SFSU - Department of Geography &
Human Environmental Studies

GEOGRAPHY INTERNSHIPS

PREREQUISITES: minimum of 15 units in Geography and consent of instructor.


Undergraduates are strongly encouraged to consider an internship (GEOG 688 for 2-6 units) as part of their Geography Major or Minor program. Such experience provides an invaluable opportunity to put skills to work and to learn about potential employment opportunities.

Normally, three work hours per week are equivalent to one unit of credit. For four units, a twelve hour work week commitment is expected.

Students are encouraged to initiate and develop their own agency affiliation. However, there are three other ways in which a student commonly sets up an internship:

1. Some students can begin to explore, with faculty guidance, alternative possibilities that may be available and appropriate to their individual skills and capabilities. Again, the faculty supervisor can help such students secure internship openings.

2. Through previous contacts, the faculty supervisor can help the student get into the agency or kind of opening in which he or she has expressed interest. This sometimes reflects a possible career orientation or exploration.

3. A student may already be working part-time in a situation that is now appropriate for intern credit. The faculty supervisor must grant approval before such an internship becomes official.



Placements and potential career opportunities include the following:

Regional/Urban Planning
Land-Use Planning
Recreational Resources Planner
Ecologist/Naturalist
Park Ranger
Photographic Interpretation
Image Analysis
Location Analysis
Marketing Analysis
Transportation Planner/Analyst
Cartography/Computer Cartography


Recent geography interns have worked at the following:

Association of Bay Area Govts.
Bay Area Air Quality Mgmt. Dist.
Bay Area Rapid Transit
California Coastal Commission
California Marine Mammal Center
CALTRANS Dist 4 - Planning
City of Orinda Planning Dept.
Dagovitz & Associates
East Bay Regional Park District
Earth Island Institute Urban Habitat
Friends of the Urban Forest
Greenbelt Alliance
Marin County Open Space District
Metropolitan Transportation Comm.
The Nature Conservancy
Pacific Meridian
Rainforest Action Network
San Francisco Beautiful
Save the S.F. Bay Association
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
U.S. Bureau of Land Management
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Water Quality Control Board
Urban Ecology


Internship Coordinator:
Roger Crawford (HSS 283, x1868)
E-Mail: rcrawfo@sfsu.edu

Return to Geography Dept. Homepage