- Director: Jonathan Rothchild
Objectives
Geography is one of the fundamental disciplines in the social sciences and an essential component in a liberal arts education. The critical importance of geography and the topics addressed by the discipline are recognized by its inclusion in the core curricula of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, the College of Communication and Fine Arts, and the School of Film and Television.
Geography examines the relationships between people and their environment–its focus is sometimes simply referred to as “human ecology.” With a distinctly spatial perspective, geography examines the wide range of places that humans have come to occupy on the Earth. Critical to that examination are an analysis of the ways in which people have modified the environment, for both better and worse, and the long term consequences of such modifications. Geography has also traditionally been the discipline that engages in the systematic study of the world’s diverse countries and regions. With the dramatic political and economic transformations occurring throughout the world as a result of contemporary globalization, regional geographic analysis represents a continuing challenge to the discipline and gains greater importance every day.
Geography Student Learning Outcomes
By virtue of their Geography courses, students should know:
- The general global patterns of major geographic elements and processes
- The regional structures and expressions of human environmental relationships associated with the modern and postmodern realm
- The structures and expressions of human settlement associated with the developed realms/core and those associated with the less developed realm/periphery
- The basic research questions and agendas associated with human and regional geography
- The common theories, practices, and methodologies employed in contemporary human geography
- The global patterns of contemporary societies differentiated by their social and economic structures, values, and practices;
By virtue of their Geography courses, students should be able to:
- Effectively employ contemporary social science methodology in the analysis of environmental and geographic issues
- Demonstrate written and oral competencies in the analysis of environmental and geographic issues and policy
- Identify and utilize appropriate primary data for the analysis of environmental and geographic issues
- Apply their understanding of environmental and geographic issues to the development and critical analysis of programs and policies appropriate to addressing contemporary social and economic problems;
By virtue of their Geography courses, students should value:
- Diverse perspectives in the analysis and assessment of human environmental issues and global policies
- Thoughtful analysis of the implications of human population growth and evolving technologies in the context of social justice and sound environmental practices
- Rigorous, scientific research that enlightens human ecology and contributes to the resolution of social and environmental problems
- Community-based participation in the development of programs and policies that contribute to social, economic, political, and environmental improvement.
