DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
DEPARTMENT BASED ASSESSMENT
Academic year 1997-98
Introduction. The Department of Geography was founded in 1969 with the separation of the Department of Geography and Geology into two separate academic units. The discipline of geography extends into the realms of both the physical and social sciences and so defies neat classification into one or other of the traditional academic division of knowledge. Some geography courses satisfy natural science area requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences; others satisfy social science requirements. The department offers both a Bachelor=s and a Master=s degree. Twenty years ago the department began formally to recognize in its undergraduate program the diverse nature of geography by establishing special curricula (now six in number) emphasizing in their names the different foci within the discipline. The named special curricula with their own major code made it easier for graduating seniors to get jobs and helped to mitigate the general unawareness of the nature of geography by employers. The department also was better able to assess its educational outcomes. The graduate program is undifferentiated. Graduate students select their thesis topics and courses in consultation with their advisor and the Graduate Committee.
I. STATEMENT OF GOALS
1. Undergraduate. The general goal of the undergraduate program is to make all geography majors aware of the complexities of the physical world (landforms, climate, natural environment) and their interrelationships with human activity (land use, cultural landscapes, erosion, pollution) along with mastery of geographic techniques (geographic information systems, remote sensing, cartography, research, writing). The geography faculty hope that, in a general sense, the undergraduates will use this understanding in the formation of their philosophy of life and as responsible citizens in leadership positions. The more immediate goal is to equip graduating seniors with employable geographic skills so that
The six special curricula (which are in addition to the general geography degree) are as follows:
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2. Graduate. The Master=s program has both a thesis and a non-thesis option, the former being the option most frequently chosen. In addition to the goals of the undergraduate program, the aim of the Master=s program is to provide students with grounding in physical and human geography, specialized knowledge of one of the component fields of geography, and proficiency in one or more of the geographic techniques. Most students achieve these goals during the course of their teaching assistantships. The faculty encourages students to present their research at one of the department=s Friday afternoon colloquia held each quarter so that the students may gain experience in oral presentation beyond that acquired in seminars.
3. Qualitative. To help achieve its goals the department mandates two capstone courses, the senior seminar at the undergraduate level and the history of geographic thought at the graduate level. The goal of these courses is to make clear to students the historical and present-day relevance of geography to American economic and social life and the geographer=s role in protecting and managing the natural environment in all of its manifestations--air, water, rocks, plants, and animals. Students in the senior seminar present their research in the format of business or agency reports which simulates conditions in the workplace. The department also has an internship program the goal of which is to give undergraduate students work experience to prepare them for careers upon graduation.
II. EVIDENCE OF ACCOMPLISHING GOALS
The department has abandoned its former practice of surveying graduates by means of a survey questionnaire to determine educational outcomes in favor the statistics gathered by the Office of Institutional Research. The number of people who respond to the Institutional Research survey generally is higher than those who have responded to the department=s questionnaires in its yearly newsletter, the Geogram. The department also has ceased its practice of conducting an exit survey of graduating seniors. The faculty had incorporated this survey into a general examination of basic geographic concepts, ideas, and facts. A majority of the faculty, however, perceived a difficulty in designing a single questionnaire and examination which would be valid for students in all of the six special curricula. Because the department abandoned the exit survey of graduating seniors, it also gave up the idea of conducting a one-year after survey of these graduates. Hence, in order to assess educational outcomes, the department relies upon the information supplied by the Office of Institutional Research bearing in mind that only 60 percent of the survey forms were returned completed for each of the years 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 representing about twenty former students in each of the years..
Interpreting the data gathered from the Institutional Research surveys is speculative to a degree since there is no way of knowing why people answered the way they did nor how the results would vary if all of the graduates had responded. Con-sidering the first-year after survey, many of the statistics are encouraging. Regarding satisfaction with major courses between 1992 and 1996, responses expressing some degree of satisfaction varied from 100 percent in 1992 (n=4) to 67 percent in 1994 (n=20) with the other years being 73 percent (1993, n=19), 78 percent (1996, n=21), and 79 percent (1995, n=23). These results show an upward trend in the last three years of the survey data although below the exceptional 100 percent satisfaction registered by the four respondents in 1992. The responses to the question as to how well the Ohio University prepared students for additional academic work leave nothing to be desired assuming that the prime force behind such preparation for geography majors was the Department of Geography. In the years 1992 to 1996, 100 percent of the respondents expressed some degree of satisfaction that the department=s course of instruction had prepared them well for further academic work.
The data in answer to the question as to how well Ohio University prepared graduating seniors for their career goals reveal the relationship between the special curricula and occupations. The statistics show a range of satisfaction from 75 percent (1992, n=4) to 94 percent ( 1994, n=20). The percentages for the years 1993, 1995, and 1996 vary from 80 percent to 85 percent. In the information gathered for 1995-1996, five of the graduates (three with the general geography degree and two with the environmental degree), were working in areas not closely related to geography. Perhaps these were the people who felt that Ohio University had not prepared them well for their careers.
The remaining graduates had jobs related to their special curricula: a biotechnician in New York State; an office assistant with the Cleveland Restoration Society; a digital cartographer with Rand McNally; a solid waste recycling officer, an urban planner in Lorain County; a cartographer with an aerial survey company in Grove City, Ohio; a computer consultant in Pittsburgh; and a technical sales specialist with a technology company in Columbus, Ohio. Those graduates who were pursuing a Master=s degree did so in meteorology (1), urban planning (3), law (1),and computer science (1). One graduate was enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Louisiana State University.
The educational outcomes for the 1994-1995 graduates shows a similar range of occupations most of which were closely related to the geography bachelor=s degree. Three graduates were working outside the field of geography. The people working in a geography-related field had jobs as a geographic information systems analyst; a naturalist for outdoor education with Cleveland Metroparks; a planning technician with the Wayne county Planning Department; a planning consultant with the Green County Regional Planning Commission; a utility forester; an environmental consultant for the International Technology Corporation; and an environmental scientist in Perrysburg, Ohio. Two graduates were working as cartographers in Willoughby, Ohio, and one as an environmental specialist with the Alaska Department of the Environment in Juneau, Alaska.
The department is encouraged in examining the results of the surveys taken by the Office of Institutional Research from the point of view of both the educational outcomes and the worth of its geography program.