The geography minor is meant for students who would like to acquire basic knowledge of geography in addition to their major area of study. The department also offers undergraduate certificates in GIS and Arctic Studies.
For more information, visit the Undergraduate Geography Major & Minor Degrees webpage.
Requirements
Program Requirements
Declaration of a minor is open to any student enrolled at CU Boulder, regardless of college or school affiliation.
- A minimum of 18 credit hours must be taken in the Department of Geography, including a minimum of 9 upper-division credit hours.
- All coursework applied to the minor must be completed with a grade of C- or better. No pass/fail work may be applied. The GPA of all minor coursework must equal 2.00 (C) or greater.
- Student pursuing an individually structured major, or who are pursuing a major in distributed studies, will not be eligible to earn a minor.
- Students will be allowed to apply no more than 9 credit hours (including 6 upper-division) of transfer work toward a minor.
- Coursework applied toward a minor may also be applied toward Gen Ed as well as the requirements for other majors.
Optional Concentrations
No specific concentration is required and is not noted on student transcripts. However, students who do wish to focus on one area of geography should see the suggested course lists below. The list of courses may change at the department's discretion.
Physical Geography Focus
The following two courses are prerequisites to all upper-division courses listed further below.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 1001 | Our Changing Planet: Climate and Vegetation | 4 |
| GEOG 1011 | Our Changing Planet: Landscapes and Water | 4 |
An additional lower-division course is available.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 2271 | Introduction to the Arctic Environment | 3 |
Among upper-division courses, the following sequences are suggested:
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Climatology | ||
| GEOG 3301 | Analysis of Climate and Weather Observations | 3 |
| GEOG 3601 | Principles of Climate | 3 |
| GEOG 4331 | Mountain Climatology | 3-4 |
| Biogeography | ||
| GEOG 3351 | Biogeography | 3 |
| GEOG 4371 | Forest Geography: Principles and Dynamics | 3 |
| GEOG 4401 | Soils Geography | 3 |
| Hydrology and Geomorphology | ||
| GEOG 3511 | The Water Cycle | 4 |
| GEOG 4241 | Earth Surface Processes | 4 |
| GEOG 4321 | Snow Hydrology | 3-4 |
| GEOG 4401 | Soils Geography | 3 |
In addition, you will find it important to complete one course in statistics at the time you commence upper-division work in physical geography. Students considering graduate school in physical geography are strongly encouraged to complete a year of coursework in general chemistry, physics, calculus and statistics.
Upper-Division Courses
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 3251 | Mountain Geosystems | 3 |
| GEOG 3301 | Analysis of Climate and Weather Observations | 3 |
| GEOG 3601 | Principles of Climate | 3 |
| GEOG 3351 | Biogeography | 3 |
| GEOG 3511 | The Water Cycle | 4 |
| GEOG 4201 | Biometeorology | 3 |
| GEOG 4241 | Earth Surface Processes | 4 |
| GEOG 4251 | River Systems and Landforms | 4 |
| GEOG 4261 | Glaciers and Permafrost | 3 |
| GEOG 4271 | The Arctic Climate System | 3 |
| GEOG 4311 | Watershed Biogeochemistry | 3 |
| GEOG 4321 | Snow Hydrology | 3-4 |
| GEOG 4331 | Mountain Climatology | 3-4 |
| GEOG 4371 | Forest Geography: Principles and Dynamics | 3 |
| GEOG 4401 | Soils Geography | 3 |
Human Geography Focus
One of the following four courses are prerequisites to all upper-division courses listed further below.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 1962 | Geographies of Global Change | 3 |
| GEOG 1982 | Global Geographies: Societies, Places, Connections | 3 |
| GEOG 1992 | Human Geographies | 3 |
| GEOG 2092 | Advanced Introduction to Human Geography | 3 |
Upper-Division Courses
Additional prerequisites are listed.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 3422 | Political Ecology | 3 |
| GEOG 3612 | Geography of American Cities | 3 |
| GEOG 3622 | Cities of the Global South | 3 |
| GEOG 3662 | Economic Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 3672 | Who Runs the World? Sex, Power, and Gender in Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 3682 | International Development: Economics, Power, and Place | 3 |
