BS in Geology at Grand Valley State University
Program Design & Assessment
Overview
Grand Valley State University is an undergraduate university located in Allendale, Michigan, (near Grand Rapids) and was established in 1960 to meet the growing post-secondary needs of the western part of Michigan. Around 24,000 students are enrolled at the university, which is much smaller than the other large universities in Michigan. Students find the campus welcoming and are attracted to the rural feeling of the area surrounding campus. They offer a traditional Geology degree program. The first university president was a geology professor, so Geology has been offered since the university began.
Strengths of this program
One of our biggest strengths is our welcoming faculty who are engaged in undergraduate teaching and advising. Undergraduate research is a big focus of the department and many students take part in research. It is not atypical for students to present work at national conferences like AGU or GSA.
Types of students served
We serve many first generation college students from rural areas around Michigan. Many students want to live in western Michigan, where they grew up, after graduating. We have good connections with the community colleges in western Michigan and we have many students who have transferred from those schools.
Program Goals
The goals of this program are as follows:
- To provide meaningful summer and academic term research experiences for our students
- To prepare students for work or graduate school upon graduation
- To increase diversity in our program
We also have a well defined strategic plan that we re-evaluate regularly. The strategic plan presents goals for students, faculty work, the geology program.
The learning goals were informed by the following resources:
The administration has matched the university with 'peer institutions' which have similar demographics, enrollment, and program offerings. Our strategic plan reflects the specific needs of our faculty and students, but we do use our peer institution's strategic plans to help guide us in developing our own. This also helps us keep up with equipment and instrumentation in the department as we compare ourselves with other similar institutions.
How program goals are assessed
We look at trends in exam scores, course grades, where students are publishing their work, where students are attending graduate school or other employment to assess how the program is doing in meeting it's goals and the needs of the students. Students also complete a survey through AGI once they complete the program. We can access this data and learn more about how we're meeting the needs of the students.
Design features that allow goals to be met
We value undergraduate research at Grand Valley State University. Students may partake in research to the extent that they are willing and able. We have funding to support research during the academic year as well as through the summer. We encourage students to present their work at national and regional conferences. Our emphasis on undergraduate research is one of the strongest and most key features of the geology program.
We've designed a new first year seminar style class for majors that teaches geoscience skills such as working with databases and Excel. We also offer a senior level seminar that addresses both communicating science research findings and preparing to find a job or enter graduate school. Topics of the seminar include giving presentations, delivering speeches and writing cover letters and resumes. Alums also give a panel on the careers they have and what skills were needed to obtain those careers. We hope that students learn more about potential careers as well as how to get the career they desire.
Alumni Careers
Graduation rate
We have about 90-100 majors in the department with about 20 students graduating every year with a Geology degree. This has been steady in recent years.
Careers pursued by our alumni
About half of our geology graduates go on to graduate school to pursue higher degrees in geology. The other half get jobs in the oil and gas industry, environmental jobs such as consulting firms of government agencies. Most of our students who get jobs after graduating want to move back close to home and end up doing so eventually, if not right away.
Courses and Sequencing
Diagram of course sequencing and requirements
Other key features of this program:
We are actively working to increase diversity in our program. To do this, we work with high schools to offer an honors Earth science course for credit at Grand Valley State University and other colleges and universities in Michigan. Read more about the program.