The geography program welcomes students from any major on campus to earn a minor in geography with 15 credits of geography classes.

The Minor

The department expects students majoring in the following disciplines to be most interested in a minor in geography: Anthropology, Earth Systems, Economics, Education, Environmental Science, Natural Resource Conservation, Sustainable Communities, Management, Geology, History, and Sociology.

Advising

Potential minors are welcome to first consult with the Chief Undergraduate Advisor in Geography, or with other geography advisors, to discuss possible options and relevant faculty.   They may make an appointment for Geography Advising via the EAB-SSC Navigate system at https://umass.campus.eab.com/

Requirements

The minor requires 15 credit hours of courses in Geography. One of the courses should be at the 100 level and the other four courses should be at the 200 level or above. It is recommended that students interested in the minor take at least three of the upper-level courses from one of the six concentrations listed for the Geography major.

Restrictions

Transfer credits. Maximum of 6 credits allowed. These must be geography courses.

No Pass/Fail courses are allowed in the minor.

Independent Study/Practicum courses: maximum of 6 credits allowed. Relevant examples are listed in the above options. In general we expect students to take 3 credits of these at most.

Registering for the minor…

When students have completed the requirements for the minor they may download a form from the registrar’s office, have it signed by the undergraduate advisor for geography, then file it with the registrar’s office.  Here is a link to the form: http://www.umass.edu/registrar/sites/default/files/DeclarationofAcademicMinor.pdf