An interdisciplinary graduate seminar exploring Latin American society and culture through multiple academic lenses.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample Explore prerequisite map →
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The department at a glance
All recorded grades average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
How grades break down
Grades over time
Red: department · Gray: UW–Madison
About these statistics
GPA and percentages are weighted by recorded letter grades. UW comparisons use the same terms. Cross-listed courses count once within this department and once across UW; department totals should not be added together. Grade counts are not unique students. Offering counts reflect captured records, not a complete historical schedule.
Spring 2027
Recorded this termcourses with offerings
instructors recorded
Grades have not been recorded for this term. Historical results remain in the overview above.
Across course levels
Recorded this termNo released grades for this term.
Recorded offerings over time
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46 courses
Introductory survey of African society, culture, polity, and economy from prehistory to contemporary developments, covering nationalism and social change.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · James Delehanty
The workload included a heavy reading load, but exams and a five-page paper were considered manageable if students completed the assigned work.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026AFRICAN/ANTHRO/ECON/GEOG/HISTORY/POLISCI 983
Interdepartmental Seminar in African Studies Topics
3 creditsInterdepartmental seminar in African studies topics involving interdisciplinary inquiry in African societies and cultures.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2025–Spring 2025 · limited sampleAFROAMER/ANTHRO/C&ESOC/GEOG/HISTORY/LACIS/POLISCI/SOC/SPANISH 260
Latin America: an Introduction
3–4 creditsIntroduction to Latin American culture and society from an interdisciplinary perspective, covering historical developments from pre-Columbian times to the present.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Kathryn Sanchez
Lectures delivered a lot of information quickly, requiring diligent note-taking to succeed on tests. One student noted that multiple-choice questions often targeted small details mentioned only once during class.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Making the American Landscape traces the history and evolution of the American cultural landscape from precolonial times to present.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2024–Spring 2026ATMOCN/ENVIRST/GEOG 131
Climate Change, Climate Action: the Social Dimensions of Climate Change
3–4 creditsExplores social dimensions of climate change, including political, economic, and environmental factors shaping drivers, impacts, and community responses to the crisis.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Polar Regions and Their Importance in the Global Environment reviews Arctic and Antarctic history, geography, circulations, ice, and future states via earth system models.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2024 · limited sampleFundamental study of global warming causes, scientific evidence, future predictions, impacts on humans and ecosystems, and societal debates over solutions.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Jack Williams
The course involved lots of readings, though assessments focused on lecture content rather than external sources.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026An introductory course on Geographic Information Systems covering automated procedures for storing, analyzing, and displaying spatial information, including databases, software systems, and case studies.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Axing Zhu
The course covered a large volume of material, making it challenging. Exams were described as tough and difficult, with some students noting that grading on them was harsh.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introduction to how the Earth system works and what makes Earth livable; covers interactions among atmosphere, oceans, life, and Earth's surface shaping local, regional, and global landscapes.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Jack Williams
There are four non-cumulative exams, with no final exam during exam week. Exams are primarily based on lecture slides rather than the textbook, which the reviewer did not read.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Global Environmental Issues explores climate change, food, energy, biodiversity, and justice through an interdisciplinary geographic lens, connecting global scales to local contexts.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Morgan Robertson
The course included weekly readings and short answer questions or write-ups for discussion. Exams were based on lectures, and students indicated that taking good notes and studying enough was necessary to succeed.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026ENVIRST/GEOG 333
Green Urbanism
3 creditsGreen Urbanism explores how urbanization impacts ecological processes and environmental outcomes, examining design strategies and policy responses to urban environmental problems.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Examines challenges of international environmental governance via law, activism, market mechanisms, foreign investment, and corporate accountability.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Geographical study of conservation and climate change, analyzing physical/social dimensions, values, and institutions from local to international scales.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Lisa Naughton
The course included three exams, three papers, and weekly quizzes based on online readings and videos for each module.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Surveys American environmental policy and regulation, focusing on specific statutes, policy arenas, and primary-source case material to examine legal/regulatory structures and geographic/social contexts.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Morgan Robertson
The class requires a heavy time commitment for reading and assignments, with outcomes depending significantly on the effort students invest.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Fall 2025Introduction to environmental remote sensing covering aerial photography, satellite imagery, electromagnetic radiation, data types, interpretation, analysis, mapping, and applications.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026A systems-based investigation of soil structure, biology, water, fertility, and taxonomy, including human impacts on the soil environment.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Nick Balster
Lectures required close attention, and complacent learners risked falling behind, though support was available.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Planning for Resilience to Natural Hazards provides theoretical and practical approaches to planning for community resilience, examining disaster cycles and mitigation strategies.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
An introduction to human geography exploring economic, political, social, cultural, and technological dynamics driving interrelationships and divisions in space.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Jenna Loyd
Quizzes included three-page essays, and students reported large assignments almost weekly, making studying for exams difficult.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introductory overview of geoscience technologies including GPS, Google Earth, satellite imagery, and GIS, focusing on geospatial data collection, representation, and critical evaluation of spatial maps.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Qunying Huang
Assignments were few and clearly instructed, with generous time to complete work. Exams and quizzes carried heavy weight, featuring random questions from a bank that varied in difficulty.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Survey of development and change in world regions, focusing on environment, society, history, economy, demographics, culture, politics, and future challenges.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Catherine Cathy Day
The course required discussion posts, essays, and quizzes, which reviewers found to be a significant time commitment.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026GEOG 342
Geography of Wisconsin
3 creditsOverview of Wisconsin's physical and human geography, emphasizing the physical, historical, and cultural processes that shaped the state.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Elsa Noterman
One student reported seven grueling papers and never-ending readings, noting that rubrics were not very helpful.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Examines environmental change in American West landscapes across time, covering physical science backgrounds and human-environment interactions.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Joseph Mason
Grading focused on main ideas and applied knowledge rather than busy work, with students noting that writing assignments were manageable and not expected to be journal-worthy.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2024–Spring 2026 · limited sampleIntroduces the human geography and history of Southeast Asia, focusing on political issues, spatiality, and how ethnicity and indigeneity manifest in the region and among Southeast Asians in the U.S.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2026–Spring 2026 · limited sampleGEOG 370
Introduction to Cartography
4 creditsIntroduction to Cartography covers the theory and practice of map-making, including mapping basics, data acquisition, thematic mapping techniques, and cartographic abstraction and design.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Bill Limpisathian
Lectures were long and dense, and grading was described as pretty tough, though not designed to be impossible.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026GEOG 475
Topics in Geography
1–4 creditsExplores emerging topics in Geography.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2025 · limited sampleAn undergraduate colloquium orienting students to geography as a scholarly discipline, covering its development, concepts, methods, and research skills.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · William Gartner
Students reported a difficulty level of 4, indicating the course presented a significant challenge.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026Introduction to theory, techniques, and analytical methods for geospatial big data, covering storage, processing, analysis, and visualization using advanced Python programming.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Song Gao
One student described the class as one of the most challenging they had taken, though they felt more confident in their coding afterward.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2023–Spring 2026Examines user interface design for manipulating maps, focusing on Interactive Cartography, Geographic Visualization, and Geovisual Analytics with insights from HCI and Usability Engineering.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026GEOG 579
GIS and Spatial Analysis
4 creditsPrinciples and algorithms for spatial analysis in GIS, covering point, line, polygon processing, interpolation, smoothing, overlay, query, network, terrain analysis, and classification.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Past student reviews · Axing Zhu
Students had to read an online textbook, which one student believed the instructor wrote, to understand what was happening in class.
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Spring 2026