A Brief Early History of the UWM Department of Geography

Geography was first taught on the site of the present campus under the auspices of the Milwaukee Normal School. Interest on the part of students and faculty members resulted in the creation of the Department of Geography on July l, 1956, coincident with the creation of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 1959, the University undertook the task of building a graduate school. The Masters Degree Program in Geography became one of the first to receive approval in 1963. The doctoral program in Geography, inaugurated officially in the spring of 1966, was among the first three Ph.D. programs.