Ph.D. in Geography

The UCSB Department of Geography’s joint Ph.D. program with the Department of Geography at San Diego State University is distinctive. It brings together two outstanding departments that complement each other. California State Universities do not offer stand-alone doctoral programs. The joint doctoral program thereby provides mutual benefits for two of the strongest research-oriented Geography departments in the US: The program increases SDSU’s attractiveness to their students by permitting them to pursue a doctorate, and, in turn, it allows UCSB to increase its exposure to a more diverse set of gifted students. Students conduct a majority of their studies at SDSU but are required to attend UCSB for one year, where they will work more directly with their UCSB faculty advisors and take advantage of class offerings at UCSB that are not present at SDSU. This allows students to draw upon the strengths of two highly-rated Geography programs.

UC Santa Barbara graduate programs include film and media studies, global and international studies, media arts and technology, marine science, environmental sciences and management, and the nation’s first doctoral degree in Chicana and Chicano studies. The campus is home to 12 national institutes and centers, including eight that are supported by the National Science Foundation, such as the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.

Diversity of all types is embraced on the campus. For example, imagine an interdisciplinary humanities project, provides online access to the visual legacy of the Chicano movement. The Religious Studies department’s endowed chairs include the XIV Dali Lama Chair in Tibetan Studies, the Virgil Cordano Chair in Catholic Studies, and the Marsha and Jay Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies. In addition to academic diversity, UC Santa Barbara provides a flourishing campus life, enhanced by its proximity to the greater Santa Barbara community's eclectic cultural and recreational activities. Located 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, the 989-acre campus sits atop a majestic bluff on the Pacific Ocean, bordered by mountains.