Mission Statement

University of New Mexico’s Department of Geography and Environmental Studies is an energetic department that is passionate about innovative teaching and about research that dynamically explores human-environment relations and change.  Our teaching and research are inspired by the complex geographic contexts of New Mexico and the borderlands of the US Southwest and extend to questions, cases, and places around the globe. Our department is characterized by leadership in the areas of spatial thinking, environmental understanding, and geographic information science.  We strive to provide generative curricular and research programs that integrate multiple methodologies with transdisciplinary conceptual and applied frameworks. Through these programs, we seek to empower our students, our communities, and ourselves to holistically address current, multifaceted, real-world problems.