Professional Master's Degree
The M.A. with specialization in GISciences is a program designed to be completed through coursework over a 2 year period. The program builds skills across the range of GIScience topics in our department in the first year and further develops these in particular application areas in the second year. It requires a minimum of 32 semester hours of graduate work, of which 15 semester hours must be earned in courses numbered 200 and above.
Pre-Doctoral M.A.
The M.A. is designed to be completed in four semesters. It requires a minimum of 30 s.h. of graduate work, but students accumulate 40-48 s.h. of graduate credit in completing the degree. Students use these additional hours to increase their breadth of knowledge in geography and to tailor their programs of study to their individual interests. A maximum of 6 s.h. may be earned for thesis work.
Graduate students demonstrate competence by completing appropriate course work; and completing an M.A. exam, or completing and defending an M.A. thesis, or completing the comprehensive exams for the Ph.D.
Ph.D. Requirements
The Doctor of Philosophy program is designed to prepare students for positions in college and university teaching and in advanced research. It provides programs of study leading to broad knowledge of a field of geography and its literature and special expertise in a specific subfield.
The Ph.D. is a four- to five-year postbaccalaureate program that requires a total of 72 s.h. of graduate credit. Students can enter the program directly from the B.A. or B.S. or with advanced standing corresponding to their previous graduate education.
Before students can be admitted formally to candidacy for the Ph.D., they must submit an original research paper to a faculty committee for approval. Students who complete an M.A. or M.S. thesis can submit it to fulfill this requirement. Before taking the comprehensive examination, which consists of both written and oral components, each student must submit an area review paper to his or her Ph.D. committee. This paper, which must be approved by the student's Ph.D. adviser, consists of a critical review of research in the student's area of concentration.
The comprehensive examination covers both the student's area of concentration and his or her more general field in the discipline. After obtaining the approval of a dissertation supervisor, the student must submit a dissertation proposal to his or her dissertation committee for its critical comments and approval. The student then must complete and defend the dissertation.
Read the UI departmental catalog about The Department of Geography.
About Graduate Study in the Department of Geography
Major Areas
Within the area of the environmental consequences of human decision making with a GIScience approach, our research and graduate education is concentrated in 4 fields. There is considerable overlap or cross fertilization among them, and some projects are identified with more than one:
Graduate Students
We have a diverse graduate student body researching a range of human, environment, health, and GIScience topics. We actively encourage and support students to present research papers at conferences and have regularly won awards. Students collaborate with faculty within the department and university and around the world leading to peer-reviewed publications. All of our students are fully funded and have competed successfully for intramural funding for graduate education and research.
Funding
All graduate students in the Department of Geography are currently funded. A wide range of funding opportunities are available and the department makes every effort to ensure adequate funding for each student. Students are currently funded by research grants, teaching positions, among others. Please feel free to contact individual faculty to discuss various funding options within the department.
In addition to research and teaching assistant positions, the Graduate College at the University of Iowa provides significant funding through various programs:
Presidential Graduate Fellowship - The University of Iowa Presidential Graduate Fellowhips provide substantial stipend support over 5 years, only three of which require TA/RA work, plus all tuition, fees, and student health insurance. The awards are very competitive and are typically award to students demonstrating excellence in undergraduate or previous graduate degrees. Applicants are nominated by their graduate program.
Dean's Graduate Fellowship program - The Dean's Graduate Fellowship program promotes recruitment of outstanding students who are underrepresented in their graduate discipline. It provides broad financial support that includes stipend, tuition, mandatory fees, and a generous health insurance allowance. Applicants are nominated by their graduate program.
As well as many other programs and scholarships available directly to students applying for graduate study in the Department of Geography.
Applying for Graduate School at the Department of Geography
Applications are accepted throughout the year with appointments typically coinciding with the start of each academic semester. To apply, please enquire at the Deparment of Geography office either by mail:
| Phone | ||
316 Jessup Hall Department of Geography The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa 52242 |
319.335.0150 |
geography@uiowa.edu |
Or contact individual faculty.
