Department of Geography

The Department of Geography is the second largest department of Geography in the state of Michigan (after Michigan State University). According to the Guide to Geography Programs in the Americas: 2005-2006 issued by the Association of American Geographers, this Department of Geography ranked 6th among all institutions in the United States in number of thesis-based Masters degrees awarded (and 1st in Michigan). It also ranked 21st among all institutions in the United States in number of Bachelors degrees awarded (and 2nd in Michigan). This rank places this Department of Geography among the top 5 percent of all programs awarding the baccalaureate degree in Geography.

Geography has constituted a strong intellectual enterprise from WMU’s very beginning in 1905 as one of the sciences. (Geography remains to this day an important part of A&S’s Division of Physical Sciences & Mathematics.) President Dwight Waldo recruited Prof. Leslie Wood, an outstanding physical geographer, to come to WMU. Wood, in turn, recruited Prof. Lucia Harrison, who was one of the outstanding minds in North American geography. Harrison encouraged her colleagues and her students to excel in their studies. Wood and Harrison formed a powerhouse of intellectual insight into the evolving field of geography at that time. In this early period, WMU’s prime focus was on teacher training, of course. When WMU became a University as the post-WWII baby boom engulfed higher education, WMU was fortunate to recruit a variety of talented geographers who proceeded to build upon the strengths of the tradition previously established—not least of whom were Oscar Horst, Eugene Kirchhherr, Albert Jackman, and many others. This faculty team had largely retired by the turn of the 21st century, and had been replaced by a new, energetic, and talented young faculty team.

As we look forward into the 21st century, the Department of Geography is well placed to address key issues confronting American society. We look forward to playing an instrumental role in Western Michigan University’s part in forging the future of Michigan’s society and economy throughout the 21st century. This direction is entirely consistent with the recognition among scholars in peer disciplines that Geography, particularly in the GIScience era, plays an ever more central role in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and learning.

The Department of Geography seeks to understand distribution patterns of the world’s physical and cultural features and their implications for better use and management of resources.

• To foster the acquisition of core knowledge in geography and the applications of such knowledge to real world issues through quality teaching and research.
• To raise awareness, appreciation, and relevance of geographic dimensions of social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental issues of the day in order to address them more effectively.
• To provide an environment for student professional growth through development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and multiple learning skills, as well as aesthetic and creative capacities.

The Department of Geography seeks to create and maintain a challenging and intellectually vital geographic learning community that engages students and faculty in continuing discourse, with focus on active, informed, productive, creative, open-minded, and ethically responsible professional training and citizenship in a complex, multicultural world.

Because Geography (like History) is one of the academy’s early ‘interdisciplines’, it is an intellectual field with very broad scope and depth. This Geography Department has chosen to focus increasingly upon Geography’s nexus with issues of science, technology and society. That is to say, this Department is concerned to apply concepts and methods of contemporary Geography to issues of societal concern and importance. In shorthand parlance, our prime focus is “Applied Geography”.

At the present time we offer Certificate in Geographic Information Science, baccalaureate degrees in Geography,Tourism, and Community and Regional Planning, and a Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science as well as a Master’s degree in Geography. We have plans to start a PhD program in Applied Geography, over the next 5 years and become a nationally ranked (NRC) at the Ph.D. granting level in 10 years.