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Chicago and Geography

What better place to advance your studies of geography than in Chicago, the nation's third largest metropolis and the geographic core of the nation's economy. The city offers a wide variety of research and career opportunities. Major libraries, research collections, and foundations call Chicago home, while a diversified economy provides job opportunities in a wide number of areas.

Chicago State University -- conveniently situated 10 miles south of the Loop on the city's far South Side -- is at the center of a diverse and changing environment that poses a number of questions for geographers to answer. What are the long-term effects of industry on the nearby Lake Calumet wetlands? What role does the Calumet industrial region play in the nation's drive towards a service oriented economy? Can the local development needs of predominantly African American and Hispanic communities be met with equality and fairness? How can teachers best bring global perspectives to local classrooms?

Geography at Chicago State University

Geographers at Chicago State have long experience working to answer these questions, and as a comprehensive geography department, they ask many more about the region, nation, and world. The department's Neighborhood Assistance Center serves as the focus for many of these efforts. The department is housed in the Daniel Hale Williams Science Center. The GIS laboratory with its UNIX, Windows, and DOS-based systems that include ARC/INFO, ArcView, IDRISI, and Atlas GIS is state-of-the-art. The department is also a US Geological Survey Map Depository, with emphasis on the Midwest and the 1:100,000 series.

Faculty are drawn from North America's outstanding geography departments and include:

• Mark Bouman (Ph.D., University of Minnesota): Professor & Department Chair , Historical Urban Geography, Community Economic Development, Geographic Thought, Europe, Russia, United States and Canada.
• Janet Halpin (Ph.D., University of Ottawa): Assistant Professor; Landscape Ecology, Natural Resources, Environmental Studies, Cultural, Canadian Studies, Time Geography.
• Gebeyehu Mulugeta (Ph.D., Michigan State University): Associate Professor & Graduate Advisor; Cartography, GIS, Environmental Remote Sensing, Quantitative Methods, Africa.
• William Peterman (Ph.D., University of Denver): Professor & NAC Coordinator; Urban Planning, Neighborhood Development, Housing, and Quantitative Methods.
• Herbert L. Rau Jr. (Ph.D., Northwestern University): Professor; Latin America, Physical Geography, Geomorphology, Conservation of Natural Resources.
• Irvin Roth (Ph.D., Syracuse University): Professor; Economic Geography, Industrial Development, Real Estate, Retail Location, South Asia, Illinois.

Fredrick Blum Neighborhood Assistance Center

The focus of Chicago State's outreach in the area of community development and neighborhood improvement is the department's 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 such as economic development, industrial retention, housing, and environmental quality.

Calumet Environmental Resource Center

The Calumet Environmental Resource Center (CERC) is a unique "information clearing house" of environmental and economic  developmental resources for the Calumet region of southeast Chicago and northwest Indiana. Formed in cooperation with the Center for Neighborhood Technology and the Chicago Legal Clinic, CERC is available to community organizations, civic groups, government agencies, businesses, and students. You can visit the CERC website on the Internet at http://www.csu.edu/cerc/.

Student Life

A very active student organization, the Geographical Society sponsors field trips and subsidizes attendance at annual Association of American Geographers meetings.

The campus is highly accessible by automobile, bus , and elevated commuter railroad. Chicago State University's new Residence Hall houses both graduate and undergraduate students. In addition, the city of Chicago has a range of housing by styles and cost.

The Department works closely with students in developing research assistantships and internship opportunities. International students must complete a CSU declaration and certification of financial support form and provide an official copy of TOEFL scores if English is not the native language. For more details, contact Chicago State University's Graduate Studies Office at (773)995-2404.

Geography After Chicago State University

Some examples of recent employment by graduates of CSU's Geography Department include:

General Requirements:

A minimum of 18 Credit Hours in undergraduate Geography, including required courses in Physical Geography and Urban Geography. Two seminar papers must be approved by the student's faculty committee.

30 graduate Credit Hours, including a course in Geographic Measurement Techniques, a seminar in Economic Development, a course in regional geography and seven other courses.

Students may also pursue graduate level Professional Development Sequences in Geographic Techniques and Community Economic Development.