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.
Requirements for Degree
The Ph.D. Program in Geography involves a total of 31 hours beyond the master’s degree (at least half at 7000-level+) including:
- 1 hour of GEOG 7901: Introduction to Graduate Study (taken in first semester/year)
- 3 hours of GEOG 7902: Introduction to Research Methods in Geography (taken in first semester/year)
- 9 hours of 7000-level courses (excluding GEOG 7901 and GEOG 7902)
- 9 hours in approved cognate fields (including one 7000-level course - see below for info about cognate fields)
- 9 hours dissertation research (GEOG 9000)
Graduate seminars in geography may 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
*If you are unsure if a course meets the requirements, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies or the Graduate Coordinator.
External Minor or Cognate Field
Departmental policy requires either an external minor or nine hours in approved cognate courses for the completion of the doctoral degree. The cognate courses or minor must be listed on the student’s program of study.
Requirements for a graduate minor are determined by the department issuing the minor (for example History, French Studies, Geology) and not by Geography & Anthropology. Students pursuing an external minor must have one member from the minor department on their committee. Geography PhD students may pursue a minor in Anthropology and vice versa.
The cognate field requirement is composed of a suite of courses—nine hours in cognate fields outside of the primary degree field (for example, either outside of Geography for the Geography PhD or outside of Anthropology for the Anthropology PhD) —of which at least three credit hours should be in an upper-level seminar (usually 7000-level). The courses need not be within a single discipline. The development of the cognate field may be quite flexible, and the specific suite of courses is developed by the student in consultation with the major professor and advisory committee. The cognate field may include traditional disciplines and emerging interdisciplinary fields, including, for example Oceanography, Geology, History, Atlantic Studies, Disaster Science Management (DSM), Anthropology, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Performance Studies). Students pursuing the Geography degree may select Anthropology as their cognate and vice-versa.