Welcome to the Department of Geography, Sociology, Economics, and Anthropology
Overview
Each program in the department serves the State of Illinois and the south and
southeast sides of Chicago through accessible, quality instruction employing pertinent scholarly
and technological methods; and through scholarship and practice in the interacting arenas, of
environment, economy, and community.
The Department has an unusual niche within the University, the Chicago region, and within its
constituent disciplines, for being a place to study community issues, especially as they touch
on development, planning and environmental concerns. At the same time, the Department is
uniquely poised to view these issues in global environmental, cultural, and economic context.
A major focus of CSU's outreach in the area of contributions to the economic development and
social welfare of the Chicago area is through the Department's Fredrick Blum Neighborhood
Assistance Center (NAC). Working with faculty and staff, the NAC provides students many
opportunities to analyze, develop solutions for, and reflect upon a variety of urban problems.
The NAC also operates the Calumet Environmental Resource Center (CERC), which is a unique
information clearinghouse of environmental and economic development resources for the Calumet
region of southeast Chicago and northwest Indiana. A third major department initiative is
the CSU Geographic Information Systems (GIS) laboratory, which serves as a major center
for GIS instruction in the Chicago area and which plays a strong part in the work of
NAC/CERC, as well as in support to other scholarly efforts on campus.
Degrees Offered
B.A.: Geography
B.A.: Sociology
B.S.: Economics
M.A.: Geography and Economic Development
Graduate Certificates Offered
Geographic Information Systems
Community Development
Departmental Minors Offered
Geography
Sociology
Social Work
Economics
Anthropology
Interdisciplinary Minors Offered
Environmental Studies (with Chemistry and Biological Sciences)
Women's Studies
Religious Studies
Facilities
The department maintains three key facilities for student use.
CSU Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory:
Equipped with sixteen Internet accessible Windows XP workstations, ready for
GIS and image processing applications, networked to a server. Specialized
software includes ERDAS IMAGINE for image processing and raster GIS, ArcView 3.2
and ArcGIS 9.2 for vector/raster GIS, Corel Draw for computer aided drafting/drawing,
and SPSS for social science tabulation and analysis. The lab is also equipped
with a large format plotter, three printers, two digitizing tablets, and scanner.
The department owns a number of Global Positioning Systems receivers for teaching
purposes.
CSU Neighborhood Assistance Ceneter:
The Fredrick Blum Neighborhood Assistance Center (NAC) provides technical and research assistance to neighborhood based, community, and economic development organizations. Drawing heavily on the resources and skills of the department, the NAC endeavors to involve faculty and students from across the university. The NAC applies discipline specific skills to the solution of neighborhood problems and acts to increase the level of service to the community by the university.
Calumet Environmental Resource Center (CERC):
Is a major resource operated by the Department's Neighborhood Assistance Center.
CERC maintains a collection of some 2,500 documents, air photos, maps, and
community-generated Freedom of Information Act reports pertaining to the
environment of the Calumet region. CERC's computer is also available for
Internet searches, CERC catalog searches, basic GIS applications, and
environmental and geographical games.
Department Contact
Dr. Arthur Redman, Chair
321 Williams Science Center
Phone: 773 995 2186
Department Directory
Department of Geography, Sociology, Economics, and Anthropology
Chicago State University
321 Williams Science Center
Chicago, IL 60628-1598
Phone: 773 995 2186
Fax: 773 995 2030
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