The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at UAA seeks to understand complex relationships between people and environments, and to help students to develop the skills, concepts, and values needed to uncover and improve these relationships.

We live, study, and act in places spatially. We need to understand what opportunities and constraints this framework imposes on others and ourselves.  We need to develop this understanding in order to act as judiciously as possible in our personal lives, as voting citizens, and as members of the global community. In this capacity, geography is a vital discipline for the 21st century, as many of the challenges faced by the world’s societies meet at the interface of social, political, economic, and natural environments.