Undergraduate Curriculum

Urban, Regional & Global Studies

Undergraduates who are interested in the Urban, Regional and Global Studies specialization will need to meet the following requirements and complete the required course work to earn a B.A. in Geography. Undergraduates also will be interested in the acquired skill sets as a part of this course work, the types of issues and topics that are addressed, and the career opportunities that are available within this field.

Spring quarter 2010 brought new curriculum to the 4 Geography Specializations. This means that if you have declared your specialization before Spring 2010 you will follow the old curriculum. If you declared the major in spring 2010 or later, or if you have yet to declare your specialization, you should follow the new curriculum. (Students who declared before spring 2010 have the option of switching to the new curriculum as well; please see the Geography advisor):

New Curriculum, for students declaring this specialization Spring 2010 or later.

Old Curriculum, for students who declared this specialization before Spring 2010.

Issues and topics

The following is an example of the types of issues and topics students will study within the Urban, Regional and Global Studies specialization.

Political geography

• Urban development
• Colonization
• Voting districts
• Segregation

Area/location studies

• North America
• South Africa
• Europe
• Former U.S.S.R.
• Latin America

Transportation

• Routing patterns
• Planning

Globalization

• Economics
• Politics

Development

• Industrialized
• Developing "Third World"
• Urbanization

Spatial analysis

• Statistics
• Cartography and GIS

Acquired skill sets

Students can expect to acquire and perform the following skills sets within this specialization. Students also should have a solid background in mathematics and the physical sciences.

• Critical thinking
• Critical writing
• Research
• Strong organizational skills

Technical skills:

• Quantitative and qualitative data analysis
• Graphic communication (including map reading and development)
• Graphics and statistical software packages

Career opportunities

Geographers can find career opportunities in many fields both within and outside the field of geography. Below is a partial listing of careers that students within the Urban, Regional and Global Studies specialization are well-suited and where previous graduates have found employment.

• Planner: transportation, urban, health services, land use, etc.
• Real estate appraiser/agent/researcher
• Shipper/route delivery manager
• Demographer
• Commodities broker
• Area/regional specialist
• Land development analyst
• Urban research analyst
• Archivist/librarian
• Shopping center developer
• Business planning manager
• Public policy analyst
• Market researcher/analyst
• Location/site selection expert
• Economic analyst