What do Geographers do?

An undergraduate major in Geography can prepare you for careers in many different areas:

1. state and local government offices
2. urban and regional planning agencies of the federal government
3. international organizations
4. business or business consultants
5. college and university teaching and research (after an advanced degree)
6. primary and secondary level teaching
7. specialized careers in remote sensing or aerial photography
8. resource evaluation and management
9. urban and regional planning
10. marketing resources
11. cartography/GIS

To read a Nature magazine article (Jan. 22, 2004), “Mapping Opportunities,” on the growth of geography and employment, which identifies geotechnologies as “one of the three most important emerging and evolving fields,” click HERE (opens 222 KB pdf file in new window).

Typical Careers

The employment outlook for those in the technical area of Geography is strong. There is also some demand for geography teachers. St. Thomas graduates in the field have jobs in private industry and at research institutes in GIS management. Other jobs include management of wetlands for a conservation district, finding new service areas for gas lines for a Minnesota power company, building a stream database for a pollution control agency, and building a public land survey for a natural resources department. All of these positions utilize GIS.

More than half of recent graduates have gone on to graduate schools and many have studied abroad in places such as the Baltic nations, Scotland, Australia, Egypt, Brazil, Japan, India, New Zealand and Costa Rica.