Ph.D. in Geography
The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is the highest degree offered at LSU. It recognizes and demands mastery of one or more subfields of the discipline. Doctoral students go far beyond the level required for lesser degrees, and their work is expected to be of such quality that it could grace the pages of scholarly books and journals. Although doctoral students are expected to exhibit the intellectual breadth required of an academic position, the Ph.D. is primarily a research degree, and doctoral students should expect to spend little time sitting in undergraduate lecture courses in geography, save those needed to remedy deficiencies.
The Ph.D. Program in Geography involves a total of 31 hours beyond the master’s degree (at least half at 7000-level+) including:
- GEOG 7901 Introduction to Graduate Study (1 hour)
- GEOG 7902 Introduction to Research Methods in Geography (3 hours)
- 9 hours of 7000-level courses (excluding 7901 and 7902)
- 9 hours in approved cognate fields (including one 7000-level course)
- 9 hours dissertation research (GEOG 9000)
Graduate seminars in geography include:
- GEOG7902 Introduction to Research Methods in Geography
- GEOG7906 Settlement Geography
- GEOG7910 Form-Process Relationships in Coastal Environments
- GEOG7911 Selected Topics in Geography
- GEOG7917 Advanced Physical Geography
- GEOG7921, 7922, 7923 Research and Fieldwork in Geography
- GEOG7926 Advanced Geomorphology
- GEOG7935 Quantitative Methods in Geographical Analysis
- GEOG7936 Advanced Qualitative Research in Geography and Anthropology
- GEOG7937 Geographic Literature
- GEOG7938 Culture History
- GEOG7939 Seminar in Cultural Geography
- GEOG7942 Coastal Climatology
- GEOG7945 Socioeconomic Applications of GIS
- GEOG7946 Coastal and Estuarine Resources
- GEOG7950 Problems in the Geography of Latin America
- GEOG7960 Hydroclimatology
- GEOG7973 Advanced Geographic Information Systems
- GEOG7975 Advanced Remote Sensing Seminar