Mission Statement
The Department of Geography and Planning is committed to provide a rigorous, multidisciplinary education for our students, with a focus on skills and applied experience that will enable them to contribute successfully to the local and global community.
Goals and Objectives
• Provide our majors with a combination of technical skills, hands-on experience, and theory that enables them to successfully pursue employment or further their education at the graduate level.
• Provide our majors with an appreciation of the multidisciplinary nature of geographic and planning problems.
• Promote an appreciation for and understanding of diversity within the local and global community.
• Promote an understanding of the six essential elements of geography (see discussion below) as defined under the National Geography Standards (National Geographic Society, 1994), particularly as they relate to K-12 education and in-service teacher training.
• Provide courses to support the education programs at the College, including the Social Studies concentration in Elementary Education and Social Studies Secondary Education.
• Provide courses that complement non-majors interests in the areas of the environment (particularly watershed science, meteorology, global change and GIS), economic geography, community planning, and GIS for K-12 education.
• Provide courses that service the Intellectual Foundations requirements, particularly in areas of the social sciences, natural sciences, western civilizations, other world civilizations, and diversity.
• Provide courses, research, and advisement in support of the College’s Multidisciplinary Masters program, particularly in co-operation with the Great Lakes Center.
