...Certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

The Certificate Program in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) requires 20 hours of instruction. It provides sophisticated education in cartography/ GIS and proper training for employment in related industries and consulting. There are five required courses to complete the certificate:

*Please note that GEO241, GEO242, GEO244, and GEO243 all carry a prerequisite of ISP120 Quantitative Reasoning OR equivalent.  GIS I, II, and III must also be taken in sequence.

Students who wish to declare this program can find clear instructions on how to complete the declaration here.  The form for making the declaration is here.

Here are some links that may be useful to students evaluating our program.  The course links are direct links to the course pages for either the current or most recent course offering.  Courses are offered in the GIS Collaboratory, a state-of-the-art facility on the Lincoln Park Campus:

Geography is experiencing a renaissance in U.S. education.  Geography’s comparative advantage as a discipline that straddles both the social and physical disciplines has made the major an exceptional basis for a variety of careers that explore questions of spatial organization and require regional knowledge. Recent graduates have also joined M.A. or Ph.D. programs in Geography, Urban Studies, and International Relations at universities such as Syracuse University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

DePaul’s Geography department offers courses which prepare students for careers in such areas as international development, environmental monitoring and management, intelligence and diplomacy, the geodemographic, marketing and real estate industries, urban and regional planning, geographic education, and the information technology sector involved in the design and production of maps and spatial databases.  Recent graduates of the Department of Geography work for the U.S. Government (NSA, EPA, National Imaging and Mapping Agency, Department of Labor, Bureau of the Census), engineering and environmental consulting firms, cartographic production firms (Rand McNally, Mappix, Nystrom), and state and local government agencies such as Illinois Department for Natural Resources or the City of Chicago.  Many students also find employment in the burgeoning non-profit sector.

Geographic scholarship analyzes society-environment interactions, the spatial organization of physical environments, industries, cities, and economies at global, regional and local scales; the roles of place, space, and landscape in the constitution of social and cultural change, and the design and production of maps and spatial databases.  Among all the social sciences, it is the discipline with the widest and most immediate professional applications.  One of the most direct paths to geographic professions is our new professional certificate program in cartography and geographic information systems.

Over the past ten years the Department has been energized by new faculty who specialize in urban and political geography, cartography, GIS, social geography, biogeography, public participation GIS, and global climate change.  Funding from the National Science Foundation has turned the department’s cartographic, remote sensing, and GIS teaching capability into one of the most sophisticated in the Chicago metropolitan area. 

If you are considering enrolling in courses that would lead to the completion of the certificate program or have other questions regarding programs in the Department of Geography you should contact the Department:

Department of Geography
Alex Papadopoulos, Chair
DePaul University
990 Fullerton Parkway
Chicago, IL 60614 USA
773.325.7669 (voice)
773.325.4590 (fax)

DePaul University Department of Geography Quantitative Reasoning Center More Info...