Kelley A. Crews

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

GRG f356T CLIM CHG/VEGTN: KALAHARI-BWA

Prerequisite: Varies with the topic and is given in the Course Schedule.

May be counted toward the quantitative reasoning flag requirement. May be counted toward the global cultures flag requirement.

Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Topic title: Climate change and vegetation response in the Kalahari. Res tricted enrollment; contact Study Abroad for permission to register for this class. Class meets May 28-July 10. Faculty-led Abroad Program taugh t in Ghanzi, Botswana. Students must consult with Study Abroad Program C oordinator as travel and orientation dates may be in addition to these d ates.

Please check back for updates.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

GRG f356T CLIM CHG/VEGTN: KALAHARI-BWA

Prerequisite: Varies with the topic and is given in the Course Schedule.

May be counted toward the quantitative reasoning flag requirement. May be counted toward the global cultures flag requirement.

Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

Topic title: Climate change and vegetation response in the Kalahari. Res tricted enrollment; contact Study Abroad for permission to register for this class. Class meets May 28-July 10. Faculty-led Abroad Program taugh t in Ghanzi, Botswana. Students must consult with Study Abroad Program C oordinator as travel and orientation dates may be in addition to these d ates.

This class is an applied, collaborative, and experiential computer-based course in assessing landscape change via remote sensing, GIS, and pattern analysis while developing generalizable skills in hypothesis generation, critical thinking, and scientific writing/communication. The first portion of the course will focus on learning the “cradle-to-grave” steps in analysing landuse, landcover, the difference between the two, and how they change over time in the Austin area. Students will keep a running lab manual that documents the computing, analysis, and inference steps necessary to complete such an analysis. Each individual student will build their own lab manual but students will work with lab partner groups in order to compare and contrast their results. Each week students will receive professor, TA, and peer feedback on honing their scientific analysis and/or writing skills. At the end of this portion of class, roughly two weeks will be spent learning how to generate and test hypotheses regarding landuse/landcover change, with an emphasis on understanding and documenting causality. In the second portion of the course, students will select both study site(s) and generate different hypotheses to be tested, and conduct their own analysis using the lab manuals they created. At the end of this portion, students will spend one week learning the basics of poster design and cartographic communication. From their results they will create a 3’ by 4’ poster suitable for presentation at a conference and present their findings to the class during a poster conference. Students will anonymously vote on best analysis, cartography/design, originality, and best overall.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing; additional prerequisites vary with the topic and are given in the Course Schedule.

Restricted enrollment; contact the department for permission to register for this class. Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

DESCRIPTION

Climate change is a subject of critical importance for both scientists and global citizens. Botswana profiles a wonderful example of developing world issues set in pristine environments where these debates still have the potential to support both people and the environment. The Botswana Kalahari is a remote and relatively undisturbed desert environment that provides an ideal natural laboratory for exploring climate change issues such as carbon storage, food production and the interactions between humans and the environment.

Safaris in the Okavango Delta and Central Kalahari Game Reserve expose students to both wetland and savanna ecosystems while visits to a local school and cooperative education center provide insights into the region's bush culture. The program is based out of a camp and the lectures, program activities, and daily living take place outdoors.

STUDY ABROAD: CLIMATE CHANGE, ECOSYSTEMS, AND HUMAN DYNAMICS - GHANZI, BOTSWANA

More information here.

The class is an applied, intensive computer- and field-based course in landscape assessment leveraging the spatial sciences, including but not limited to fieldwork (e.g., vegetation transects or Global Positioning Systems) and GIS / remote sensing / pattern analysis / spatial analysis. For a topical listing of course components, please see the complete syllabus.

Typically one-half of each week's course time will be allocated to learning standard protocols and supporting theory with the other half spent performing computer- or field-based analysis. Substantial additional lab hours will be required outside of class for successful completion of labs and projects. The goal of the course is to provide practical experience in start-to-finish landscape assessment. No prior knowledge is presumed, but students without an introductory course in GIS or remote sensing should anticipate spending extra time building familiarity with the software used. In the first portion of the semester, students will complete weekly labs designed to build out a set of spatial science skills on provided datasets; the second portion of the course will then apply those skills to a project culminating in a poster suitable for presentation at a regional or national conference due in analog and digital form by 5pm Wednesday, December 7 and presented in class during the final exam time of 9:00 – 12:00 noon Thursday, December 8. NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS OR MAKE-UPS ARE ALLOWED.

