Sonoma State University
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

The Department of Geography, Environment, and Planning (GEP) mission is to promote excellence in teaching and research across four areas of focus: human-environment conflict and collaboration, building resilience with environmental systems, the application of geospatial and quantitative analyses to solve complex environmental and societal problems, management and planning for community and environmental sustainability, and urban planning.
In keeping with the disciplines of Geography and Environmental studies, our Geography and Environment degree focus upon bridging the natural and social sciences in order to produce more holistic and systemic analysis.
Our Geography and Environment degree offer students the option of five concentrations within the broader discipline. These concentrations provide students with the disciplinary breadth and allow them to pursue their interests in Environmental Systems: Designed for students who would like to focus on the natural environment, including the nature of biophysical patterns and processes, as well as applied, science-based conservation, restoration, conservation planning, land management, and preservation; Society, Environment, and Development: Designed for students interested in human-environment relations, sustainable development, natural resource policy and management and the human dimensions of environmental restoration; Geospatial Science and Technology: Designed for students interested in geographic information science and its application in resource management, land use planning, and land-change science; Sustainable Communities: Designed for students interested in social relations and environmental sustainability with urban and rural communities; and Planning for Sustainable Communities: Designed for students who would like to follow a pre-professional curriculum in planning.

This program offers an earth's-eye view of the past, by addressing the many ways in which humans have interacted with the natural environment over time. How has the environment shaped the course of human history, and how have human actions and attitudes shaped the environment? Also, how does studying past environments help us understand our present-day challenges? Where are we heading in terms of democratic decision-making, responsibility, and accountability? How does the realm of international policy dovetail with national-level governance? The program also focuses on sustainability as a concept in environmental and land use planning; definitions and models of sustainability; evaluation of sustainable development on global, national, regional, and local levels; practical experience with city and county planning for sustainability; understanding energy as a fundamental measure of organization, structure, and transformation in society; an introduction to energy management in residential and commercial buildings, focusing on space heating and cooling, and hot water; passive solar designs and small scale energy sources.

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The program focuses on introducing students to a spatial perspective of cultural, economic, political, demographic, and environmental processes; a historical perspective to critical analyses of changing relationships between civilizations and their environments; and a broad survey of how the earth works by examining how physical, chemical, and biological functions create local, regional, and global climate and landscape patterns. The program also explores the links between human activities and changes in climate, vegetation patterns, and landform processes.

http://gep.sonoma.edu/