Department website: http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/geography/

The graduate curriculum in geography enables students to obtain an understanding of the heritage and philosophical foundations of the discipline, of contemporary thought and practice in its various subfields, and of the theories, analytical tools, and techniques currently used in geographic research.

Faculty and graduate students have contributed in many ways to understanding and managing the earth’s diverse cultural and physical environments, ranging from local to global scales across the full range of human history. Current clusters of faculty research include space, place, and social worlds; environmental changes and surface processes; and digital landscapes.

Faculty associated with the space, place, and social worlds cluster investigate how socio-cultural and political-economic processes such as urbanization, agricultural transformation, industrialization, poverty, health care, migration, and mediated communication interact to produce diverse socio-spatial realities across urban, regional, national, and global scales.

Faculty associated with the environmental changes and surface processes cluster study biotic, climatic, geomorphic, and anthropogenic factors and processes.

Faculty associated with the digital landscapes cluster explore the theoretical and applied issues associated with the acquisition, measurement, representation, analysis, simulation, and visualization of digital geographic information.

The faculty has a strong international orientation and is well prepared to guide students in research in Latin America, South Asia, Southern Africa, and Europe, as well as in the Southwestern and Western regions of the United States. The department encourages interdisciplinary and collaborative work that takes advantage of the University’s extensive scholarly resources.

Graduate Handbook

Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.

Admission

All students undertaking doctoral study must hold a Master of Arts degree or the equivalent.

Total Hours Required: 30

Requirements

To qualify for advancement to candidacy, a student must do the following:

1. Complete, with a grade of at least B, two required seminars, GRG 390K and GRG 390L, in the first year of study. All doctoral students must also take three courses taught by different full-time faculty members within the department, as approved by the graduate adviser. GRG 390K, GRG 390L, GRG 397, and GRG 398T may not be counted toward this requirement. Doctoral students may repeat GRG X97 Conference Course in Geography, but this course may be counted only twice toward the degree.
2. Select a faculty supervisor and dissertation committee by the end of the second semester; the student may later change supervisors and alter the committee if appropriate.
3. Fulfill the language requirement by demonstrating proficiency in one language other than English. Second language English speakers may fulfill the requirement by demonstrating proficiency in English. Proficiency must be approved by the student’s dissertation supervisor and the graduate adviser. 
4. Fulfill the methods requirement by demonstrating proficiency in either a quantitative or a qualitative method, as approved by the student’s dissertation supervisor and the graduate adviser.
5. Present a Program of Work, indicated courses taken, that meets the approval of the dissertation supervisor.
6. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge in two areas of specialization in geography.
7. Pass a qualifying examination.
8. Present a proposal of the dissertation project for feedback and final approval by the dissertation committee. 
    

After admission to candidacy, a student has completed the formal program of coursework and engages in the research and writing of the dissertation, culminating in an oral defense of the dissertation.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
All students must also follow the following requirements and policies:
Graduate Liberal Arts Requirements
Graduate University Requirements