Doctoral Degree
Geography Master of Arts degrees are offered within the Department of Anthropology and Geography. GRE exam scores (verbal and quantitative) are required for graduate admission. Applicants either should have earned a prior degree in geography, or be prepared to take a prescribed set of essential geography prerequisite courses at the University of Nebraska if accepted into a graduate degree program.
Geography graduate degree programs within the Department of Anthropology and Geography emphasize human-cultural geography, regional geography, geographic information analysis (GIS, remote sensing, cartography, spatial analysis), person-environment behavior and relations, climatology, anthropology, and community and regional planning. There are currently four Graduate College approved specializations in Geography: Community and Regional Planning (doctoral level only); Environmental Geography; GIS/Cartography/Remote Sensing; Indigenous Peoples Studies. When completed successfully, Graduate College specializations are explicitly indicated on the student transcript. A Graduate College approved doctoral-level specialization in anthropology is pending approval. Students may specialize in areas other than Graduate College approved specializations.
Geography graduate faculty represent a wide spectrum of expertise across the social and physical sciences, and humanities. Faculty are primarily from the Department of Anthropology and Geography, The Center for Advanced Land Management Technologies (CALMIT) / School of Natural Resource Sciences, Community and Regional Planning, and Geosciences.
Geography stresses individuality and flexibility in designing graduate degree programs. Special interest is paid to the way that student interests mesh with faculty expertise. Thoughtful advising is provided to guide students toward their academic goals, in choosing courses and research projects, and to the completion of their degrees. Internships are strongly supported, and teaching and research assistantships are available on a competitive basis.
Student Background
The entering student is expected to have satisfied requirements equivalent to a master's degree at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. This includes a master's thesis, but exceptions may be made in some circumstances. A student may not be admitted to the PhD program, or allowed to receive funding for PhD work unless master's degree requirements are completed by the time of entrance to the PhD program. Exceptions to this rule may be made for "special reasons," which require a majority vote of the Geography Graduate Committee.
A prospective PhD student may apply for and conditionally receive an assistantship award prior to the actual completion of the master's degree. However, any student who has not completed a master's degree at the time the assistantship is conditionally awarded must agree his/her letter of acceptance to inform the Graduate Committee Chair at least three weeks before the start of classes whether or not the degree will be completed. For further information regarding degree requirements, please see the Requirements and Guidelines Handbook.
Applications
If you decide to apply, the following materials are required and should be sent to the office indicated:
To the Office of Graduate Studies:
1. Application for Admission form
2. Two sets of official transcripts for ALL undergraduate and graduate grades
3. GRE scores
4. TOEFL or IELTS score for students coming from a Non-English speaking country
5. Financial resource information if not a US citizen
To the Geography Program:
1. Three letters of reference
2. A two-page statement describing your professional purpose and goals
Deadlines for submitting ALL of the above application materials are January 15 if applying for an assistantship, and April 15 only for fall semester admission only. An exception to these dates is for admission in the spring semester which begins in January, in this case the deadline for admission is October 15. It should be noted that mid-year assistantships are rarely available.
More Information
Introductory Letter (.pdf format)
Requirements and Guidelines for Applying to the Geography Program (.pdf format)
GIS Certificate Program (.pdf format)
Information about Lincoln, Nebraska
* Stop by and visit! Faculty and Grad students are always willing to meet with prospective students!
Recent Dissertations
Melissa Connor, 2005. "Landscapes of Conflict"
Paul A. Kelley, 2005. "Population Change in the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains, 1960-2000"
Bidisha Nag, 2005. "A Journey Across the Black Waters : Female Migration from India to the United States"
Katherine Nashleanas, 2005. "Metageographic Communities: Structuring the Non-Place Place"
Darcy L. Boellstorff, 2004. "Impacts of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy Set-aside Scheme on Soil Erosion in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain"
Henry Nii Nmai Bulley, 2004. "A Watershed-based Classification System for Lakes in Agriculturally-Dominated Ecosystems: A Case Study of Nebraska Reservoirs"
Weirong Chen, 2004. "Characterizing Scale-dependent Spatial Structure in Multi-resolution, Multi-temporal and Hyperspectral Remotely Sensed Imagery"
Cody L. Knutson, 2004. "Rural Water Development for Marginal Regions with a Case Study of South Dakota's Mni Wiconi Project"
Juan Ramirez Aliaga, 2002. "Peasant Rationality and Land Cover Changes in the Central Drylands of Chile"
