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Students interested in the study of place and the processes that have acted together to shape the complex "place" structures that exist in our world can take a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Geography in the Department of Geography and Environment. Such study requires an understanding of the principles of ecological and physical systems; of the cultural, social, economic and political forces acting on those systems; and of the management, planning or scientific tools necessary to meet environmental challenges and opportunities.

The Program
Students can take a Major, Minor, or Honours in Geography and B.A. Minor in Geographic Information Systems. The Department offers courses in both Human and Physical Geography.

Learning occurs through lectures, lab work, field study, library and archival searching. Field trips form an increasingly important part of our educational process. In recent years, in addition to course related trips within the Maritime region, Newfoundland, and Montreal, there have been trips to the Carolinas, Louisiana, Bermuda, and Dominica.

What do I do with geography?
Graduates have a wide variety of career possibilities. These include work within business, government, and
non-government agencies, and community-based organizations. Some sample careers include:

Many of our graduates have entered post-graduate programs in geography, or more applied programs such as Urban and Regional Planning, Geographic Information Systems, Business, Education, and Law.

Facilities
The Department of Geography and Environment has a state of the art Geo-Spatial Data Centre. This centre provides a teaching lab and research space for faculty and students. The Centre supports a range of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software used by researchers and industry. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor has listed this type of geotechnology as one of the three most important new career areas.

The Department of Geography and Environment also has its own MAD Lab, the Mount Allison Dendrochronology Lab, which conducts tree-ring related research. Students participate in summer research projects examining such things as habitats of endangered species, reconstructing climate over the last 500 years, or dating of historical buildings.

In addition geomorphological research is conducted in the University’s Coastal Wetland Institute, a highly specialized facility providing laboratory and field research tools and instrumentation.

Research
Faculty members are actively involved in research, often conducted with student assistants. Some of the research areas include past and future climates in Canada, environmental education, community-based urban planning, human influences on tropical forests and coastal wetlands, historical settlement and heritage preservation, industrial innovation and knowledge formation.

Students can make use of the Department’s facilities or conduct research in other areas they choose. Some examples of recent student research include; Climate change and agricultural adaptation; Sea-level rise and community-based policy implications; Dendrochronological analysis and forest management policies in Nova Scotia; and Management of landfill sites in resource communities.

Department Website

Academic Calendar: Geography and Environment