Welcome to GES Advising!

The GES Advising Calendar is at the bottom of this page.

Our GES Advising Team

We have a great team of advisors who specialize in one or more of our major and minor programs.

Urban Studies:

Paula Pentel

Urban Studies advisor & co-cordinator for urban studies

348 Social Sciences (West Bank)
612-626-1626
pent0006@umn.edu

Geography and GIS:

Contact an Advisor

By Email: 

Urban Studies Students contact Paula Pentel  pent0006@umn.edu

BSE, Geography, GIS, and Public Health Students contact geogadv@umn.edu

Please follow these guidelines to help us serve you as effectively as possible. 

• Use your UMN email
• Include your student ID number in the email
• Write your major/minor program in the subject line

Drop-In Advising

Come talk about your major, minor, accomplishments, or challenges. No appointment necessary. At busy times of the semester, students should consider arriving early. There is seldom any wait from week 3-8 of the semester, so if you'd like to sit down with an advisor to plan out your coming year(s), discuss special interests and opportunities, or tailor your program to your intellectual and career goals, mid-semester is the best time for this. 

Peer-to-Peer Advising (Peer Advisors)

The GES department employs a team of student peer advisors (PAs) to support students via drop-in advising hours. Peer advisors can help you declare, coordinate your interests and classes, and plan your upcoming semester. They also serve our GES undergraduates by managing advising workshops and other undergraduate program events.

Honors Advising

Our GES honors coordinators, Dan Griffin (geography), Kathy Klink (BSE), and Rod Squires and Paula Pentel (urban studies) can advise you on discipline-specific issues, and the University Honor's Program hosts general honors advising information. See above to contact the honors coordinator for your program.

Transfer Advising

If you have questions about how classes might fulfill major/minor program requirements, see our petition info sheet on the Geography/GIS or BSE "courses" page.  Also make sure to see "questions about transferring credits?" links on this page.

Senior Project Advising

Plan Ahead! Students may not register for senior projects without first meeting with their chosen faculty supervisor. Go to the Senior Project page for your degree program to learn about senior project options prior to meeting with Ivan Bialostosky (BSE advisor) or Arun Saldanha (Geography) or selecting a senior project supervisor.

Advising Calendar Key

• Urban Studies students should contact Paula Pentel for drop-ins or appointments (not listed on calendar)

• All other students should meet with advisors as follows:

• Geography-only drop-ins
  • Geography major/minors
  • GIS minors
  • declaration and planning
• Geography Senior Projects
  • Review these resources and contact geogadv@umn.edu to request an appointment
• BSE/public health-only Peer Advisor drop-ins (with Maggie or Janette R.)
  • declaration and planning for BSE and public health
  • knowledgable peers can direct you to the resources you need quickly
  • no senior project questions
• BSE/public health-only drop-ins (with Ivan)
  • declartion, planning, and exploration of senior project ideas; senior project registration questions
  • for co-ordinated directed study/research registration see Kathy Klink
• BSE continuing student-only advising (with Chad Horsely)
  • no declarations
  • at Bruininks Hall (East Bank)
  • BSE Senior Projects
• BSE Senior Project Advising
  • Review these resources and meet with Ivan Bialostosky or contact geogadv@umn.edu with questions. Students may not register for senior projects without first meeting with their chosen faculty supervisor, so students must plan ahead.