The Department of Geosciences
The mission of the Department of Geosciences is to be the
focal point and the advocate for the earth sciences at Mississippi
State University. This includes the provision of fundamental
education in geosciences for all students at MSU and specialized
education for those specifically majoring in geoscience
subjects. Additionally, the department assumes the role
of conducting applied and basic research leading to illumination
of the nature of the earth sciences in Mississippi, the
southern U.S. in particular, and the whole earth in general.
No other Geoscience program exists in Mississippi, and therefore
the department has a unique role at MSU and within the State.
The Department of Geosciences is the only place in the Mississippi
where the expertise of geologists, geographers, and climatologists
is combined, not only in name but also in actual execution.
The department has undergraduate and master’s-level
graduate teaching and research that integrate a combined
set of sub-disciplines into a focused, rigorous curriculum
that produces graduates capable of obtaining employment
in a variety of positions. The department maintains three
on-line distance learning programs (broadcast meteorology,
operational meteorology, and teachers in geoscience) which
account for over 90% of the University’s distance
learning credits hour production. The total numbers of undergraduate
majors in the Fall of 2002 stood at 478, ranking us within
the top three departments in a campus-wide census of all
undergraduate programs. Graduate on-campus enrollment was
231 students. Undergraduate distance learning enrollment
was 667 undergraduate and 474 graduate majors.
The Geosciences program also supports other existing curricula
at MSU by offering courses and expertise in all of the earth
sciences. The department's offerings are integral to the
general educational and university core requirements of
the majority of students graduating from MSU, including
and especially Introduction to World Geography (GR1123)
and Survey of Earth Sciences (GG1113), which have yearly
enrollments of nearly 1500.
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