The master’s program is designed to provide a quality multidisciplinary education, foster theoretical and applied research in geography and planning, promote multicultural understanding, complement interdisciplinary work, and support local community outreach programs and grass-roots organizations. Faculty interests and research facilities offer opportunities to pursue intensive programs in community and urban planning, economic geography, geographic information science, environmental geography and planning, or cultural and behavioral geography.

For the Master of Arts degree, students must meet the following departmental requirements, including 36 credit hours of graduate work:

1. 15 of the 36 minimum hours must be taken in the department at the 6000 level. Fifteen additional elective hours may be taken at the 5000 or 6000 level within the major. The following courses are mandatory:

   Course List

   Code	Title	Hours
   GEPL 6100	Philosophy & General Methodology	3
   GEPL 6150	Seminar In Research Methods	3
   GEPL 6910	Comprehensive Exam Preparation	2
   GEPL 6920	Research Design	3

   This 15-hour requirement may not include the following courses: GEPL 6700, GEPL 6910, GEPL 6940 and GEPL 6960.
2. A minimum of one graduate-level (at least three hours) course or seminar, approved by the adviser, must be taken in a related area outside the department. This may not include an independent study or research course.
3. The selection of geography and planning courses and related courses should comprise a unified program chosen in consultation with the graduate adviser.
4. After completing 6150 and 9 hours of graduate coursework, the student may register for GEPL 6920. As part of this course, students complete a comprehensive exam and present 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, degree.
5. The student should research and write an approved thesis under the direction of a thesis committee composed of departmental faculty members. The student may select an applied or traditional thesis option.
6. Upon completion of the thesis, an oral examination on the student’s research, as it relates to general professional competence, will be required.
7. A minimum enrollment to qualify for the master’s degree is two hours of thesis credits, but there may be as many as six hours within the 36 semester hours of graduate work.

Non-Thesis Option

For Students who 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 6980 during the Student’s final spring semester in the program.

Minimum of 36 credit hours of graduate course work.

Required courses: GEPL 6100, 5110, 5530, 6150, 5180, 6980.

Elective courses: Select one from GEPL 5650, 5550, 5750, or 5700.

15 additional hours at the 5000 or 6000 level in Geography.

Minimum of one graduate level course taken in a related field out of Geography.

B grade or better in GEPL 6100, 6150, and 6980.