北英属哥伦比亚大学

Geography is an interdisciplinary bridge between the human and physical sciences, studying human - environment interactions. The Geography program offers both a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts. The BSc in physical geography examines the natural environment and the interaction of climate, soils, vegetation and landforms, while the BA in human geography focuses on cultural, social, economic and rural environments. Degrees emphasise the geography of the North and contemporary geographic technologies.

Major in Geography

This Degree provides students with comprehensive training in the study of human geography, emphasizing the cultural, social, economic, and political connections between people and their environments. We offer courses that give students the conceptual and methodological means to make sense of the places and spaces they occupy and to understand how these relate to the rest of the world. Particular emphasis is on issues of community development, social justice, environmental equity, and population health in northern environments as a starting point for understanding the dynamics of place-making in a global context.

The minimum requirement for the completion of a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Geography is 120 credit hours.

Why Study at UNBC?

There are many good reasons to study Geography at UNBC, but here are four that stand out:

We put ideas to the test of practical experience. So much of what is written in text books or policy documents looks one way on paper, but appears as something different on the ground. Geographers are especially interested in understanding and explaining how things are situated in place and time as the result of the interaction of general and particular (i.e., contingent) processes.

We offer innovative and high quality learning experiences. The Geography Program at UNBC regularly offers Field Schools to intriguing places (e.g., Guatemala and South Africa). We recently offered a unique and highly successful Block Course Delivery Pilot in Human Geography that allowed students to take one course at a time in condensed three week format, rather than five courses at a time spread out over 13 weeks. Students in Physical Geography learn in a wide variety of settings, including lecture and seminar rooms, dry labs, wet labs, and by capturing data out in the field, including such places as the Quesnel River Research Centre in Likely, BC.

Our faculty bring their internationally-recognized research and expertise to the classroom. UNBC Geography places a high priority on faculty research. Our faculty are nationally and internationally recognized for research in things as diverse as glacial dynamics, critical development, remote sensing, Indigenous land rights, fluvial geomorphology, ecotourism, rural health care delivery, and community development. This does not mean that we treat our programs of research as something separate from our undergraduate teaching. Instead we bring the findings of our own work, as well as the latest developments in our respective fields, into our undergraduate courses. There are even opportunities in some senior level undergraduate courses for students to undertake research of their own, under the supervision of expert faculty researchers.

We prepare our students to understand the world around them, and to adapt and succeed in an ever-changing world. Our curricula place a high priority in providing students with a wide set of skills they can apply in an ever-changing employment market. This includes analytical methods (e.g., GIS, statistics, qualitative inquiry, research design, field measurement techniques), oral and written communication skills, critical thinking, and time management.