The graduate degree in geography provides students with a broad range of academic and professional options. These programs prepare students for:

• Ph.D. work in geography and planning
• Professional opportunities in GIS, applied geography, and planning
• Opportunities to teach geography through the community college system.

The Department offers a Master of Arts degree with two options:

• Thesis
• Non-Thesis with the following concentrations:
  • Master of Arts in Geography, General Geography
  • Master of Arts in Geography, Planning Concentration
  • Master of Arts in Geography, GIS Concentration

Graduate geography programs are open to qualified students with a wide variety of undergraduate majors and backgrounds.

Details can be found on the graduate school website and in the Geography and Planning graduate program brochure (PDF 1.44M).

Here's a list of current course descriptions.

The Department of Geography and Planning also provides students at UNC-Asheville with the opportunity to pursue a master's degree in Geography with a Concentration in Planning without leaving Asheville.   This two-year program will be available again beginning in the fall of 2010.  More information is here (PDF 267K), and you can email Dr. Kathleen Schroeder.
 

The department generally has a number of Graduate Assistantships available. Assistantships currently pay $8,000 for the year ($4,000 per semester). Assistants work 20 hours per week in the department usually with a faculty member helping on a research project, with classes, or in one of our labs. Specific assignments are made just prior to the start of the semester based on the student's skills, training, interests and the needs of the department. Provided that the student makes satisfactory progress in the program, these awards are usually renewed for a second year. Out-of-state tuition is waived on a competitive basis. University-wide and departmental scholarships are also available to highly qualified graduate students.