GEOG 208
Environment and society
In this course, we explore the deeply interconnected biophysical and social forces that shape nature/society relations, from agriculture and biodiversity to flooding and climate change. What biophysical and social cycles shape our world, and how have they changed over time? How do we disrupt those cycles? What tools can we use to repair them? The central point of the course is that every environmental issue is simultaneously a social issue, so if we analyze them separately, we cannot address them well. This is an active learning course and is discussion based. Readings and course materials come from a wide range of sources including current events from newspapers, long form journalism on critical environmental topics, podcasts, and textbook chapters. Fall 2022 Syllabus.
GEOG 343
Perspectives on environmental decisions
This course provides an applied and interdisciplinary introduction to the science underlying behavior, judgment, and decision making with an emphasis on decisions with implications for environmental sustainability. The course will introduce the basics of information processing and highlight our tendency as humans towards the irrational, including the prevalence of heuristics and biases in our decision making. We will then apply these behavioral concepts to examining how to influence environmental decision making. Students participate in a semester long group project where they put their skills to use by designing behavioral interventions to create more sustainable environmental outcomes on campus.
GEOG 478
Global change, food and farming systems
This class introduces issues in global, regional and local food systems, emphasizing the complex linkages of food and farming systems to global environmental, political, and economic changes. The course examines debates around the role of technology in agricultural development with an emphasis on both domestic and international food systems. We look at how technology has shaped the food system and how the interaction with political and environmental change has altered the trajectory of the food system.
Capstone in geography
This course is designed to synthesize your learning over your undergraduate career and put it to use in the world. This course will discuss readings and examples of geography in action, help you articulate your professional goals and a plan for achieving them, and practice professionalization / work on the ‘soft skills’ to help you navigate life after graduation. We will also be working in teams to deliver real world project results to partners – this can be research, practice, or a combination of the two. You will choose a capstone project in the first week of the course and present your final Capstone project to the department and community partners at the end of the semester. Spring 2021 syllabus. And here is an example of a capstone project.
GEOG 498
Agricultural decision making seminar
In this graduate seminar we will look at different approaches to decision making and the models and assumptions that inform them. We will read from a range of disciplines and focus on advances in decision science, behavioral economics and environmental psychology and the implications these have on studying agricultural decision making. There will be an emphasis on uncertainty, risk, heuristics, and information access. You will work on a semester long project of your own design that engages with the theory and literature and you will review peers work and present on your own topic throughout the semester.