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AcademicsGIS at Georgia SouthernCourse sequencePeopleFacilitiesAlumniNewslettersGeoClubInternship ProgramSeminarsField TripsHistoryMission
Bulletin BoardTutor ScheduleCommitteesThis Week
Contact UsSite IndexSearchDepartment HomepageAllen E. Paulson College of Science and Technology
Department of Geology and Geography
Message
from our Chair, Dr. Dallas Rhodes
Dallas Rhodes in Hawai`i
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2005 Annual Report |
- The Nature of Geology and Geography
As our name stipulates, this Department encompasses two closely related disciplines. If you want the text book definition: "Geology is the scientific study of the Earth." That is not too inspiring, so let us try this, "Geology is the science concerned with the Earth's past, present, and future." Or . . . "Geologists seek to understand how the Earth works and they apply this knowledge to unraveling the planet's history and anticipating its future." We will skip dictionary definitions of geography altogether and try to do better. We could say: "Geography concerns the relationships between location and all aspects of the physical, biological, and human worlds." Or . . . "Geography concerns the rich variety of events, peoples, landscape, climate, and biology that characterize the Earth's surface." However we choose to define our disciplines, we recognize both the intellectual and applied aspects of our fields.
The educational goal of the Georgia Southern University Department of Geology and Geography program is to provide students with an appreciation of the relationship between human activity and the planet on which we live. The program places particular emphasis on several points:
1. The Earth is dynamic and the active processes shaping the Earth are complex and intricately interrelated;
2. Earth processes have played an important role in human evolutionary and cultural history; and
3. Wealth and the material quality of life derive from the Earth's resources and their rational utilization.
The geological sciences offer a number of professions ideal for those who combine talent in science, curiosity about nature, and enjoyment of outdoor work. The BS degree prepares geology and geography majors for professional careers and graduate studies. The BA degree is appropriate for those planning to teach science at the elementary and secondary levels, others who wish to major in the geological or environmental sciences but who do not plan a professional career in them, and those who wish to combine knowledge of Earth science with some other endeavor, e.g. environmental law. A range of introductory geology courses is offered so that all Georgia Southern University students will have opportunities to expand their understanding of the Earth and will appreciate why the noted historian Will Durant wrote: "Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice."