Geological Sciences, BS-MS, Geographic-Information Science

General Education Requirements

Competencies

Competencies must be completed within the student’s first 30 credits.

♣ General Education Categories (34-35 credits total)

FYS, W-I, and OC courses must be completed within the student’s first 30 credits. Courses used to satisfy the general education requirements of the university must be taken from a minimum of six different academic disciplines. First Year Seminar and Level I Written Communications courses are exempt from this restriction.  Courses may not be used to fulfill both major discipline and general education requirements. 

 ‡ Written Communication (Level II & Level III) and Diversity, Power Dynamics & Social Justice

Courses taken for Written Communication Level II, Level III and Diversity, Power Dynamics and Social Justice may be used to satisfy requirements anywhere else in a student’s program of study where they may apply.  Credits will be counted in the area where they apply.

♥       Students may choose to use support courses to satisfy general education categories, but may not be required to do so.  Note:  If a course is used to satisfy two or more requirements (for example, a support course and Scientific Reasoning requirement), the credits are counted in only one place.  Using a course to satisfy more than one requirement does not reduce the credit total required for graduation.  

♣       Courses used to satisfy the general education requirements of the university must be taken from a minimum of six different academic disciplines.  First Year Seminar and Level I Written Communications courses are exempt from this restriction.  Courses may not be used to fulfill both major discipline and general education requirements.

#       These Scientific Reasoning General Education Category courses do not have to be a sequence or be from the same discipline.

‡        Level II and Level III Written Communications courses and Diversity, Power Dynamics & Social Justice may be used to satisfy requirements anywhere else in a student’s program of study where they may apply. The credits are counted only in one area.

♦        General Education categories to be completed with the first 30 credits. Exceptions in the timing of these courses will be made for transfer students.

COURSES IN MAJOR (51-53 credits total)

Major Core Courses (24 credits)

• Choose one course from the following:

• GLS 100 Dynamic Earth
• GLS 101 Exploring Earth
• GLS 102 Evolving Earth
• GLS 170H Honors Dynamic Earth
• GLS 171H Honors Evolving Earth

• Choose one course from the following:

• GLS 109 Water Sustainability
• GLS 103 The Blue Planet

• And all of the following:

• GLS 301 Geomorphology
• GLS 302 Earth Materials
• GLS 334 Sedimentary Environments and the Stratigraphic Record
• GLS 341 Structural Geology

Major Concentration Courses (18-20 credits)

• GPH 903 Geographic Information Systems
• GPH 909 Interpretation/Analysis of Remote Sensing Imagery
• GPH 904 GIS for Research and Analysis
• GPH 952 Spatial Database Analysis and Design

       And choose any two GLS 200 or above courses:

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• ___ __________________________________________

Major Capstone Courses (9 credits)

• GLS 470 Field Geology I
• GLS 485 Field Geology II
• GLS 500 Senior Research in Geology I

♥ Required Support Courses (17-20 credits)

• Choose two courses from the following list:

• CHE 130 General Chemistry I
• CHE 131 General Chemistry II
• PHS 211A College Physics I
• PHS 212A College Physics II

• Choose one course from the following list:

• MAT 150 A Precalculus Introduction to Functions
• MAT 147 Statistics
• MAT 220 Calculus I

• And choose two courses from BIO, CHE, PHS, MAT or GPH (340, 344, 343 or 446)

  •    ___ ___________________________________
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5th Year Courses (19-21 graduate credits)

Fall

• GPH 942 Advanced Geographic Quantitative Methods
• GPH 945  GIS Project Implementation
• GPH 960  Software Design and Programming in GIS

Spring

• GPH 876  Directed Study (thesis)
  OR
• GPH 965  Seminar in GIS
  AND
• GPH or GLS    Graduate Elective
  AND
• GPH or GLS   Graduate Elective
   

Free Electives (12 credits minimum)

​Additional free elective credits beyond the credits listed may be required based on the use of support courses to satisfy General Education Category requirements

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Minor (Optional):

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Total credits for undergraduate degree: 120

Total credits for combined degree: 139-141