinking, scientific theories and cutting-edge technologies in Geospatial Science (GISc) through lectures and hands-on activities. It focuses on field data collection, space and ground based sensors, satellite imagery, aerial photography, LiDAR, digital mapping, data visualization, and geoanalytics. It prepares students for higher-level courses such as Cartography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, and the Global Positioning System (GPS). Students will learn how to solve problem with a variety of geospatial science methods. Topics include interrelationships between environmental, economic and cultural systems, social and ecological dimensions of health, and natural resource issues.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 3 - Natural Sciences | Goal Area 10 - People and the Environment

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geography (BS) | Geospatial Science (BS)

This course objectives includes basic understanding of precision agriculture high tech equipment and strategies. Students will gain an understanding of the hardware, software and management strategies of precision agriculture. Areas of study will include GIS, GPS, remote sensing, differential correction, yield monitoring, and grid mapping. Farmworks software will be incorporated into the course.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Introduction to the concepts of landscape and place in a variety of geographical writings. Emphasizes works with strong regional overtones. The interaction between the physical and cultural environments is paramount. Field observation and integrating imagery into original student writing documents is also addressed.

Graduation Requirements:

Goal Area 10 - People and the Environment | Writing Intensive

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

An examination of the processes involved in weather formation. Students will be introduced to weather map analysis, simple forecasting and observational techniques, and weather instruments.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Aviation (BS) Aeronautics | Aviation (BS) Aviation Management | Aviation (BS) Professional Flight | Aviation (BS) Unmanned Aircraft Systems | Earth Science (BS) | Earth Science Minor | Earth Science Teaching (5-12) (BS)

An assignment that is tailored to individual needs of a student. The instructor and the student arrange the type of project for the student, such as a term paper, readings, mapping, field investigation, or computer cartography.

Prerequisites:

Consent

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

An examination of the underlying causes of natural disasters occurring over the globe. Focus will be primarily upon weather and climate related disasters. Students will also be exposed to concepts of plate tectonics and how these affect the distribution of earthquakes and volcanism over the planet.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Earth Science (BS)

This course explores the scientific study of earth's surface, through investigating landscapes and landforms, their characteristics, origin and evolution, and the biologic, chemical, and physical processes that create these landscapes and landforms through time. Fundamental linkages between process and form and climate/climate change, earth materials, geologic structures, plate tectonics, and biological systems will be examined. Implications of anthropogenic influences on processes and modification of earth's surface will also be assessed. Laboratory exercises and field trips are required.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Earth Science (BS) | Earth Science Minor | Earth Science Teaching (5-12) (BS) | Geoarcheology (CERT) | Geology (BS) | Geomorphology and Earth Surface Processes (CERT)

Students will develop a knowledge of the similarities and contrasts in regional landscapes and cultures of the United States.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geography (BA) | Geography Minor | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Anthropology | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Economics | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Geography | Social Studies Teaching (BS) History | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Political Science | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Psychology | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Sociology

The course involves the natural and human environments of Minnesota. The physical resources, population history, and current issues are emphasized.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

This is a hands-on, exercise-based GIS for Law Enforcement course analyzing the contemporary realities of the spatial and geographic aspects of crime. Students acquire practical tools necessary to conduct effective mapping and spatial analyses of crime using GIS software. Lab activities are designed to benefit those working with public safety and emergency response systems.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Criminal Justice (BS) | Ethnic Studies (BS) Racial/Ethnic Communities in the United States | Geography (BS) | Geospatial Science (BS) | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Geography

The lecture material addresses map projections, technology changes in production, basic analysis and depiction of quantitative point, line and areal data. Also, the evaluation of maps and the history of cartography from a European, Oriental, and American Indian perspective is discussed. All maps are drawn using computer assistance.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geography (BA) | Geography (BS) | Geospatial Science (BS) | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Geography

The course will be an introduction to the analysis of spatial data using the concept of a geographic information system (GIS). Content of the course will be, to a great extent, based on the NCGIA core curriculum with assignments tailored to the data and software available within the department such as ArcGIS.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Agricultural Sciences (BS) | Aviation (BS) Unmanned Aircraft Systems | Biology (BS) Organismal Biology and Ecology | Earth Science (BS) | Geographic Information Science (CERT) | Geography (BS) | Geology (BS) | Geospatial Science (BS) | Health Informatics (BS) | Social Studies Teaching (BS) Geography

Overview of geographic work, interests, and research by guest speakers.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geography (BA) | Geography (BS) | Geospatial Science (BS)

The instructor will develop a specific course on a geographic topic, such as soils, landforms, water resources, energy, housing, population geography, or some other topic for the class.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

International Relations (BA) | International Relations Minor

The characteristics of particular climates and understanding the factors that control their spatial distribution.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Agribusiness and Food Innovation (BS) | Earth Science (BS) | Earth Science Minor | Earth Science Teaching (5-12) (BS) | Geomorphology and Earth Surface Processes (CERT)

This course examines the dynamic nature of soils including the processes that control formation and degradation, anthropogenic impacts, spatial distribution across landscapes, and links among soils and other components of the earth system. A combination of lectures and hands-on exercises in field and laboratory settings are utilized to explore the complex interactions between soils and landscapes.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Agribusiness and Food Innovation (BS) | Agricultural Sciences (BS) | Agriculture Minor | Earth Science (BS) | Geoarcheology (CERT) | Geology (BS) | Geomorphology and Earth Surface Processes (CERT)

Meteorological principles and theory are applied to the analysis and interpretation of weather data in order to better understand the structure and evolution of synoptic-scale weather systems. Basic knowledge of mathematics will be assumed.

Prerequisites:

GEOG 217

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Earth Science (BS)