BA in Geology and Earth Sciences

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Please note: the last year of entry for the BA in Geology and Earth Sciences will be the 2024-2025 academic year. Students may however transfer into this program until it formally ends in Spring 2028.

The Bachelor of Arts in Geology and Earth Science is specifically designed for undergraduates who wish to study Earth Sciences as a foundation for careers in a variety of areas, such as environmental law, natural resource business, land use planning, Earth science education, science journalism, and many government positions. The B.A. program includes a broad spectrum of courses and focuses both on information about the Earth, and on how society makes decisions that affect the Earth system.

Students must earn a letter grade of C or better in all geology and allied courses. Additionally, all prerequisite courses must be passed with a grade of C or better before progressing to the next level of geology courses.

Required Courses
 
 
 
A. Each of the following:
 
  1. GEOL 1000-level introductory geology lab course(s)
  2. GEOL 2000 Geochemical Cycles, Earth System
  3. GEOL 2010 Mineralogy
  4. GEOL 2020 Intro to Petrology
  5. GEOL 2100 Sedimentation and Stratigraphy
  6. GEOL 2080 General Field Geology
  7. GEOL 4820 Capstone
  8. LIFE 1010 General Biology
  9. CHEM 1020 General Chemistry I
  10. PHYS 1110 General Physics I
  11. MATH 1405 Trigonometry or MATH 1450 Algebra/Trig
 
B. 6 courses from the following list:
 
  1. ATSC 2000 Meteorology or GEOG 3450 Weather and Climate
  2. ECON 2400 Economics of the Environment
  3. GEOG 3010 Landforms and Soils
  4. GEOL 2050 Principles of Paleontology
  5. GEOL 2070 Introduction to Oceanography
  6. GEOL 3005 Principles of Geophysics or GEOL 2005 Introduction to Geophysics
  7. GEOL 3400 Geologic Hazards
  8. GEOL 3500 Global Change
  9. GEOL 3600 Earth and Mineral Resources
  10. GEOL 3650 Energy: A Geological Perspective
  11. GEOL 4444 Geohydrology
  12. GEOL 4490 Geochemistry
  13. GEOL 4610 Structural Geology and Tectonics
  14. GEOL 4835 Applied/Exploration Geophysics
  15. POLS 4051 Environmental Politics and Admin
  16. SOIL 4120 Genesis, Morphology, Classification of Soils
  17. ECON 4400 Environmental Economics or ECON 4410 Natural Resource Economics
 
C. Additional 12 hours of electives with advisor consultation, at least 6 hours of which must be taken outside of the Department of Geology & Geophysics.