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2026-2027 Undergraduate Bulletin
Geographic Information Systems, BS Major in
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 Return to: Majors and Minors
The BS Major in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allows students to complete a broad-based interdisciplinary course of study with required concentrations in geography and geographic information systems, in related applications and methods, in mathematics and statistics, in the natural sciences, and with a selection of relevant electives from across the curriculum.
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Program Requirements
Candidates for graduation must fulfill the following requirements: - Grade requirement: Courses with grades lower than C- do not count toward the total number of hours required for the major.
- Residency requirement: At least 15 semester hours must be in-residence.
- A student must complete a series of courses designed to provide knowledge in a professional, scientific, or technical area outside of geography which complements the student’s studies within geography. Such a professional, scientific or technical core will consist of at least 18 semester hours and can be satisfied in one of the following ways:
- Completion of:
- A minor or second major in an area outside of geography, 18 semester hours of which will count toward the BS in geography.
- An individually designed professional, scientific or technical core of at least 18 semester hours outside of geography, subject to the approval of the student’s geography faculty adviser who will consult with the appropriate other department(s). Examples of an individually designed core might be pre-medical studies, pre-law studies, or other professional areas.
- A second major outside of geography, 18 semester hours of which will count toward the BS in geography.
- At least 65 s.h. must be completed in liberal arts course work.
- Completion of the BS Degree Requirements as indicated in the Bulletin.
Program Requirements – Total Semester Hours: 30 minimum
Completion of a minimum of 30 s.h. of course work as outlined below, consisting of: 12 s.h. of core required courses in geography; minimum of 6 s.h. of applications and methods courses in geography, computer sciences, engineering, sustainability, geology, or information technology; a minimum of 6 s.h. of mathematics requirements; a minimum of 3 s.h. of natural science requirements in physics, chemistry, geology, or biology; and a minimum of 3 s.h. of electives, selected from the list of courses specified below. A. GIS Core Requirements – Total Semester Hours: 15
B. Applications & Methods Requirements – Semester Hours: 6 Minimum
Chosen from following: C. Mathematics Requirements – Semester hours: 6 minimum
Students without a background in high school calculus are strongly advised to take MATH 050 before continuing on to calculus. Chosen from following: D. Natural Science Requirements – Semester hours: 3 minimum
Chosen from the following: E. Electives – Semester Hours: 3 minimum
Chosen from following and with an advisor’s permission: NOTE: Prior to taking elective courses, see advisor to develop a course plan. Click on course titles listed below to access course descriptions and check prerequisites, as well as scheduling information (in order to ensure eligibility to enroll and proper completion of academic background courses). Note that not all courses are offered every semester. Courses taken to fulfill elective requirements must be different from courses taken to fulfill Core and Science requirements for the degree - BIOL 142 - Urban Habitats Semester Hours: 2
- BIOL 136 - General Ecology Semester Hours: 3
- BIOL 170 - Urban Ecology Semester Hours: 3
- CSC 015 - (CS) Fundamentals of Computer Science I: Problem Solving and Program Design Semester Hours: 4
- CSC 016 - (CS) Fundamentals of Computer Science II: Data Structures, Algorithms and Object-Oriented Programming Semester Hours: 4
- CSC 120 - Algorithms and Data Structures Semester Hours: 3
- CSC 132 - Computational Modeling Semester Hours: 3
