M.A. in Geography
For the Master of Arts degree, students must meet the following departmental requirements, including 36 credit hours of graduate work:
- 15 of the 36 minimum hours must be taken at the 6000 level. 15 additional elective hours may be taken at the 5000 or 6000 level within the major. The following courses are mandatory:
This 15-hour requirement at the 6000 level may not include the following courses: GEPL 6700, GEPL 6910, GEPL 6940 and GEPL 6960.Course List Code Title Hours GEPL 6100 Philosophy & General Methodology 3 GEPL 6150 Seminar In Research Methods 3 GEPL 6920 Research Design 3 - 3 of the 36 minimum hours, approved by the adviser, must be taken in a related area outside the department. This may not include an independent study or research course.
- The selection of geography courses and related courses should comprise a unified program chosen in consultation with the graduate adviser.
- After completing 6150 and 9 hours of graduate coursework, the student may register for GEPL 6920. As part of this course, students complete a research literature review and prepare and defend a thesis proposal. A grade of B or better in 6100, 6150, 6920, and B average or better for graduate work entitles the student to become a formal candidate for the M.A. geography degree.
- The student should research and write an approved thesis under the direction of a thesis advisory committee composed of departmental faculty members.
- Upon completion of the thesis, an oral examination on the student’s thesis research, as it relates to general professional competence, will be required.
- A minimum enrollment to qualify for the master’s degree is 2 hours of thesis credits, but there may be as many as 6 hours within the 36 semester hours of graduate work.
Non-Thesis Option
For students who do not plan to seek additional graduate education beyond the MA degree, the department offers a non-thesis for the MA in Geography. This option includes a general exam and a major research paper completed in the context of GEPL 6890 during the Student’s final spring semester in the program.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum of 36 credit hours of graduate course work. | ||
| GEPL 6100 | Philosophy & General Methodology | 3 |
| GEPL 5110 | Geographic Information Systems | 3 |
| GEPL 5530 | Principles Of Urban Planning | 3 |
| GEPL 6150 | Seminar In Research Methods | 3 |
| GEPL 5180 | Geographic Information Systems Applications | 3 |
| GEPL 6890 | Professional Development in Geography and Planning | 3 |
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Geography of Earth Systems | ||
| Transportation Geography | ||
| Community Planning Workshop | ||
| 12 additional hours at the 5000 or 6000 level in Geography. | 12 | |
| Minimum of 3 credit hours of graduate level course taken in a related field out of the department | 3 | |
| Total Hours | 36 | |
Combined bachelor's to master's- Geography pipeline program
Undergraduate students accepted to the Combined bachelor's to master's- Geography pipeline program option will be admitted to the MA Geography program and allowed to complete up to three graduate level classes (nine credit hours) during their final academic year of undergraduate studies. Students admitted into the pipeline program must apply for admission to the College of Graduate Studies for the semester that they intend to matriculate. Students must have a cumulative higher education GPA of 3.0 to be accepted into this pipeline program. They will then continue in to the graduate program upon completion of the undergraduate degree requirements. The graduate coursework (up to nine hours) may be applied to completion of both undergraduate and graduate degree requirements. It will be the joint responsibility of the faculty and administrators in the undergraduate and graduate programs to supervise students admitted to the combined program option, to ensure that the limit of nine hours taken as an undergraduate is strictly enforced, and to request that the College of Graduate Studies change their matriculation from Undergraduate to Graduate when they meet all undergraduate degree requirements.
The following provisions apply for classes taken for graduate credit: 1) graduate classes taken at The University of Toledo only after the student is accepted in the program, 2) GEPL 5110, GEPL 5180, GEPL 5490, GEPL 5500, GEPL5530, GEPL 5650, GEPL 5700, GEPL 5750 may be included in the approved nine semester hours of graduate credit taken as an undergraduate. Students interested in the combined program must submit a graduate admission application to the College of Graduate Studies.
- 1. Students will be able to describe the basic epistemological, ontological and political issues related to philosophy of knowledge that are significant to the training of academic geographers (and planners) at the MA level.
- 2. Students will identify issues in academic geography (and planning), their impact on the discipline, and their implications for future growth of the discipline.
- 3. Students will describe landmark events in the history of (Western) geographic (and planning) thought over the past 100 years.
- 4. Students will be able to analyze the major traditions and approaches in the history of geography (and planning).
- 5. Students will be able to generate examples of major figures in the “pantheon of heroes” of academic geography (and planning) emphasizing the past 100 years in Europe and the Americas.
- 6. Students will be able to detect and distinguish for purposes of discussion the philosophical and methodological predilections of current GEPL faculty.
- 7. Students will state the necessary and sufficient working vocabulary for discussing philosophical and methodological issues with others, including non-geographers (academics and non-academics).
- 8. Students will be able to generate examples of career opportunities for geographers and planners in relation to the educational experience in the UT GEPL MA Program.
- 9. Students will be able to create and critique conceptual or graphic models related to their chosen research areas and develop and critique basic statistical models or mathematical models.
- 10. Students will be able to articulate their understanding of the complicated relationship between research questions and research methods in the fields of geography and planning typically be identifying appropriate research methods for a given set of research questions.
- 11. Students will demonstrate an ability to read and evaluate research in geography and planning that uses a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods.
- 12. Students will understand some of the special challenges in working with spatial data including issues of spatial dependence, spatial aggregation at different scales and the modifiable areal unit problem.