Breadcrumb
Department of Geography, Environment & Spatial Analysis
Let landscape shift your point of view
The Department of Geography, Environment & Spatial Analysis at Cal Poly Humboldt explores complex relationships among people, place, power, and environment. Our B.A. in Geography emphasizes critical, ethical, and relational perspectives of global socio-ecological change, cultural landscapes, and spatial justice. Our B.S. in Geospatial Science & Technology equips students with cutting-edge tools for mapping, spatial data analysis, and environmental problem-solving. Come explore everything geography has to offer.
Academic Programs
Geography, B.A.
The Geography B.A. program at Cal Poly Humboldt explores the complex relationships between people, places, and environments in a rapidly changing world. Students examine how global environmental change, social movements, and political ecologies shape landscapes, communities, and ecosystems across diverse geographic contexts. Field-based research and interdisciplinary coursework prepare graduates to think critically about space, people, and the environment.
Geospatial Science & Technology, B.S.
The Geospatial Science & Technology B.S. is a dynamic, interdisciplinary program where students gain hands-on experience with mapping technologies, spatial data analysis, environmental modeling, and remote sensing to solve real-world environmental and social challenges. With a strong emphasis on fieldwork, community engagement, and technological proficiency, the program prepares graduates to apply spatial thinking across diverse landscapes and professional sectors.
Real World, Hands-On Learning
Whether you're collecting environmental samples, learning new spatial analysis software, or collaborating with local organizations, you’ll learn by doing—both in the classroom and out in the world. Our students gain practical experience through local fieldwork, lab training, and community partnerships that bring geography and geospatial science to life.
Research Experience & Career Prep
Our seniors complete self-designed research projects that build critical thinking, technical fluency, and a portfolio of work for graduate school or employment. The department also supports student travel to conferences, publishing opportunities, and research collaborations with faculty mentors.
Small Classes, Big Support
Our small class sizes foster close connections with professors and peers who know you by name. You'll grow intellectually while sharpening your analytical and technical skillset, all within a supportive community that guides you from your first semester through graduation and beyond.
Place-Based Learning Community: People & Planet
As an GESA freshman, you’ll participate in hands-on activities with your peers before classes even start and in some cases, have the opportunity to live in the same residence halls with your peers. GESA students will join four other departments for People & Planet, which focuses on learning how sustainability is local and global, while addressing specific case studies in fields like agriculture, clean energy, and climate justice.
Career Options
Our degrees prepare students for a range of careers that apply expertise in human and physical geography, cartography and geospatial techniques like: GIS, remote sensing, geospatial modeling, mobile mapping and programming. Careers include city planner, climatologist, cartographer, surveyor, land use specialist and more.
Geography Careers
- City and Regional Planner
- Environmental or Climate Justice Advocate
- Peace Corps Volunteer / Program Officer
- Watershed or Natural Resource Council Staff
- Environmental Educator / Outdoor Education Leader
- Community Development Specialist
- Cultural Resource Manager
- International Development Consultant
- Nonprofit Program Manager (e.g., sustainability, housing, food security)
- Policy Analyst (environment, housing, land use)
Geospatial Science & Technology
- GIS Analyst / Specialist
- Remote Sensing Technician
- Geospatial Intelligence Analyst (e.g., NGA, FEMA)
- Cartographer / Digital Map Designer
- Drone Pilot / UAS Technician
- Environmental Modeler
- Urban Data Analyst / Smart City Planner
- Wildfire or Disaster Risk Analyst
- Conservation GIS Technician
- Geospatial Software Developer or Support Specialist
Alumni Updates
Mason Gedanken
Geography, 2016
Mason Gedanken, 2016 Geography, landed a job with a consulting company as an intern. The job primarily consists of OSP, and fiber optics, and have Gedanken has learned quite a bit about utility poles, and how Telecom works. Gedanken has been out in the field collecting data from utility poles like Pole Tag, class, anchor information, telephone, and cable TV. Recently, he has been making maps of pole information using Google’s My Maps and plotting where the poles and the strands are located.
Jocelyn Keranen
Geography, 2013
Jocelyn Keranen, 2013 Geography, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, where she worked on agriculture and gender empowerment projects in a small village near the Great Rift Valley and Masai Steppe. After two years living in a village she added another year onto her service. Currently, Keranen is serving in Dar es Salaam as the National Malaria Coordinator. After my service, she plans on pursuing a Master’s of Public Health in Global Health
Kelly Jean Muth
Geography, 2012
Kelly Jean Muth, 2012 Geography, has been pursuing her goals of becoming a professional disc golfer. After graduating from HSU, where she participated in the Humboldt State Disc Golf Club, Muth has participated in several national competitions and has been ranked No. 26 in the world by the Professional Disc Golf Association.
Achievements
Find out what our students, faculty, and staff are being recognized for.
Dr. Laura Johnson
Geography
Dr. Laura Johnson was honored when her Old Town Eureka-based yoga studio, A Restful Space, won Best of Humboldt in the annual North Coast Journal contest. A Restful Space offers radical rest practice and communal grief tending with an emphasis on ecological, collective, and systemic grief. Over the summer, Laura also published a children's book with art from Pen+Pine called 'The Little Book of Rest.' You can find a copy at the North Coast Co-Op or Eureka Books, or reach out directly to Laura at laura.johnson@humboldt.edu. You can learn more about A Restful Space at www.arestfulspace.com
Dr. Amy Rock
Geography
"Experiences of Women AAG Presidents: Leading Through Diverse Voices" (Li, Mossa, Dixon, Oberhauser, Rock, Sultana, and Mukherjee, 2025) has just been released in electronic format (https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2025.2500588). The first in a series of articles on the status of women in Geography, this article focuses on the experience of women presidents of the American Association of Geographers, specifically the challenges they faced and the changes they brought to the organization and the discipline. This article will be bundled into a special issue of the Professional Geographer, encapsulating two years of research by the team.
Samantha Ramos
Geography
Geography major Samantha Ramos won second place for student paper at the California Geographical Society annual conference for her research on the spatial patterns of migrant deaths at the Arizona border.