Successful completion of this course will provide the following learning outcomes:

Understanding the fundamental concepts and processes of human geography as they are
applied to the United States. 

Exposure to the diversity of American peoples and places as they are expressed
through the landscape.

Thinking critically about the social processes (race, immigration, power, economics)
that create the varying cultural landscapes of a diverse country. 

Consider the ways in which Americans have historically viewed and utilized their
environment and its sustainability.

A greater cognizance of the importance of geography in the everyday functioning of
our country, and its crucial role in informing economic and political policy
decision-making.

This course meets the following General Education Abilities by accomplishing the
specific learning objectives listed below:

Communicate effectively through writing.  This is met by a series of writing 
assignments associated with laboratory exercises.
 
Critical Thinking is central to the learning objectives of this class and includes 
the following elements, which are accomplished through laboratory activities and 
assignments, lecture, classroom discussion/inquiry-based learning efforts:
       Consider and engage opposing points of view  
       Support a consistent purpose and point of view  
       Assimilate, analyze, and present a body of information  
       Analyze arguments  

Moral Reasoning (Ethics) is an important element of this course, as it seeks to 
link an understanding of the diversity of human cultures and languages with 
fundamental resource inequalities.  Moral reasoning is developed through lectures, 
critical writing assignments, classroom discussion, and inquiry-based learning 
activities.

Introduction to Geography
Fundamentals of Human Geography 
Geography and Culture: Critical Issues 
Landscape and the “American Scene”
Environmental Interaction 
Video: An American Nile
Regionalization
Colonial Origins of the U.S.  
Ethnic Geographies and Frontier Systems
Ethnic Case Study: Spanish Americans
Language
Religion: Mormon Culture Area
Homelands
Immigration: Little Havana
Contemporary Urban Immigration Patterns
Race: African-Americans and the South
Race: African-Americans in the Urban North 
Video – The Promised Land
Agriculture and Foodways
Agriculture: The Plow that Broke the Plains
American Political Culture: MIT
Landscape and Memory I and II
Labor: Company Towns
Urban-Industrial Development
Suburbanization
College Towns
Exurbanization
Video - Mulholland’s Dream
Music: Springsteen