Geography Program

Geography is a discipline that brings together humans and their earthly environment. It focuses upon those issues and challenges that deal with the interactions between the earth's natural processes and how we as humans perceive, utilize, sometimes abuse, and often work to conserve the world around us. The Geography program at RIC is a small but diverse one, with emphases upon basic geography, urban, planning, natural disaster management, environment, and historical landscapes of New England. The major in geography consists of several components: basic geography, geographic skills and methods (including GIS - - Geographic Information Systems), and internship in geography, and a selection from a variety of regional and topical courses. Our focus upon applied geography is reflected in our successful internship program, which has helped many of our majors find permanent employment. The GIS course has proven valuable for our students as well as for non-geography majors. Summer field trip classes have proven to be a popular way to become physically involved in geographic issues and concepts. Opportunities for Study Abroad as well as many out-of-class experiences assist majors in learning to apply concepts developed in class work to the "real" world outside. Our graduates have found careers in urban and regional planning offices, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Park Service, cartographic agencies, and education, both college and pre-college.