Academic Calendar 2022/23

Geography and the Environment

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Geography Honours (for BA students)

Entrance requirements

Students can apply to the Geography Honours program when they have met the following criteria:

  1. Completion of 90 credits that apply to the Bachelor of Arts, including at least 26 credits in geography.
  2. A minimum GPA of 3.33 in all courses required for program completion.

Interested students are encouraged to seek out advice on the Geography Honours program from Geography faculty or an Advisor as early as possible in their coursework, and to apply to the program at the earliest possible entry date.

How to apply

To apply, students will need to provide the following:

  1. An honours program application package (available from the department assistant).
  2. A portfolio that includes coursework (laboratory assignments, written papers, etc.) from select completed geography courses. The portfolio is a tool to be used by students, the Geography Honours Advisory Committee, and potential faculty project advisor to identify areas of improvement and potential project topics, as well as writing and research strengths and weaknesses. Portfolio guidelines are available from the department.

Students should submit application materials to the department assistant. The Geography Honours Advisory Committee will then arrange for a project supervisor. Interested students are encouraged to approach a departmental faculty member appropriate to their research interests who may serve as their honours supervisor.

Fees and additional costs

See the Fees and Other Costs section. Additional fees for course field trips and miscellaneous lab materials will apply to all students enrolled in Geography programs.

Program outline

This section specifies the honours requirements only. Please refer to the Bachelor of Arts for program requirements.

Lower-level requirements: 29–30 credits

Course Title Credits
One of: 4
GEOG 103 The Physical Environment
GEOG 116 Earth Rocks
One of: 3
GDS 100/ GEOG 109 A World of Development  
GEOG 111 Environmental Issues and Strategies  
GEOG 140 Human Geography
Two of: 8
GEOG 201 Climate and People
GEOG 202 Understanding Your Earth: Landforms and Processes
GEOG 219/BIO 219 Biogeography
Plus:  
GEOG 241 Social Geography: The Urban Experience 3
or GEOG 242/ECON 242 Economic Geography
GEOG 252 Explanation in Geography: Quantitative Methods 4
GEOG 253 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems 4
One of: 3–4
STAT 104 Introductory Statistics  
STAT 106 Statistics I  
PSYC 110 Applied Statistical Analysis in Psychology  

Upper-level requirements: 32–42 credits

Course Title Credits
GEOG 354 Approaches in Human Geography 4
GEOG 433 Advanced Geography of Selected Regions 4
GEOG 491 Honours Research Design and Data Collection 4
GEOG 492 Honours Research Project 4
One of (physical geography): 4
GEOG 302 River Geomorphology  
GEOG 303 Environmental Hydrology  
GEOG 304 Coasts and Climate Change  
GEOG 307 Climates of Cities  
GEOG 308 Climate Change and Variability  
GEOG 315 Soilscapes  
GEOG 319/BIO 319 Swamps and Bogs  
GEOG 335/ BIO 335 Freshwater Ecology  
GEOG 353 GIS Applications  
GEOG 402 Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology  
GEOG 410/BIO 410 Plant Ecology  
GEOG 419/BIO 419 Paleoecology  
GEOG 453 Remote Sensing of the Environment  
GEOG 454 Geospatial Data Analysis Modeling  
GEOG 458 GIS Project  
One of (human geography): 4–5
GEOG 304 Coasts and Climate Change  
GEOG 311 Global Resources and the Environment  
GEOG 312 Nature, Power, and Place  
GEOG 314 Geography of Food  
GEOG 316 Geography of Food II: Fermentation  
GEOG 318 Water Resources Management  
GEOG 331 Environmental Assessment and Management  
GEOG 340/ GDS 340 Geographies of Poverty and Development  
GEOG 344 Geography of Urban Development  
GEOG 346 Geography of Religion and Peacebuilding  
GEOG 360 Introduction to Regional and Community Planning  
GEOG 361 Environmental Economics  
GEOG 362 Geography of Tourism and Recreation  
GEOG 364 International Planning and Development Policy: Adapting to Climate Change  
GEOG 440 Advanced Research Topics in Urban Geography  
GEOG 447 Aboriginal Geography  
GEOG 464/ GD 464 Community Planning and Development: Local Applied Studio  
GEOG 466/GD 466 Community Planning and Development: International Studio  
One of (professional competency in geography): 0–6
GEOG 396/GDS 310/SOC 396 Canada Internship
GEOG 398/GDS 311/SOC 398 International Internship
GEOG 412 Environmental Geography Practicum  
GEOG 460 Practicum in Planning
GEOG 470 Field Studies in Geography  
COOP 120 Co-op Work Term Performance and Report II  
At least 60 volunteer or work experience hours in a related geography field (see Note 3)  
Plus:  
Electives Two or three upper-level GEOG courses 8–12

Note 1: No more than eight credits of Directed Studies/Directed Readings (GEOG 480, GEOG 481, GEOG 482, GEOG 483, GEOG 484) will count toward the Geography Honours.

Note 2: No more than 11 credits of GEOG 396/GDS 310/SOC 396, GEOG 398/GDS 311/SOC 398, GEOG 412, GEOG 460, and GEOG 470 can be used towards meeting the Geography Honours requirements.

Note 3: Students planning to complete this option should contact the program coordinator for information and the process for demonstrating their learning.

Concentrations

Students can choose to complete an honours designation in Geography with a selected concentration. Students seeking an honours designation will need to apply to the honours program and complete the requirements of the honours program in addition to those required for the selected concentration.

Program requirements

In addition to the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts and for the Geography major, Geography Honours students will need to complete the following:

  1. 120 credits, including:
    • A minimum of 64 credits of Geography, including GEOG 354.
  2. An original research project, completed as part of:
    • One of the following courses: GEOG 396, 398, 400G, 400J, 402, 410, 440, 458, or 491; and
    • GEOG 492: Honours research project.
  3. Minimum CGPA of 3.33.

Research project

Successful completion of a research project is required prior to graduation. This project is developed in consultation with a faculty supervisor and demonstrates students' advanced skills and knowledge in a given area of geography.

Students will complete this project in two courses. In the first course, students will design and collect data for their project. This will be completed as part of GEOG 491 (Honours Research Design and Data Collection), or an equivalent third-year internship or fourth-year research-intensive course approved by the department. Students will then register in GEOG 492 (Honours Research Project) to complete the data analysis and project write-up.

Each honours student will disseminate their research findings in a presentation to an academic audience (e.g. professional conference or department seminar) as well as through an academic research poster or alternative. Following project completion and presentation, the honours supervisor in consultation with a second reader, will assign a grade for GEOG 492.

Residency

Please check the Bachelor of Arts residency section of the calendar for how many upper-level credits must be completed at UFV in order to graduate with this program.

Graduation requirements

A minimum CGPA of 3.33, including the mark awarded for the final research project, must be attained in order for an honours designation to be awarded.

Course listings

For complete details on courses see the course descriptions section.


Current Students