Founded in 1993, the Department aimed at cultivating qualified geography teachers for secondary schools and researchers in geography. A branch of the College for Education, it was first chaired by Dr. Lo,Chi-Hung . The second Department head was Prof. Guey-San Yang starting from August, 1997. The MA program was set up in 1998. The MA program for secondary school teachers was established to comply with the University's Continuing Education and Professional Development Division. In August, 2000, Prof. Chou,Kuo-Ping served as the third Department head. The Department joined the newly-established College of Humanities in October, 2000. The Ph.D. program was initiated in 2002. The fouth Department head was Prof. Yo-bin Ho starting from August, 2003.The fifth Department head was Associate Prof. Han-Kui Liu starting from August, 2006.The MA program of Environment,Tourism and Recreation studies was set up in 2008.The sixth Department head was Prof. Heng Tsai starting from December,2009.Since December, 2012 the Department head has been Associate Prof. Wang,Su-Fen. Since December, 2015 the Department head has been Associate Prof. Song,Yu-Ling., 2022.2.1 the Department head has been Prof. Tu,Jien-Yi.