Geography & Anthropology (Graduate Program)

For information regarding the UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM, click here.  

Program Overview

Human geography includes cultural geography (cultural ecology, landscape, diffusion); economic geography (capitalist development, peasant response to market forces, agrarian innovation and economic growth, industrial impacts on society and environment); historical geography (ecological and spatial processes, innovation diffusion, settlement expansion, residential segregation, industrial restructuring, regional development); regional geography and urban geography (urban structure and city systems, state and corporate policy, rural-urban migration, class formation, gender and ethnic relations).

Physical geography offers opportunities for study in alluvial, coastal, and quaternary geomorphology (human-induced changes in river systems, quaternary landform evolution, coastal dune dynamics and management, coastal sediment transport, beach/nearshore sediment morphodynamics, coastal land loss); and climatology (synoptic climatology, hydroclimatology, regional impacts of global warming, water balance analyses, the role of climate in flood variability).

Mapping science encompasses traditional and contemporary mapping technologies, including cartography, computer cartography, aerial photography, remote sensing, spatial analysis, and GIS. Spatial interpolation, scale, the modifiable area unit problem, surface and line measurement using fractal algorithms, spatial autocorrelation, comparative assessments of remote sensing imagery, GIS applications in coastal Louisiana, cartographic presentation and spatial data handling, and modeling the spatial distributions of disease, population, and land use are addressed.

A doctoral concentration in geography is also offered through the geography and anthropology PhD program.

Anthropology provides a comprehensive perspective on the human endeavor. Physical anthropology includes training in gross anatomy, osteology, forensics, and fertility.

In archaeology, ongoing excavations in Belize, the Caribbean, Peru, and Louisiana examine the coastal adaptations of Mesoamerican civilizations and ethnicity and culture in the Caribbean. Linguistics students specialize in historical linguistics or discourse analysis with field training in the Mayan languages of Mexico and Central America.

In sociocultural anthropology and folklore, advanced courses in ethnographic methods, ethnomusicology, material culture, and religion are offered in connection with research on the cultures of the American South and Latin America.

A doctoral concentration in anthropology is also offered through the geography and anthropology PhD program. Students receive dual training in geography and anthropology, with thematic emphases in either sociocultural anthropology or archaeology.

Administration

Admission

Applications and supporting materials for all graduate study must be submitted through the online application site for the LSU Graduate School. Official transcripts, official test scores, and other materials that come from third-party sources must be mailed to: Graduate Student Services, 114 West David Boyd Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. These paper documents are stored electronically and departments have access to all materials submitted by and/or on behalf of a student applying to graduate study.

The department looks with special favor on students who can bring another discipline to bear on geographical and anthropological problems. Students well prepared in such fields as geology, agronomy, botany, computer science, history, and economics and who are interested in geography or anthropology should inquire. Admission to the department and awarding of financial assistance is based on compatibility of interests, grade point average, letters of recommendation, and GRE scores. International students whose native language is not English must have a TOEFL score of at least 550 on the paper-based test, a 213 on the computer-based test, or a 79 on the Internet-based test, an IELTS score of 6.5, or PTE score of 59. A TOEFL score of 575, equivalent IELTS, or equivalent PTE score is required to be considered for an assistantship. The departmental deadline for the application to be considered for funding is January 25.

Financial Assistance

Doctoral applicants with excellent records are urged to apply for fellowships providing stipends of $12,500 to $18,000 per year plus exemption from tuition. Each award is for a maximum of four years. The fellowship application deadline is January 25. Departmental assistantships range from $11,000 to $16,000 for the academic year. Students receiving departmental assistantships are exempt from the nonresident fee. Applications for departmental assistantships must be received by January 25.

Research Facilities

The department’s Cartographic Information Center—housing more than one-half million maps and aerial photographs—is the nation’s largest university map library. The Computer Mapping Sciences Laboratory houses SUN and Intergraph work stations; PCs; digitizers; printers; plotters; and software for GIS, image processing, and statistical analysis, including ARC/INFO, ERDAS/IMAGE, and Intergraph. The Computer-Aided Design & Geographic Information Systems (CADGIS) Laboratory provides high-end CAD and GIS facilities, including Intergraph, ERDAS, and AUTOCAD. The Remote Sensing Laboratory houses an array of color, infrared, and radar imagery and equipment for analysis.

Research in physical geography is supported by the H. J. Walker Geomorphology Laboratory. The department also houses the Southern Regional Climate Center and the Louisiana Office of State Climatology that monitor and analyze climatic records in the state and region. The Forensic Laboratory provides facilities for analysis of skeletal remains and dentition. The Archaeology Laboratory aids analysis of historic and prehistoric artifacts. The Kniffen Cultural Resources Laboratory serves as a repository for the region’s material culture and a center for artifact analysis.

Graduate Faculty

(check current listings by department by clicking this link)

Geography

DeWitt Braud (3P) • Spatial analysis and GIS modeling, environmental remote sensing and image processing
Craig E. Colten (M) • Historical, environmental, North America, Louisiana
Kristine L. DeLong (6A) • Climatic and environmental changes in the Quaternary; Atlantic studies; Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction
Barry Keim (M) • Climate change and variability, synoptic climatology, hydroclimatology, extreme events, climate data
Richard H. Kesel (M) • Fluvial geomorphology, soils
Kory Matthew Konsoer (6A) • Fluvial geomorphology, sediment transport, human-riverine impacts
Michael Leitner (M) • Spatial analysis and GIS, computer cartography, Europe
Anthony J. Lewis (EM) • Remote sensing, physical geography, air photo interpretation
Brian J. Marks (6A) • Political geography, agrarian political economy, political ecology, fisheries and aquaculture
Kent Mathewson (7M) • Cultural, historical, history of geography, Latin America, American South
Xuelian Meng (6A) • GIS, remote sensing
Steven Namikas (M) • Coastal geomorphology, hazards, physical geography
Micha Rahder (6A) • Environmental anthropology, social & technology studies (STS), Latin America, tropical forests and biodiversity studies
Robert Rohli (7M) • Climatology, applied meteorology, water resources, quantitative methods
Luigi Romolo (3F) • Synoptic Climatology, Applied Climatology, Hydrology, Hydroclimatology, Land-Atmosphere Interactions
Andrew Sluyter (7M) • Landscapes of colonialism, Latin America, development and environmental policy
Jill C. Trepanier (6A) • Climatology
Fahui Wang (M) • Urban, economic, and transportation geography; public policy GIS; quantitative methods; China; Southeast Asia; U.S.
Lei Wang (M) • GIS, quantitative methods, terrain and hydrological analysis, remote sensing

Anthropology

Degree Programs

This department offers a variety of research and instructional programs leading to the MA in Anthropology, the MS in Geography, and PhD in Geography and Anthropology. Graduate students may specialize in one of five programs of inquiry— human geography, physical geography, mapping sciences, and in anthropology, (archaeology, biophysical anthropology, linguistics, socio-cultural anthropology). Regional foci include: Latin America, American South, East and Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Requirements for the M.S. degree in geography and M.A. in anthropology include a minimum of 30 credit hours, including six credits for a thesis. A master’s degree in either is typically attained within two years if students attend as full-time status.

Requirements for the Ph.D. in Geography and Anthropology include a minimum of 60 credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree or 30 hours beyond the master’s degree, 10 hours of which are core courses, two or more advanced seminars, and an external minor or nine credit hours in approved cognate fields (including one seminar). Students must write a dissertation constituting an original contribution to the discipline.

Programs

• Geography and Anthropology, Ph.D.

• Anthropology, M.A.

• Geography, M.S.