Department
Geography & Sociology
Preparing Students to Understand and Meet the World
Geography
Samford University’s geography program offers an interdisciplinary approach to studying the nature and significance of the places, patterns and landscapes that make up the earth’s surface. Our students are prepared for careers addressing major trends in our world, including globalization, GIS and the expansion of other geographic technologies that have become part of our everyday lives, and the demand for people who can apply interdisciplinary learning to significant problems. Learn More
Most people who are ultimately attracted to the discipline of geography are motivated by much larger aspirations than good salaries. The opportunity to make a difference in the world, in whatever expression that takes, is one of the most frequently cited reasons why current geography students, researchers, and practitioners explain their career choice.
At least three recent global trends can be identified as contributing to a renaissance of geography and its potential for making a difference in society and the world:
- Globalization at an increasing pace and scale phenomenon that compel a greater understanding of the world, places, people, and natural systems that affect us as a planet and as global citizens.
- Expansion of geographic technologies, once fairly obscure and now pervasive in our daily lives, such as GPS in cell phones and cars, online mapping at your fingertips, cable news reports using spatial visualizations, and many more applications in modern business and government services.
- An academic trend toward greater interdisciplinarity, especially a renewed focus on big questions that matter but that require a breadth of knowledge and multiple fields to tackle. Geography’s long-standing intellectual traditions in crossing those usual disciplinary boundaries are now better understood, increasingly seen as relevant and more widely respected in scholarly circles.
"Long before I knew my own strengths, my professors took a vested interest in my passions and challenged me to go beyond the textbook. They taught me that being a geographer was more than being a walking atlas, but being able to recognize the complexities of the world around us, and to always be curious."—Meghan McCollum, 2013 U.S. Rotary Global Scholar
Sociology
Samford University’s sociology program helps students develop the knowledge and skills required to build flourishing communities in sociology, health care, social work, social policy analysis, industrial relations, law enforcement, and many others. Our fast-track option allows students to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in social work in only five years. Course design, research opportunities and personal mentoring combine to give our graduates a unique professional advantage in their chosen careers.
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Students are prepared to enter careers with critical analytic skills giving them insight and competence. Graduates have been admitted to post-graduate programs in numerous regional state universities, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and private and public universities, such as the University of Chicago, Vanderbilt University, and the University of California at Los Angeles.
Sociology majors are eligible to participate in a fast-track option that allows students to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in social work after five years of study. Students then enroll in Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) courses during their senior year of undergraduate studies; the M.S.W. courses they complete during that year also satisfy general and directed undergraduate elective requirements, allowing students to graduate with a bachelor’s degree after four years of study. A final year of graduate coursework leads to completing the M.S.W. degree, allowing students to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in five years. Participation in this program requires careful advisement and scheduling and permission from the undergraduate department chair and the M.S.W. program director.
Social Work is an excellent career choice for Sociology majors, as both disciplines utilize similar theories, research strategies, and practice methods. The Samford University M.S.W. program is a distinctively Christian learning community that prepares graduates for lives of service as advanced social workers who promote healing, wholeness, and reconciliation. The program offers Clinical Social Work and Global Community Development concentrations and prepares graduates to serve in clinical, medical, and hospice social work; human services administration; child welfare; community organizing; and international relief.
"I am equipped to navigate any job or position that requires networking, critical thinking and interacting with diverse perspectives because of the Department of Sociology. They are always offering opportunities for internships and events that cater to our interests in the topics we discuss, and the faculty does all they can to ensure we're safe and respected while discussing hard subjects.—Katy Ann Caldwell, Sociology Major, Race Ethnicity and Social Justice Minor
Academic Programs
Undergraduate Majors
Geography
Our geography program offers an interdisciplinary approach to studying the nature and significance of the places, patterns and landscapes that make up the earth’s surface. Our students are prepared for careers addressing major trends in our world, including globalization, GIS and the expansion of other geographic technologies that have become part of our everyday lives, and the demand for people who can apply interdisciplinary learning to significant problems.
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Geography with GIS Certificate
Students with a special interest in the many professional applications of geographic information systems (GIS) may choose the version of our geography major that adds advanced GIS courses and provides certification in this exciting technology.
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Sociology
Our sociology program helps students develop the knowledge and skills required to engage with all aspects of social interaction on the way to careers that help graduates build flourishing communities in fields such as sociology, health care, social work, social policy analysis, industrial relations, law enforcement and many others. Our fast-track option allows students to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in social work in only five years.
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Undergraduate Minors
Sociology
A minor in sociology adds unique value to health care, business, social work, geography, political science, religion and journalism degrees.
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Environmental Studies
Our environmental studies minor offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between humans and the environment. Students study the built and natural environment and examine ways that politics, economics, the sciences, history, ethics and philosophy influence human behavior in the natural world. Students complete a field-based course in the summer.
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Race, Ethnicity and Social Justice
Our interdisciplinary race, ethnicity and social justice minor examines the history, social and political context and culture of racial, ethnic and historically marginalized groups. Students will gain an appreciation for diverse cultures and convictions and learn to interact in ways that demonstrate respect, fairness and equitable treatment to all.
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Geography
A minor in geography is ideal for majors in fields that engage with the places, patterns and landscapes that make up the earth’s surface. It can add a valuable skill set for students called to careers in business, history, sociology, political science, math and computer science, journalism, government, public health, world languages and cultures, missions and religion.
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Graduate Certificate
Geographic Information Systems
This online, 12-hour Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems program will help you develop the skills needed for sophisticated gathering, analysis, mapping, and reporting of geographic data related to environmental management.
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Geography & Sociology Scholarships
William Samuel Tynes Scholarship
The Tynes Scholarship, in memory of Samford geography alumnus William Samuel Tynes (2003), is awarded annually to a geography major of good standing. As a GIS specialist in the United States Army, Mr. Tynes served honorably with the 320th Engineering Topographic G2 Terrain Company in Operation Iraqi Freedom. This scholarship is created in remembrance of his life, his perseverance, and to inspire and assist other Geography majors who express exceptional service and dedication to Samford geography.
