Career & Internship Support

Preparing for the Future

Geography training prepares students for a wide variety of career paths. Geographers think spatially, can examine problems from local and global perspectives, and can synthesize information from disciplines such as computer science, the physical sciences, and the social sciences. These abilities make students with geography training attractive to potential employers in business, government, education, and non-governmental organizations.

Potential Employers

Private Sector Firms

Engineering firms seek graduates with a sold background in geographic information systems, remote sensing, and programming. Consulting firms seek students with strong geographic and writing skills. Our alumni work for many private sector companies in Maryland and Virginia.

Government

Local, state, and federal government agencies hire many geographers. Graduates with training in geospatial technology, planning, and demographic research are in particular demand. We have alumni working for most Maryland counties and for the State of Maryland. In addition, we have alumni working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Library of Congress, and various defense agencies.

Education

Geography is increasingly important in K-12 education. The demand is growing rapidly for people who are qualified to teach Advanced Placement Human Geography and Advanced Placement Environmental Studies.

Non-Governmental Organizations

Geography graduates provide essential skills that enable non-governmental organizations to carry out programs. For example, geographers may create maps that are needed by the organizations. Some of our graduates are working with non-governmental organizations that are endeavoring to eradicate malaria and other diseases in Africa.

Internships

Internships provide many benefits to students. They help students connect classroom theory to practice, gain valuable professional experience, and develop professional networks. Most of our students complete at least one internship. Recent interns have worked for the Baltimore County Office of Information Technology, the Urban Resources Initiative, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and the Library of Congress.

Once you have secured an internship, you need to decide whether or not you want to receive credit. If you opt for credit, you need to take the following steps:

 

Getting Credit for Your Internship

1. Enroll in the Course. Enrollment is by permission only. To get permission to enroll, you must fill out the Internship Registration Form. This form requires a signature. You may either print the form, sign it, scan it, and return it to the department or you may simply type your name and student ID and send the form to cschmitz AT_TOWSON from your TU email account. After processing the form, we will contact you with a permission code, and then you may enroll the course.
2. Complete the Internship Learning Plan with your site supervisor and have your supervisor return it to cschmitz AT_TOWSON as an email attachment by the second week of class via his/her work email. Because we would like a digital copy, you may “sign” the form by typing your name and providing your student ID. Site supervisors may type their name and send the form from their work email.
3. Have your work-site supervisors complete and submit the Internship Mid-Semester Evaluation through their email as an attachment. This should be done around the time you have worked half of the expected hours. The site supervisor should share this evaluation with you.
4. Submit the Internship Work Log to Your Site Supervisor toward the end of your internship and no later than the last day of classes. Remember that you need to have worked 40 hours for each credit (120 hours for 3 credits, 240 hours for 6 credits).  Have your site supervisor email the log from their work email.  By doing so, the site supervisor will be approving the work log.
5. Have your site supervisor complete and submit through email attachment the  Internship Final Evaluation at the end of your internship (no later than the last day of regular classes).
6. Complete and submit via email the Internship Student Evaluation at the end of your internship (no later than the last day of regular classes).

Grading

All forms listed above must be submitted for you to pass the course with a D.  Beyond that, your internship grade is based on three components:  the mid-semester evaluation (25%); the final evaluation (65%), and the final paper (10%). 

Final Paper

The final paper is optional in that you do not need to submit it to get a passing grade in the course.  Nevertheless, it does count 10% of your grade.  The final paper should provide a careful assessment of the work you did at the internship and how it related to your internship learning plan.  The paper should address whether the work you actually did matched the tasks/strategies that were described in the learning plan, and whether that work  allowed you to meet the learning objectives outlined in the plan.  The final paper may be in the form of a final reflective essay or a weekly journal.