Program Overview
Program temporarily not accepting new applications for admissions.
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Location: Candelaria 2200
Email: HSS@unco.edu
Website: www.unco.edu/hss/geography-gis-sustainability
Advising Information:
Students must consult with their assigned major advisor each semester prior to registering.
To find your advisor, log into ursa.unco.edu; go to 'Student' tab and click 'View Student Information' link. If no advisor is listed, contact the major program for advisor information.
The program consists of four parts:
- Liberal Arts Curriculum (LAC) Credits
- Required Major Credits
- Professional Teacher Education Program (PTEP) Credits
- University Wide Credits
*For Educator licensure majors, PTEP coursework counts towards the minimum of nine upper-division UNC credits (300-400).
Program Description:
The Geography program participates in the preparation of teachers by offering a bachelor's degree in geography that meets all requirements for licensure for teaching social studies at the secondary level (grades 7-12). Upon successful completion of this program and the requirements of the Professional Teacher Education program, students will qualify to be licensed to teach social studies. Students choosing this major will be observed by experienced geography faculty when student teaching. A graduate with this degree will also be qualified to pursue graduate study in geography.
Program Admission Requirements:
Academic Good Standing
PTEP Program Requirements:
Teacher candidates who complete an approved content degree and the UNC professional teacher education program, as well as pass the appropriate Colorado Department of Education designated PRAXIS exam (if applicable), will be eligible for recommendation from UNC for a Colorado Department of Education teaching license.
If you are seeking licensure in your program area, the following items are required to complete your program.
- Completion of Application for Initial Admission to PTEP – referred to as Checkpoint #1 (Enrollment in this checkpoint will result in a one-time program fee, assessed to student accounts to pay for assessment software. This checkpoint will also require an out-of-pocket payment - to the chosen approved vendor - to obtain a fingerprint background check, which is required by the Colorado Department of Education.)
- Completion of Full Admission to PTEP – referred to as Checkpoint #2
- Completion of Application for Student Teaching – referred to as Checkpoint #3
- Completion of content specific PRAXIS test prior to Student Teaching
- Candidates may not take extra courses with Student Teaching without prior approval from the Program Coordinator and the STE Director.
- All PTEP Field Experiences and methods courses need to be successfully completed prior to Student Teaching.
- Student Teaching outside the supervision of UNC Faculty may or may not be approved.
- Teacher Candidates will not be placed in a school where they were once students or where they have a close relative attending and/or working.
- Teacher education and educator preparation licensure programs do not accept Professional Teacher Education Program (PTEP) or field-based courses that are more than ten years old. PLEASE NOTE: Teacher Candidates have the right to petition this policy at the discretion of the program coordinator.
Please work with your content advisor to determine when these requirements will be completed throughout your program.
Degree Requirements — 120 Credits
1. Liberal Arts Curriculum — 31 credits
To complete the degree in 120 credits as outlined, the program recommends the below LAC courses which also count toward the 57 required major credits.
Any additional coursework completed outside of the recommended list of LAC courses may extend the length of the program of study.
Written Communication — 6 credits
Select any courses to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Written Communication courses
Mathematics — 3 credits
Select any course to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Mathematics courses
Arts & Humanities, History, Social & Behavioral Sciences, U.S. Multicultural Studies [MS], and International Studies [IS] — 15 credits
To complete the LAC in the minimum number of credits, be sure to choose at least one course with an IS designation and one course with an MS designation.
HIST 100 (3) is recommended to fulfill the History requirement and will fulfill both LAC and a major requirement.
ECON 203 (3) and PSCI 100 (3) are recommended to fulfill Social & Behavioral Sciences and the additional Arts & Humanities, History, or Social & Behavioral Sciences requirement and will fulfill both LAC and major requirements.
See Arts & Humanities, History, and Social & Behavioral Sciences courses
Natural & Physical Sciences — 7 credits
Select any courses to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Natural & Physical Sciences courses
See Liberal Arts Curriculum
2. Required Major — 57 credits
Regional Electives (9 credits)
Choose three of the following courses:
Systematic Electives (6 credits)
Choose two of the following courses:
Required History and Social Science Support Courses — 18 credits
Three of the courses in this area (HIST 100, ECON 203, and PSCI 100) are recommended to be taken as part of the LAC. Any additional coursework completed outside of these recommendations may extend the length of the program of study.
| ECON 203 | Principles of MacroeconomicsLAB1 | 3 |
| HIST 100 | Survey of American History from Its Beginnings to 1877LAH1 | 3 |
| HIST 101 | Survey of American History from 1877 to the PresentLAH1 | 3 |
| PSCI 100 | United States National GovernmentLAB1 | 3 |
Choose one of the following courses:
| HIST 110 | African CivilizationLAH1 | 3 |
| HIST 113 | Asian Civilizations II: From 1500 to the PresentLAH1 | 3 |
Choose one of the following courses:
| HIST 120 | Western Civilization from Ancient Greece to 1689LAH1 | 3 |
| HIST 121 | Western Civilization from 1689 to the PresentLAH1 | 3 |
3. Required PTEP — 38 credits
Phase I (5 credits taken concurrently).
| STEP 161 | Observation and Analysis of Secondary Teaching I | 2 |
| EDF 366 | Conceptions of Schooling: Context and Process | 3 |
Phase II (8 credits taken concurrently)
| STEP 262 | Observation and Analysis of Secondary Teaching II | 2 |
| EDSE 360 | Adaptation, Modification, and Integration of Curriculum for the Secondary Exceptional Learner | 3 |
| PSY 349 | Educational Psychology for Secondary Teachers | 3 |
Phase III (11 credits taken concurrently)
| STEP 363 | Clinical Experience: Secondary | 2 |
| ECLD 340 | Academic Language/Literacy Development in the Content Areas at the Secondary Level | 3 |
| ET 449 | Integrating Technologies into Secondary Education Pedagogy | 3 |
| SOSC 341 | Teaching Secondary Social Studies | 3 |
ECLD 340: maybe taken outside of Phase III
Phase IV (14 credits)
4. University Wide Credits — 0 credits*
*Note: Students must apply the recommended courses to both the liberal arts curriculum requirements and the major requirements to complete this degree program in 120 credit hours. Students may have an increased number of university wide electives to apply to this degree depending on the number of credits applied to both the LAC and the major. See your advisor for details.
Program Notes
No geography teaching major may apply for admission to the Professional Teacher Education (PTEP) program until they have passed at least 15 semester hours of courses in the major, at least 6 hours of which must have been taken at the University of Northern Colorado.
To be admitted to PTEP, a student must have a 2.75 grade point average in those courses counting toward their major that were taken at UNC and must have taken at least three courses with the GEOG prefix.
Before being permitted to apply or student teaching, a student must have successfully completed at least 30 hours in the major and maintained a 2.67 grade point average in major courses taken at UNC.