Profiles and Planning Documents Collection

Over the course of several workshops, both through Building Strong Geoscience Departments and the InTeGrate project, participants have contributed descriptions of courses, degree programs, and departments as well as examples of planning documents they have developed.

Profile Collections

A collection of course profiles

A collection of degree program profiles

A collection of department profiles

Planning Documents Collections

Mission and Vision Statements

Student Learning Goals or Outcomes

Program Assessment Planning Documents

Other Examples

hodges slide 2

Beyond Earth System Science: An Approach for the 21st Century

This presentation, by Kip Hodges, was given at the April 2007 workshop on Connecting Geoscience Departments to the Future of Science: New Structures for Research and Curriculum. Kip's perspective is that Earth and space science are becoming increasingly multidisciplinary, oriented toward solving the grand challenges facing our society. Our programs, too, then, will need to become multidisciplinary, encouraging problem-solving. But finding solutions to problems will not be enough; we will also need to work with policy makers and communicate effectively with the public.

Interdisciplinary Programs at McMaster University

At the 2005 Building Strong Departments workshop, Carolyn Eyles, from McMaster University in Ontario, gave a presentation detailing the interdisciplinary programs there.

Departmental Benefits of Teacher Preparation Programs

These two case studies were written by participants at the 2007 workshop Geoscience Courses that Prepare Future Teachers (sponsored by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers) which took place at Carleton College. Dr. James Ebert (SUNY - Oneonta) and Dr. Rebecca Dodge (University of West Georgia) examine how their respective departments have adapted their curricula to serve pre-service and in-service teachers and sustain department viability.

Geology and the Liberal Arts

Barb Tewksbury, at Hamilton College, describes her department's approach to student recruitment in her presentation, Recruiting Broadly: Aiming Beyond the Career Geoscientist, (Acrobat (PDF) 57kB Oct28 07) from the 2007 workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors. Focusing on how a geoscience degree is excellent preparation for a multitude of career options has guided their curricular design choices over the years.

Geosciences at a Research University

Tim Bralower describes his department's approach to student recruitment in his presentation, Designing Attractive Programs, (Acrobat (PDF) 1.8MB Feb27 08) from the 2007 workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors. Knowing that their students have a wide variety of interests and career aspirations, they offer a wide variety of degree programs in the geosciences. In particular, they've built some interdisciplinary programs around the expertise of their faculty in emerging fields.