Geography

George White, Department Head
Department of Geography
109 Wecota Hall
605-688-4511
E-mail: george.white@sdstate.edu
www.sdstate.edu/geo

Faculty
Professor White, Head; Professors, Napton; Associate Professor Watrel; Assistant Professor Jackson, Hungerford, Lin; Professors Emeritus Berg, J. Gritzner, Hogan, and Sandness; Distinguished Professor Emeritus C. Gritzner.

Department Overview
The Department of Geography offers enriching academic and life experiences, connecting people to the world in which they live. The department offers programs addressing the complex relationships and linkages of human and natural systems; geography is the science of place. As such, students study and analyze pressing issues ranging from climate change, human modification of the Earth’s systems, environmental hazards, resource assessment, and land use to population distributions, urbanization, cultural adaption, political organization of space, and globalization. Students gain experience with tools and techniques including computer cartography, remote sensing, Global Positioning Systems and Geographic Information Systems. These are recognized increasingly as essential for solving many contemporary societal questions. This also makes graduates from the department marketable in numerous business and governmental careers, as well as graduate schools for those seeking advanced degrees.

Programs

Facilities and Services
The Geography department is located in Wecota Hall and the Wecota Hall Annex. The department also hosts the the Geographic Information Sciences Center of Excellence  and produces its own annual Geography Convention, the longest running such event in the United States.

Student Engagement Opportunities
The department provides numerous opportunities for student engagement. For example, the Geography Club is a student organization centered on both academic and social functions. Membership is open to anyone interested. Additionally, the South Dakota State Geography Convention is student organized and sponsored.

Students and faculty regularly travel including attendance at regional and national geography meetings, as well as travel to other parts of the world in pursuit of their individual scholarly interests. SDSU Geography also has a connection with a university in Romania. The exchanges that result from this relationship provide invaluable international experience for students, which is critical in the increasingly globalized world.