Welcome to the Department of Geography at the University of Oklahoma!
Geography is a big-picture discipline. Geographers integrate knowledge of culture, society and the economy with understanding of the earth's physical system and biosphere in order to provide a holistic perspective on human-environment relationships. The geographic perspective is vital to understanding and addressing many critical problems including global warming, environmental change, global and local conflicts, sustainable development, and maintaining indigenous cultures in a globalizing world. Geography is an ideal major for those who wish to use knowledge of society and the environment to make the world of the future a better place.
The Department offers B.A., B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees. We have about 75 undergraduate majors, dozens of minors, and about 55 graduate students. The Department has a long-standing reputation for excellence in research, teaching, and service to the University and the discipline of geography. Our particular strengths include cultural and historical geography, political geography, sustainability, physical systems, regional studies, and geographic information science. Our faculty members are nationally respected scholars and award-winning teachers. Our graduate and undergraduate majors come from across Oklahoma, throughout the United States, and around the world. We maintain collaborative links in research and teaching with faculty and students in many departments across the University.
As a small department within a major research university, we provide our students with considerable personal attention while taking advantage of the many cultural and technical resources associated with our diverse and vibrant intellectual community. All of our undergraduate and graduate advising is done by faculty members who invest considerable time in getting to know students personally and treating each as an individual. We strongly encourage our students to develop themselves professionally through publication, attendance and presentation at professional meetings, field study, internships, and study-abroad opportunities. Our Geography Club, Association of Geography Graduate Students, and Student Chapter of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing are highly active student organizations which sponsor a wide variety of professional development, community service, and social activities.
Please feel free to contact me at atarhule@ou.edu, or contact my outstanding colleagues, if you have any questions about the Department and its many research, teaching, and service activities. We look forward to hearing from you!
