Geography

  • Geography is visiting the Arctic for clues to global climate change
  • Geography is evaluating the effects of forest fires and other natural disasters
  • Geography is using technology to analyze global environmental change
  • Geography is understanding links between factory farming and greenhouse gasses
  • Geography is studying climatic effects in mountain forest ecology
  • Geography is analyzing dryland vulnerability to climate change
  • Geography is studying economic change and livelihoods in the global south
  • Geography is understanding the impact of suburban lawn care on local ecosystems
  • Geography is exploring decision making about urban land use
  • Geography is exploring transmission of flamenco culture in the global economy

Geography is the science of place, space, and environment

Each place on earth is distinguished by a unique mix of natural resources, cultural practices, and economic and political systems. Geographers study what makes each place unique, and the connections and interactions between places.

With its highly ranked graduate and undergraduate programs, Clark University is one of the best places in the world to study Geography. As an undergraduate or graduate student, you will have an opportunity to work with nationally and internationally known faculty to examine why places are different, how those differences shape how we live, and how we in turn shape our environment. Learn more about why Clark is a great place to study geography.

Features

Dr. Susan Hanson, Distinguished University Professor Emerita and former Director of the GSG awarded the Association of America Geographers 2015 AAG Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography

Dr. Susan Hanson, Distinguished University Professor Emerita, former Director of the GSG, and member of the National Academy of Sciences has been awarded the Assocation of American Geographers 2015 AAG Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography for her intellectual breakthroughs in geography. Click here for Clark's NewsHub article.

Director of the Graduate School of Geography Anthony J. Bebbington was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Director of the Graduate School of Geography Anthony J. Bebbington was among one hundred-sixty four influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors, and institutional leaders who were inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in Cambridge on Saturday, October 11.

"The Induction Ceremony recognizes the achievements of today's most accomplished individuals," said Academy President Jonathan Fanton. "The distinguished women and men who were inducted this weekend have engaged in innovative research, examined every aspect of our society, and continue to pursue solutions to the most pressing challenges of the day. They are all leaders of the respective fields and the Academy offers them an opportunity to work together to advance the common good."

NRC top ranking

NRC ranked top 10

Clark's Graduate School of Geography was ranked first in one overall category in the revised NRC rankings and placed in the top-10 for the other three overall categories, thus confirming Clark's position as one of the nation's top geography programs.
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Latest Departmental News

Susan Hanson, Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Clark University’s School of Geography, has been elected to serve on the Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The governing body of the NAS, the Council is made up of the Academy’s officers and 12 elected members, two from each of the NAS’s six Classes, or broad, related areas of science. Council members from each Class are elected by the NAS membership at large.
Hanson is the first geographer to be elected from Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, the Class to which almost all geographers belong within the Academy; this Class was created when the NAS reorganized membership structures some 15 years ago.
The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 at the behest of President Abraham Lincoln to provide independent advice to government. Now, much of that advice comes from studies conducted by the National Research Council (NRC), the research arm of the NAS, which was established in 1916. Geographers have long been involved in the work of the NRC and are frequently called upon to serve on NRC committees on a wide range of topics.

Director of the Graduate School of Geography, Anthony Bebbington, was awarded the 2015 AAG Distinguished Scholarship Honors for his "exceptional record of scholarly achievement and policy relevance in the fields of development studies, natural resource management, and sustainable livelihoods."

Associate Professor Karen Frey was awarded NASA grant to study the impacts of sea-ice thinning and retreat in the Pacific Arctic.

Clark Labs at Clark University is pleased to announce the release of TerrSet – an integrated constellation of software applications for monitoring and modeling the Earth system. Developed in close cooperation with leading institutions focused on sustainable development and environmental conservation, TerrSet provides groundbreaking tools for addressing major challenges to smart growth – climate change: trends, projections and adaptation; land cover conversion: trajectories and impacts; ecosystem services: present and future value.

Dr. Susan Hanson, Distinguished University Professor Emerita, former Director of the GSG, and member of the National Academy of Sciences has been awarded the Assocation of American Geographers 2015 AAG Stanley Brunn Award for Creativity in Geography for her intellectual breakthroughs in geography.

Director of the Graduate School of Geography, Anthony Bebbington, Milton P. and Alice C. Higgins Professor of Environment and Society, has received a prestigeous 2014 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for his work: Natural resource extraction in Latin America: transforming the human-environment, challenging social science. The announcement of the Guggenheim Fellows was posted in a full page ad in the New York Times on April 10, 2014.

Clark University's Geography program has earned prestigious Sussman Foundation support for Ph.D. student researchers. The Graduate School of Geography has been selected to join a prestigious group of institutions that receive funding from the Edna Bailey Sussman Foundation for U.S.-based environmental science Ph.D. student research. Full Story

Ruth Fincher, PhD '80, Professor of Geography at the University of Melbourne was awarded Member of the Order of Australia during the 2014 Australia Days Honours for her dedication to teaching and promotion of geography. A rare honor for geographers.  Read more

The Graduate School of Geography and Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies have joined together to launch a joint pilot PhD track in Geography and Genocide made possible by a generous gift. Students on the program will combine core courses in Geography and Genocide as well as electives, and will work on topics including, though not limited to: the visualization of space and place, population displacements and threats to collective identity, natural resource conflicts and loss of territory, and the geographies of mass and organized violence.

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