PROGRAMS AND RESEARCH FACILITIES Berkeley Geography offers the highest quality graduate training for future scholars and teachers at the collegiate level, as well as for those going into professional careers in government, NGOs and consulting. The program is divided into three major areas: Development & Environment, Local & Global Relations, and Global Environmental Change. Within these domains a wide range of faculty interests are represented, such as political ecology, economic geography, cultural geography, modernity studies, urban studies, geography of race and gender, climatology, biogeography, and geomorphology. Faculty come with a broad spectrum of regional specialties as well, including Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Arctic, the Pacific Basin, California, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. The faculty has been expanded in recent years to include a number of affiliates in other departments with expertise in such fields as GIS, natural resources, fluvial geomorphology, archeology, cognition, paleo-environments, and urban architecture. Berkeley students are expected to be independent, and we welcome those who have had professional experience and wish to return to deepen their education. Students are encouraged to range freely through the curriculum and to follow their inspiration where it leads, working in tandem with faculty advisors. Students choose their own mentors, often utilizing two or three faculty in equal measure; these may include faculty affiliates and members from other departments. While faculty have their own research agendas and teaching specialties, and often collaborate with students, we believe students should march to their own drummer. We expect students to read extensively, develop the necessary research skills, and produce well-crafted thesis and dissertation. Many students publish their findings along the way, as well. The University of California at Berkeley is the premier graduate research and education institution in the United States, and Geography students can take advantage of a wealth of corollary programs and faculty. Geographers regularly interact with faculty and students from the College of Natural Resources, College of Environmental Design, Energy and Resources Group, Geology & Geophysics, Biological Sciences, Departments of Anthropology, Sociology, Economics, Women's Studies and Ethnic Studies in the Division of Social Sciences, and with Art History, English and others of the Humanities. The campus is rich with interdisciplinary Centers and Institutes in International Studies, Latin American Studies, Labor Studies, Atmospheric Sciences, Southeast and East Asian Studies, Humanities, European Studies, and many more. Collaboration with the Lawrence Laboratories is also common. Geographers direct several of these centers and students benefit from research programs, grants and symposia organized under their aegis. Geographers also provide core teaching in Development Studies, Environmental Sciences, and American Studies. Geography is housed in the newly renovated (and seismically reinforced) McCone Hall, near the lively North Gate of campus. The Earth Sciences and Map Library is downstairs. Across the glade is the Main Library, center of the system housing 11 million volumes, and the exceptional Bancroft Library, the greatest archive of materials on Western and Central America. The Department facilities include classrooms, offices for faculty, students and visiting scholars, research laboratories, and cartography and GIS teaching labs. Central to our operations is the Department Computer Facility, one of the best of its kind on campus and a hub of everyday faculty, staff and student operations. Its main lab, specializing in graphics and cartography, includes scanners, digitizer, and color printers, backed up by a Web Server, extensive software library, and the campus TCP-IP network. The Dickinson Library provides full-time graduate student access to workstations. We have a large range of low-tech wall-maps, projectors and copiers, as well. The Department staff provides excellent support in all areas, including student services, grants, equipment, computing and cartography. ACADEMIC PLAN, ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS, AND FINANCIAL AID Graduate: Admissions (Ph.D.): Students are admitted to the University of California by the Graduate Division, on the recommendation of the Department. The prospective graduate student submits the following to the Department: the Graduate Application for Admission and Fellowship (obtain application electronically at http://www.grad.berkeley.edu:5900/admis/app01/getapp.htm); statement of purpose; duplicate set of official transcripts, with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least a B (3.0) in the last two years of college work; scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test; scores from an official TOEFL report (required of international applicants from countries whose official language is not English); and three letters of academic appraisal. Application deadline is December 16 for Admissions and Fellowships. Admission is for Fall only. The GRE should be taken in October prior to the application deadline. The Ph.D. Program: All students take Geography 200A&B in the first year and must take at least 8 units every semester (primarily in the form of appropriate graduate seminars) before taking the Qualifying Exam and advancing to candidacy. By the end of the third year, students entering with a B.A. or B.S. only must hand in a paper that would be suitable—in length and in quality—for submission to an academic or scientific journal. The paper must be handed in, and approved by the main advisor, no later than a month before the Qualifying Exam.* The Qualifying Examination (the "orals") must be taken by the end of the third year, although it is recommended that students entering with a Master’s degree take it by the end of their second year. It is based on a discussion of three broad geographic fields built around bibliographies produced in consultation with the examining committee.** Before starting dissertation research, each student must have a Dissertation Prospectus Meeting—during which the student discusses a written research proposal—with at least two members of the Exam Committee. The Ph.D. dissertation is written under the supervision of a committee of three University faculty members, one of whom must be from outside the Geography Department and a member of the Berkeley Academic Senate. Upon final acceptance of the dissertation, the degree of Ph.D. is awarded. It is expected that the student will complete the Ph.D. by the end of the sixth year in the program. * A student who does not hand in a satisfactory paper can be terminated from the program and awarded a terminal MA degree. ** A student who does not pass the Qualifying Exam can be terminated from the program and awarded a terminal MA degree. Financial Aid: Outstanding applicants are nominated for University Fellowships of various kinds, which top candidates are normally offered. The department also offers financial support in the form of Graduate Student Instructorships (TAships), and internal fellowships from Block Grants and endowments (the Carl Sauer, the Holway, Kenneth and Florence Oberholtzer, and the Society of Woman Geographers). Undergraduate: Admission: Berkeley is on a semester calendar, with the fall semester beginning in late August. The application filing period for freshman and transfer applicants is the month of November. The UC application booklet is typically available around October 1; application forms must be postmarked no later than November 30 to be considered for admission. Berkeley does not accept new applications for the spring semester. Applications may be obtained from the Office of Undergraduate Admission, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-5800, or electronically at: www.ucop.edu/pathways/. Degree Requirements: Geography majors must take three lower division courses, and at least eight upper division courses. Of the latter, five must be in one of the three specialty groups, one each from the other two options, and a methodology course. The three specialty areas are: (i) development-environment; (ii) local-global; and (iii) physical-environmental change. The Department offers a Minor which requires a minimum of five upper division courses. Students must maintain an overall grade point average of 2.0 for all courses taken for the minor. A minimum of three courses must be taken on the Berkeley campus. Students must take at least one course in the physical area and one course in the human area from amongst the courses listed in the range of 103 -169. Students may select courses in the range of 175-189, but if so there are several that have limited enrollment and require permission of the instructor. FOR INFORMATION AND ADMISSIONS: For general information: Contact Delores Dillard phone: (510) 642-3903 email: deloresd@uclink4.berkeley.edu For the undergraduate and graduate handbook and admissions applications: Contact Carol Page, Student Affairs Officer phone: (510) 642-3904 email: carolpage@berkeley.edu Mail address: Department of Geography 507 McCone Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-4740 Fax: (510) 642-3370 For a Berkeley catalogue: Send $11.00 to: ASUC Store Mail Order Department University of California Berkeley, CA 94720