IUP’s Department of Geography and Regional Planning offers graduate programs leading to the degree of Master of Science in geographical sciences and planning. The MS program is designed to prepare students for a variety of careers as geographers in business, government, research, environmental, and planning organizations or for entry to a doctoral program at another university. Emphasis is placed upon developing professional competence in the tools, substance, methodology, and geographic theories.
Graduates of the program are employed by the state and federal government, city, county, and regional planning commissions, private consultant and engineering firms, business and industry, and colleges and universities. Knowledge of environmental processes, the organization and operation of the planning field, and geographic information systems is of value to the graduate in the job search.
Admission Criteria
Students who enter the program usually hold a bachelor’s degree in geography or one of the social sciences. Persons with degrees in education, science, or business also may qualify and often find a degree in geography of value.
Program Requirements
The Master of Science program requires a minimum of 33 semester hours of credit (including the thesis credits) for the thesis option or 39 hours for the non-thesis option. Three core courses must be included: GEOG 610 , GEOG 612 , and GEOG 614 . Students will also complete 9 credits of required courses (including thesis credits), as well as 15 cr. of electives based on student’s interests. Select courses in related fields may be applied toward the degree as part of the electives. All students will be expected to demonstrate proficiency in cartography in their thesis or portfolio. Both thesis and non-thesis options are available in the MS program. For students selecting the non-thesis option, a completed portfolio is an ungraded graduation requirement. A three-person faculty committee evaluates the portfolio, which will include at least three of the student’s best pieces of work, representative of three content areas: (1) writing, (2) cartography, and (3) analysis as well as a written reflective analysis of their collective work. The portfolio is submitted by the end of the first week of the semester the student is scheduled to graduate.
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