Mission and Outcomes
The mission of the GIS BA program at UMD is to train future GIS professionals (GISP) by providing theoretical and practical instruction, modeling and mentoring, as well as opportunities of real-world professional experience to students, guided by the GIS&T body of knowledge and the GISP code of ethics.
The program performance is evaluated continuously based on seven formal outcomes expected from graduating students:
- Graduates will demonstrate the theoretical knowledge expected from an early-career GISP
- Graduates will acquire, edit, query, analyze and visualize spatial data in the context of larger projects, at the level of an early-career GISP
- Graduates will be able to analyze a spatial question or problem, formalize hypotheses or solutions, then design and implement a workflow, at the level of an early-career GISP
- Graduates will communicate their work effectively, through writing, speaking and producing effective visual representations of geographical information and analysis results
- Graduates will articulate their personal strengths and skills as early-career GISPs as well as areas they wish grow in, and identify resources available to them for self-development
- Graduates will demonstrate behavioral dispositions expected from GISP professionals
- When confronted with professional situations, graduates will make decisions that conform to the GISP code of ethics