AAG

scores (for graduates of U.S. institutions) on the Graduate Record
Examination that are less than five years old; statement of purpose;
and three letters of evaluation. No single criterion dominates but the
combination must demonstrate potential for success in a highly
individualized graduate program. Applications from students lacking
an undergraduate major in geography are welcome but such students
may be asked to make up deficiencies. Application deadline is
December 15; all applications are evaluated once each year in early
January.
Admission (MGIS) — Requires a Bachelors degree with a preferred
cumulative grade point average of 3.0. Additional requirements
include completion of one college-level course in mathematics,
statistics, and computer programming. The GRE is not required. For
international applicants, an English Language Proficiency Exam such
as TOEFL, IELTS, or MELAB is required.. Applicants should
understand that the admissions process is competitive, based on a
careful assessment of each applicant’s file, and that we can only offer
admission to a limited number of qualified applicants to ensure high
quality advising and accessibility to facilities and other resources. All
application materials are submitted online and must be submitted by
January 30 for Fall admission; September 1 for Spring semester
admission.
M.A. Degree Requirements: The department offers two plans for the
M.A. degree. Plan A thesis option [20 credit hours + 10 thesis credits;
minimum 14 credit hours within department and 6 credit hours outside
department] includes work in supporting fields or a minor, plus a
thesis. Plan B papers option [30 credit hours; minimum 14 credit
hours within department and 6 credit hours outside department]
includes work in a supporting field or a minor, plus three masters
papers. Those students intending to continue on to the PhD are
encouraged to complete the Plan B option which allows them to
further develop the three master's papers into the comprehensive
papers required for the PhD in a more timely manner.
MGIS Degree Requirements: This degree is offered Plan C
(coursework only) and requires 35 credits of course work.. For more
details on MGIS degree requirements, visit:
http://cla.umn.edu/mgis/program/master-geographic-informationscience
Ph.D. Degree Requirements: The Ph.D. is awarded for successful
completion of three comprehensive papers, a preliminary oral
examination, and the completion and defense of a dissertation.
Complete requirements are as follows: 1) Coursework -52 credit
hours: 16 credit hours in department + 12 credit hours outside
department + 24 thesis credits; 2) Completion of 8001 [Problems in
Geographic Thought] + 8405 [Professional Development Seminar] +
two additional GEOG 8xxx (graduate level) courses. Students must
include at least one methods course in their graduate degree plan.
Additionally, they must include at least one proposal-writing course in
their graduate degree plan. The methods and proposal-writing
requirements may be fulfilled by courses outside the department; 3)
Preparation of a research dossier; 4) Preliminary exams (taken in
Spring of 3rd year [semester 6]; earlier where appropriate for students
entering with MA/MS; 5) Examination of dissertation proposal
(within 3 months of completing preliminary exams); 6) Defense of
dissertation.
The foreign language/methodology requirements are similar to those
for the M.A. Degree Programs and are individually designed in
consultation with a faculty adviser.
Financial Aid: The University of Minnesota operates on a semester
system. All admitted students (unless otherwise noted in their
acceptance letter) will be supported through a combination of
fellowships, teaching assistantships and/or research assistantships as
follows: 5 years if entering with a BA; 4 years if entering with an MA.
All options usually provide a stipend, tuition waiver, and health
insurance. Summer support for field work is typically awarded to all
incoming graduate students, and is available, on a competitive basis,
to all students after their first year.
HUMAN RIGHTS STATEMENT: The University of Minnesota is
committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its
programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color,
creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, disability,
public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual orientation.
FACULTY:
Bruce P. Braun, Ph.D., University of British Columbia, 1996,
Professor — society-environment relations, political ecology,
social and cultural theory, cultural studies of the environment
Peter Calow, D.Sc.University of Leeds UK, 1984, Professor —
science and public policy, focusing on risk of chemicals in the
environment.
Kate Derickson, Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University, 2011,
Assistant Professor — Urban political economy, race and
racialization, feminist and critical epistemology, engaged
scholarship, land use and environmental politics, social and
political theory
Dodge, S., Ph.D., University of Zurich, 2011, Assistant professor —
GIScience, movement analysis and modeling, spatiotemporal
analytics, agent-based simulation, geographic visualization,
movement ecology, movement-environment interactions.
Vinay K. Gidwani, Ph.D. UC-Berkeley, 1997, Professor —
development economics; agrarian/environmental studies
Kathryn Grace, Ph.D. UC-Santa Barbara, 2008, Assistant Professor
— population geography, demography, health, development,
food security and land cover land use change, quantitative and
qualitative analysis
Daniel Griffin, Ph.D. University of Arizona, 2013, Assistant Professor
— climate science; environmental change; water resource issues;
dendrochronology
George Henderson, Ph.D., UC-Berkeley, 1992, Professor —
Marxism; post-capitalist politics; value theory of labor; Marxist
cultural critique
Kurt F. Kipfmueller, Ph.D., University of Arizona, 2003, Associate
Professor — Biogeography, paleoclimatology, forest dynamics,
dendrochronology
Katherine Klink, Ph.D., Delaware, 1992, Associate Professor —
physical climatology, climate-biosphere interactions, climate
modeling, quantitative methods
Mark B. Lindberg, Ph.D., Kansas, 1987, Senior Cartographer,
Adjunct Associate Professor, co-director of MGIS Program —
geographic information systems, digital cartographic production,
cartographic design
Steven M. Manson, Ph.D., Clark, 2002, Professor — nature-society
relationships; land use-land cover change; human dimensions of
global change; biocomplexity; socioeconomic vulnerability;
Latin America
Robert B. McMaster, Ph.D., Kansas, 1983, Professor — geographic
information science/systems, cartographic design and
visualization, quantitative methods and spatial analysis,
environmental risk assessment and justice, geographic
information science and society
Arun Saldanha, Ph.D., Open University (UK), 2004, Associate
Professor — race relations, geography of music, geography of
tourism, poststructuralist philosophy, feminism, anthropology
Abdi I. Samatar, Ph.D., UC-Berkeley, 1985, Professor —
development geography, political economy and agrarian change,
development theory and the State, Africa
Eric Shook, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013,
Assistant Professor — cyberGIS, geographic information
science, agent-based modeling, high-performance computing
Ying Song, Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 2015, Assistant
Professor — GIScience, time geography, spatio-temporal
modeling and analysis, transportation geography
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