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Geography, Environment and Urban Studies

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Career Opportunities and Placements

American Studies stresses the development of advanced-level reading, writing and analytical skills that are necessary for successful careers in various fields. Over the program’s 40-year history, people who have majored or minored in American Studies have gone on to business, medical, law, journalism, museum, civic, teaching and publishing careers. Our majors complete graduate school in the humanities and social sciences, law school and medical school. They take jobs and internships in schools, nonprofit organizations, museums, libraries, business, social services, public relations and the media. Our alumni tell us how valuable their American Studies educations continue to be and say that the knowledge and skills they learned with our faculty were instrumental when starting their careers.

Environmental Studies 

Temple University Environmental studies graduates land competitive, meaningful jobs upon graduation in Philadelphia and beyond, working in business, government and nonprofits. The U.S. Department of Labor projects faster-than-average growth for careers in environmental fields.

Jobs for Environmental Studies majors include:

  • Environmental Activism and Conservation
  • Resource Management
  • State and Local Government
  • Non-Profits and NGOs
  • Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
  • Spatial Analysis
  • Education
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Urban Gardening
  • Research

Environmental studies majors land coveted internship and full-time positions with major organizations:

  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • Mayor’s Office of Sustainability
  • Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
  • Michael Baker International
  • National Park Service
  • AKRF, Inc
  • Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
  • Amec Foster Wheeler
  • Greenpeace

Geographic Information Systems 

Training in GIS will give you the skills you need to take on advanced research positions in technology-based companies, governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations. A variety of industries are looking to hire professionals with this important skill set, including public health, the environment, business, technology, planning, education, design, criminal justice, sociology, communications, journalism and engineering.

GIS majors land coveted internship and full-time positions with major organizations:

  • AECOM
  • Apple
  • Ballotpedia
  • Blue Raster
  • Cesium
  • City of Philadelphia
  • Colliers International
  • Comcast
  • DVRPC
  • EPA
  • ESRI
  • Felt 
  • Langan Engineering
  • NYC Dept of City Planning
  • Overture Maps
  • Pennoni
  • Planet Labs
  • PolicyMap
  • Philadelphia Water Department
  • Reinvestment Fund
  • Rodriquez Consulting
  • T&M Associates
  • Trimble

Related News

Alumni Spotlight

Darion Porter

After graduation, Darion completed a GIS internship with the City of Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation and is now a Research Assistant with the Public Health Management Corporation, a leading nonprofit provider of public health resources. Learn why Darion became an Environmental Studies Major.

  • B.A. in Environmental Studies from Temple in 2017
  • Research Assistant with the Public Health Management Corporation
Yuan Huang

Yuan is the Assistant Policy Director for the City of Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Policy.  She was previously the Director of Finance ad Administration in the Philadelphia Office of the Inspector General. Yuan started Temple at a business student, but switched to Geography and Urban Studies her Junior year. As a GUS major, Yuan was able to study abroad at Temple University Japan for a semester.

  • B.A. in Geography and Urban Studies from Temple in 2013
  • Assistant Policy Director for the City of Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Policy
Linsey Walsh

Linsey graduated with a double major in Environmental Studies and Geography & Urban Studies. After serving as an Agroforestry Extensionist as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea, Linsey became a Chemical Review Manager at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC.

  • B.A. in Environmental Studies and Geography and Urban Studies from Temple in 2013
  • Chemical Review Manager at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC
Christian Przybylek
  • M.A. in Geography and Urban Studies from Temple in 2016
  • Stewardship Specialist, Lancaster County Conservancy
Charlotte Castle
  • M.A. in Geography and Urban Studies from Temple in 2015
  • Vision Zero & Neighborhood Programs Coordinator, City of Philadelphia - Office for Transportation & Infrastructure Systems
Colleen Hammelman, PhD

After completing her PhD in Geography and Urban Studies, Colleen completed a fellowship at the Culinaria Research Centre at the University of Toronto Scarborough and is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at UNC Charlotte.

  • PhD in Geography and Urban Studies from Temple in 2016
  • Postdoctoral fellow in David Heeger’s Computational Neuroimaging Lab at NYU
Michael Schwebel, PhD

After completing his PhD in Geography and Urban Studies, Mike served as the Community Resilience and Climate Adaptation Specialist and Extension Agent at Sea Grant and the Associate Director of Resilience Strategy Delivery at 100 Resilient Cities. Mike is now a Lead Researcher in Ethnographic and Qualitative Studies at LiquidHub.

  • Lead Researcher in Ethnographic and Qualitative Studies at LiquidHub
  • PhD in Geography and Urban Studies from Temple in 2015

 

Additional Alumni

See where some of out additional alumni have landed:

  • Jessica Wyckoff, Philabundance (GUS/ES 2009)
  • Aaron Fraint, Bicycle Planner & GIS Developer, New York City Department of (GUS/ES 2011)
  • Caroline Slama, Associate Director, Preservation Services, Preservation Alliance (GUS, 2016)
  • Mattingly Cohen, Community Outreach Coordinator, Philadelphia Parks Alliance (GUS 2017)
  • Charlotte Neal, GIS specialist at APEX Systems (GUS 2018)

Deadlines

  • February 1: Freshman Application Deadline for Fall Semester
  • February 1: FAFSA Financial Aid Application Deadline
  • November 1: Transfer Deadline for Spring Semester
  • June 1: Transfer Deadline for Fall Semester

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Almost half of incoming Temple students transfer from other colleges and universities. If you’ve taken 15 or more college-level credits after high school graduation, you can apply for admission as a transfer student. If you’re thinking about transferring, consider speaking directly with our CLA Enrollment Management team.

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