UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Geography celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. The department got its start in 1963 as a program in the College of Letters and Science. The major was launched in February 1966, and its first degree was granted that June. But the discipline was languishing by 1973, when Bruce Rickborn became associate dean of letters and science. Rickborn conducted a survey of geography departments around the country, which painted a dim prognosis.