| GEOG 3692 | Introduction to Global Public Health | 4 |
| GEOG 3742 | Place, Power, and Contemporary Culture | 3 |
| GEOG 3812 | Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean | 3 |
| GEOG 3822 | China’s Diverse Geographies: Environment, Society, Politics | 3 |
| GEOG 3832 | India and Its Neighbors: Societies, Economies, and Geopolitics | 3 |
| GEOG 3842 | Human Geography of Czechia: Political, Economic and Social Transitions | 3 |
| GEOG 3862 | Global Africa: Environment, Development, and Culture | 3 |
| GEOG 3882 | Geography of the Former Soviet Union | 3 |
| GEOG 4023 | Advanced Quantitative Methods for Spatial Data | 4 |
| GEOG 4292 | Migration, Immigrant Adaptation, and Development | 3 |
| GEOG 4622 | City Life | 3 |
| GEOG 4632 | Development Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 4712 | Political Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 4732 | Population Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 4742 | Topics in Environment and Society | 3 |
| GEOG 4762 | Geographies of Political Islam | 3 |
| GEOG 4832 | Geography of Tibet | 3 |
| GEOG 4852 | Health and Medical Geography | 3 |
Environment-Society Geography Focus
The following two courses are prerequisites to all upper-division physical geography courses listed further below.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 1001 | Our Changing Planet: Climate and Vegetation | 4 |
| GEOG 1011 | Our Changing Planet: Landscapes and Water | 4 |
An additional lower-division course is available.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 2852 | Contemporary Southeast Asia: Environmental Politics | 3 |
Upper-Division Courses
Additional prerequisites may be listed.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 3251 | Mountain Geosystems | 3 |
| GEOG 3301 | Analysis of Climate and Weather Observations | 3 |
| GEOG 3351 | Biogeography | 3 |
| GEOG 3402 | Natural Hazards | 3 |
| GEOG 3412 | Conservation Practice and Resource Management | 3 |
| GEOG 3422 | Political Ecology | 3 |
| GEOG 3511 | The Water Cycle | 4 |
| GEOG 3601 | Principles of Climate | 3 |
| GEOG 3612 | Geography of American Cities | 3 |
| GEOG 3672 | Who Runs the World? Sex, Power, and Gender in Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 3682 | International Development: Economics, Power, and Place | 3 |
| GEOG 3692 | Introduction to Global Public Health | 4 |
| GEOG 3812 | Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean | 3 |
| GEOG 3822 | China’s Diverse Geographies: Environment, Society, Politics | 3 |
| GEOG 3862 | Global Africa: Environment, Development, and Culture | 3 |
| GEOG 4401 | Soils Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 4430 | Seminar: Conservation Trends | 3 |
| GEOG 4501 | Water Issues in the American West | 3 |
| GEOG 4742 | Topics in Environment and Society | 3 |
| GEOG 4632 | Development Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 4812 | Political Ecology & Latin America | 3 |
| GEOG 4822 | Environment and Development in China | 3 |
| GEOG 4852 | Health and Medical Geography | 3 |
Geographic Information Science Focus
Students undertaking the GIS Certificate as well as a GEOG minor must take at least 9 additional credit hours of non-GIS GEOG classes to satisfy the minor requirements.
The following is a lower-division course in this concentration.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 2053 | Mapping Our World | 3 |
The following are prereqs for all upper-division courses, unless otherwise noted.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 3023 | Statistics and Geographic Data | 4 |
| GEOG 3053 | Geographic Information Science: Mapping | 4 |
Upper-Division Courses
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 4023 | Advanced Quantitative Methods for Spatial Data | 4 |
| GEOG 4043 | Advanced Geovisualization and Web Mapping | 4 |
| GEOG 4093 | Remote Sensing of the Environment | 4 |
| GEOG 4103 | Geographic Information Science: Spatial Analytics | 4 |
| GEOG 4173 | Research Seminar | 3 |
| GEOG 4203 | Geographic Information Science: Spatial Modeling | 4 |
| GEOG 4303 | Geographic Information Science: Spatial Programming | 4 |
| GEOG 4403 | Geographic Information Science: Space Time Analytics | 3 |
| GEOG 4503 | Geographic Information Science: Project Management | 3 |
| GEOG 4603 | GIS in the Social and Natural Sciences | 3 |