Program Overview

The geology faculty strive to provide students at Southern Utah University with excellent opportunities in earth science education. The geosciences degree is an integrative program that prepares students with a solid background in geology, and also presents students with the flexibility to shape their major to meet the demands of interdisciplinary careers within and outside of the earth sciences. This program uniquely enables students to choose personalized paths to a degree that most suits their career goals. The mission of this degree program is to provide:

• A thorough background in geology.
• A scientific competency in the supportive disciplines of math and chemistry.
• Integrative elective paths for students who choose to pursue graduate studies and careers in geoscience or other interdisciplinary fields, including earth science education. Potential geoscience career pathways that would benefit from this program include paleontology or paleobiology, hydrology or hydrogeology, environmental consulting, resource management or outdoor recreation, and many others.
• Broad understanding of the dynamic Earth, its resources and hazards, and the ways humans interact with the landscape, so that students enter their communities as well-informed, science-literate citizens.

As with any B.A. degree on campus, students are required to take 30-35 General Education credits, 16 language credits, and all other university-required credits. In addition to the GE requirements, students will be required to take 37 credits in the Geology Core. Students will also be required to complete 11 credits within Geology Electives and 15 credits from the Integrative Elective lists. Finally, students will be required to complete any remaining free elective credit for a complete total of 120 credits for a bachelor’s degree.

The Integrative Electives list includes courses from a variety of disciplines that intersect with the geosciences in important ways. These classes will help students prepare for fields involving geochemical and geospatial thinking, environmental and paleontological consulting, communication and collaboration, and technology and geophysical work. Students are not required to complete all 15 credits from a single discipline; instead, students should tailor their Integrative Electives choices to a career or academic goal. Some upper-division Integrative Electives will require prerequisites, but these will count toward the final credit requirements.