Grading Policy

10 %   Attendance / Participation

20 %   Proficiency Checks

40 %   Lab Exercises

30 %   Final Poster / Presentation

Because the course is designed as a practicum and as with professional-grade training, class attendance and participation are imperative. Daily attendance will be taken at the START of each class. The attendance / participation grade will be a percentage of classes fully attended with each student being allowed two missed classes only. Missed exercises or proficiency checks cannot be made up. Proficiency checks will be unannounced though generally at the end of each unit; they may be in-class or take home. Students may drop the lowest proficiency check. Lab exercises will be conducted in-class and outside of class as well. Completed assignments must be turned in in-person at the START of the assigned class time unless otherwise noted. No late assignments or make-ups are allowed. The final poster will be due in both analog and digital form by 5pm Wednesday, December 7. Students must be in class during the final exam time of Thursday, December 8, 9:00-12:00 noon to give a 3-minute presentation on their posters. Late posters WILL NOT be accepted and posters without students present during the final WILL NOT be accepted. Posters will be graded on originality, amount and rigor of analysis, and successful cartographic communication.

Final grades for the class will be whole grade only (no plus or minus grading) whereby

A:  ≥ 90.0

B:  80.0 – 89.9

C:  70.0 – 79.9

D:  60.0 – 69.9

F:  ≤ 59.9

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

Geography 374 is designated as a "capstone experience" for students majoring in geography. Taken from the name of the stone placed atop a wall or structure that marks its completion (the opposite of a cornerstone), "capstone" means crowning achievement or culmination. In other words, then, this class is supposed to signify the "culmination" of your undergraduate career as a geographer. But what does that mean? For me, it means that this course tries to provide a structure, a space, and time for thinking holistically about geography: what is the role of geography, geographers, and geographical inquiry in the context of the wider world, especially in relation to social change? You likely have spent your time as an undergraduate learning about various theories and methods of geography (and, in the process, learning about the world and how different physical and social aspects of it work). This class now gives you the opportunity to step back and think about questions like, What is geography? What role does it play in society? How did it emerge? Why is it located in a university?

Surveys the major global environmental concerns affecting the Earth and its residents from the perspectives of the environmental sciences.

May be counted toward the writing flag requirement.

Additional hour(s) to be arranged. Restricted enrollment; contact the department for permission to register for this class.

Restricted to Plan I Honors students in the College of Liberal Arts.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

Surveys the major global environmental concerns affecting the Earth and its residents from the perspectives of the environmental sciences. 

May be counted toward the writing flag requirement. May be counted toward the quantitative reasoning flag requirement.

Restricted to students in the Liberal Arts Honors Program.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

Surveys the major global environmental concerns affecting the Earth and its residents from the perspectives of the environmental sciences. 

May be counted toward the writing flag requirement. May be counted toward the quantitative reasoning flag requirement.

Restricted to students in the Liberal Arts Honors Program.

Surveys the major global environmental concerns affecting the Earth and its residents from the perspectives of the environmental sciences. 

May be counted toward the writing flag requirement. May be counted toward the quantitative reasoning flag requirement.

Restricted to students in the Liberal Arts Honors Program.

Please check back for updates.

The study of spatial patterns in the earth's biosphere found within landscapes, typically areas measured in square kilometers. Examines the processes that create those patterns, drawing from ecology, biogeography, and many other disciplines. Also explores the practical applications of landscape ecology to the study of natural environments and those managed or altered by human activities. Geography 335N and 356T (Topic: Landscape Ecology) may not both be counted.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and three semester hours of coursework in physical geography or one of the geological or natural sciences.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

The use of electromagnetic energy to sense objects in the natural environment; interpretation and recognition of patterns detected by sensors. 

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

The study of spatial patterns in the earth's biosphere found within landscapes, typically areas measured in square kilometers. Examines the processes that create those patterns, drawing from ecology, biogeography, and many other disciplines. Also explores the practical applications of landscape ecology to the study of natural environments and those managed or altered by human activities. Geography 335N and 356T (Topic: Landscape Ecology) may not both be counted.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing and three semester hours of coursework in physical geography or one of the geological or natural sciences.

The use of electromagnetic energy to sense objects in the natural environment; interpretation and recognition of patterns detected by sensors. 

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.