Skip to main content
Eberly College of Arts & Sciences Department of Geology and Geography
Visit WVU Request Info Apply Now

About the Department

Part of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, our department is a vibrant academic unit with full-time faculty spanning the physical and social sciences. 

Welcome from the Leadership

Our program benefits greatly from the support of industry and enterprise partners, who offer connections and funding to assist our students and faculty in their scholarly pursuits, research endeavors, and career ambitions. 

$10.6
Million dollars in
extramural funding since 2019
25
Active Research Labs

Geology and Geography have been taught at WVU since its founding in 1867 initially as the Agricultural College of West Virginia and later through the Department of Geology and Geography in Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

We are the leaders in sustainability education. We have responded to student need and modernized our programs to focus on sustainability through our training in the disciplines of Geology and Geography. We are one of the very few programs in the US that takes a holistic approach to sustainability, meaning that we study and teach the physical science AND social science dimensions of global sustainability.

Department History

The Department of Geology established in 1877 with the appointment of I.C. White for whom White Hall was named. Early faculty and students in the geology program played key roles in the development of the oil industry in the Appalachian basin which was the principal hydrocarbon province of the world in the 19th century.  Key areas of early specialization were petrology, stratigraphy, structural geology, paleontology and paleobotany. 

Geography was taught in the Department of Geology since the early 1900s leading to the creation of the Department of Geology and Geography, as it is now known, in the mid-1960s. 

In 2022, we modernized our programs to focus on sustainability through our training in the disciplines of Geology and Geography with two new degrees:  Sustainability Studies (B.A.)  and  Earth and Environmental Science (B.S.) . 

Antiqued sepia-toned photo of a group of men all wearing dark shirts and pants with trousers and expedition hats. Some are holding geological excavation tools.

Quick Facts

We are one of the very few programs in the US that takes a holistic approach to sustainability, meaning that we study and teach the physical science AND social science dimensions of global sustainability.

Undergraduate Students

  • Over the just past five years, the department has awarded hundreds of undergraduate degrees distributed across our former majors: Geology (B.S), Geography (B.A) and Environmental Geoscience (B.A).
  • As of 2023, we offer two degrees with an emphasis on sustainability: Sustainability Studies (B.A.) and Earth and Environmental Science (B.S.). 
  • The Department is housed in Brooks Hall, renovated in 2008, which has state of the art labs and teaching facilities.
  • The Geology field experience course has been taught in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana every summer since 2000. Before that it was taught for 40 years in southern WV.
  • The Department has international exchange programs with UniLaSalle in Beauvais (France) and University of Cork (Ireland).

Graduate Students

  • The Department has one of the highest success rates for National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards at WVU in support of PhD students.
  • There were 81 active PhD and MS students in the department in 2019.
  • Excellent computer resources includes industry software for GIS, remote sensing, structural modeling and subsurface interpretation.

Faculty

  • Our world-class professors study energy, paleontology, water, minerology, geo-physics, sustainability, environmental change, geographic data science, international and local economic development, geopolitics, migration, and numerous other areas.
  • Faculty conduct research in geographical regions as diverse as western U.S. to Malawi and Mongolia.
  • Our department secures significant external research funding, teaches thousands of students and provides invaluable service to the University. We currently support a dedicated group of graduate teaching assistants,  graduate research assistants and graduate fellows.
  • Research funding comes from at least 25 sources, including NSF and 11 other federal agencies, four state agencies and five energy corporations.
  • Geology & Geography faculty generated 115 publications and $10.6 Million dollars in extramural funding in the 2018-2019 academic year alone.

On Location in Brooks Hall

The department has outstanding teaching and research facilities and is housed in its own extensively renovated Brooks Hall on the Downtown campus of West Virginia University. Learn more about Our Facilities