The Geography program at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, established in 1868, is among the oldest in the country, and the PhD program, developed in 1908, was one of the first west of the Mississippi River. Students are offered several undergraduate, masters and doctoral degree options. Students can choose to specialize in Cartography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Historical Geography, Human-environment Relations, Regional Studies, and Remote Sensing.
Geographers are concerned with the earth as the home of people and stress the locational analysis of human activities and their relationships with the environment. While geography is one of the most time-honored disciplines reflecting curiosity about people and places, it is also an applied discipline that offers insights about present and future issues, involving environment, culture, society, economy, and politics.
Geographers pursue careers in urban and regional planning, cartography, image processing, geographic information systems, environmental assessment, resource management, locational analysis and many other areas. They work in government and private-sector jobs that require both a broad liberal education with well-developed spatial and ecological perspectives and a detailed knowledge of up-to-date methods of cartographic analysis, statistical analysis, and environmental research methods.
To learn more about the Master's and PhD programs, click here.
What students are saying about the geography program:
Anita Clark, undergraduate student
"Geography is an excellent major that provides each student the opportunity to connect more fully with others locally and to experience the global world more intimately. My involvement in AFROTC and the military applications of geography made it an ideal major for me."
Matt Baumeister, undergraduate student
"I have found a perfect fit in the geography program, where my classes and academic focus are centered in a field of study in which I'm truly interested. As I've gotten closer to graduation my classes have become progressively more interesting, and at the same time more difficult, but have been more focused in areas that I am able to get excited about studying--Geographic Techniques (Cartography, Geographic Information Systems, Remote Sensing), Cultural Geography, and Regional Studies. Many of these higher level geography courses promote critical and cross-disciplinary thinking, as the study of geography demands it."
Katie Haselwood, graduate student
"The UNL geography program not only encourages students to take advantage of the variety of geography courses offered, but it also promotes studies in other departments. As a student of historical geography, close ties with the history department is an important component to my course of study."
Ryan Weichelt, graduate student
"My time at UNL has offered me a number of unique opportunities to expand my future in academia. Faculty are in close proximity to students, which in turn fosters a healthy student-advisor relationship important for facilitating all research goals. Beyond the strong relationships with the faculty, the department also offers the tremendous opportunity to instruct your own class. Teaching assistants are given great leeway in developing their own curriculum in a number of lower-level geography classes. I feel the graduate program provides students a strong foundation to begin their careers as well-respected and trained geographers."