- CSC 157 - Introduction to Data Mining Semester Hours: 3
- CSC 170 - Principles of Database Management Semester Hours: 3
- ECO 010 - (BH) Economics, Environment and Community Semester Hours: 3
- ECO 165 - Urban and Regional Economics Semester Hours: 3
- ENGG 010 - Computational Methods in Engineering Semester Hours: 3
- ENGG 047 - Environmental Engineering Semester Hours: 3
- ENGG 060 - Water Quality for Environmental Engineers Semester Hours: 3
- ENGG 110 - Project Management Semester Hours: 3
- ENGG 112 - Engineering Drawing Semester Hours: 2
- ENGG 120 - Transportation Engineering I Semester Hours: 3
- GEOG 003 - (BH) The Geography of a Globalizing World Semester Hours: 3
Credit will be given for GEOG 003 or GS 001, not both. - GEOG 005 - (BH) Population and Migration Geography Semester Hours: 3
- GEOG 006 - (BH) Resources and Energy Geography Semester Hours: 3
- GEOG 080 - (BH) Global Transportation and Logistics Semester Hours: 3
Credit will be given for GEOG 080 or GS 120, not both. - GEOG 102 - (BH) Population, Resources and Environment Semester Hours: 3
- GEOG 103 - (BH) Cities and Suburbs Semester Hours: 3
- GEOG 115 - (IS)(CC) Global Health Geography Semester Hours: 3
Credit given for GS 115 or GEOG 115, not both - GEOG 118 - (IS, CC) Disasters and Social Vulnerability Semester Hours: 3-4
Credit will be given for GEOG 118 or GS 118, not both. - GEOG 135 - (BH) Economic Geography Semester Hours: 3
- GEOG 159 - (IS) Creating Digital Maps Semester Hours: 3
- GEOG 161 - Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the Natural Sciences Semester Hours: 3
- GEOG 162 - (IS) Geospatial Remote Sensing Semester Hours: 3
- GEOG 193 - Seminar: Economic Geography Semester Hours: 3
- GS 001 - (IS) Introduction to Global Studies Semester Hours: 3
Credit will be given for GS 001 or GEOG 003, not both. - GS 115 - (IS)(CC) Global Health Geography Semester Hours: 3
Credit given for GS 115 or GEOG 115, not both - GS 118 - (IS, CC) Disasters and Social Vulnerability Semester Hours: 3-4
Credit wil be given for GS 118 or GEOG 118, not both. - GS 120 - (IS) Global Transportation and Logistics Semester Hours: 3
Credit will be given for GEOG 080 or GS 120, not both. - GEOL 001 - (NS) Planet Earth Semester Hours: 3
or - GEOL 005 - (NS) Environmental Geology Semester Hours: 3
- GEOL courses counted for the natural science requirement do not count as electives. - GEOL 033 - Environmental Geomorphology Semester Hours: 3
- HPR 068 - Environmental Health Semester Hours: 3
- HPR 070 - Epidemiology Semester Hours: 3
- HPR 160 - Global Health Issues Semester Hours: 3
- IT 030 - Web Development and Analytics for Business Semester Hours: 3
- IT 031 - Data-driven Web Application Development Semester Hours: 3
- IT 076 - Introduction to E-Commerce Semester Hours: 3
- IT 117 - Database Management Systems Semester Hours: 3
- JRNL 055 - Design and Visual Strategies Semester Hours: 3
- JRNL 056 - Publication Design Semester Hours: 3
- JRNL 083 - Data Journalism Semester Hours: 3
- MASS 110 - Media and Urban and Suburban Communication Semester Hours: 3
- MASS 130 - Social Media, Technologies and Policy Semester Hours: 3
- MKT 144 - Marketing Research and Analytics Semester Hours: 3
- MKT 172 - Principles of Exporting and Importing Semester Hours: 3
- PHI 101 - (HP) Ecology and Environmentalism Semester Hours: 3
- PHI 133 - (HP) Ethics and the Natural Environment Semester Hours: 3
- PHI 138 - (HP) Ethics and Sustainability: Personal, Social and Corporate Responsibility Semester Hours: 3
- SBLY 002 - (IS) Sustainability Planning and Policy Semester Hours: 3
- SBLY 145 - Geospatial Analysis in Sustainability Semester Hours: 3
- SOC 141 - (BH) Urban America Semester Hours: 3
- SOC 147 - (BH) World Population Semester Hours: 3
- SOC 180 - Statistics in Sociology Semester Hours: 4
- WSC 050 - Scientific Writing Semester Hours: 3
Special Topics Courses and Internships
Up to 6 semester hours of credits can be counted as electives with permission of the Global Studies and Geography chairperson: Recommended Program Sequence - Total Hours: 124
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