Participants and Their Contributions

Conveners

Geoff Feiss , College of William and Mary
Pamela Gore, Georgia Perimeter College
Heather Macdonald ( This site may be offline. ) , College of William and Mary
Cathy Manduca, Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College
Carol Ormand, Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College
Dallas Rhodes, Georgia Southern University

Visiting Workshop Leaders

Diane Clemens-Knott, California State University, Fullerton
Diane Doser , University of Texas - El Paso

Essay: Strengths and Weaknesses of the UTEP Department of Geological Sciences
Curriculum: Geoscience Curriculum, University of Texas at El Paso

Randy Richardson , University of Arizona
Mary Savina , Carleton College

Curriculum: Carleton Geology Curriculum

Workshop Participants

American Geological Institute: Leila Gonzales

Boston College: Gail Kineke, Yvette Kuiper, & Noah Snyder

Curriculum: Environmental Geosciences, Boston College
Action Plan focus: Revision of the Environmental Geoscience major curriculum.

Bucknell University: Christopher Daniel

Essay: Bucknell University Department of Geology
Action Plan Focus: Providing more opportunities for nonmajors to satisfy lab requirements and move into the degree program.

Central Michigan University: Marty Baxter, Patrick Kinnicutt, & Jodi Ryder

Essay: Central Michigan University Department of Geology
Curricula: Geology BS - Option A * BS - Meteorology * Proposed Hydrology Major
Assessment Instrument: Central Michigan University Senior Thesis Rubric
Action Plan Focus: We're focusing on developing community and shared vision in the dapartment.

College of Coastal Georgia: Ntungwa Maasha

Essay: Geology at the College of Coastal Georgia
Curriculum: Concentration in Geology, College of Coastal Georgia
Action Plan Focus: My action plan focuses on increasing enrollment in geology courses.

College of William and Mary: Brent Owens

Essay: Geology at the College of William and Mary
Curriculum: Geology Curriculum, College of William and Mary
Action Plan Focus: Our focus is on improving the overall senior thesis requirement, from inception to completion.

Dickinson College: Ben Edwards & Pete Sak

Essay: Department of Geology, Dickinson College
Curriculum: Geology Major (BA/BS), Dickinson College
Action Plan Focus: Marketing and increasing our prominence within the college community; raising awareness on campus for role of geology in sustainability/environmental education

Eastern Kentucky University: Walter Borowski & R. Thomas Lierman

Essay: Geology Program - Eastern Kentucky University
Curriculum: BS in Geology, Eastern Kentucky University
Action Plan Focus: Creating faculty consensus in order to re-align our geology program's core curriculum. [Then we can move on to electives within the program.]

Elizabeth City State University: Francisco San Juan & Thomas Rossbach

Essay: Strengths and Weaknesses of the Geology Program at Elizabeth City State University
Curriculum: B.S. Geology, Elizabeth City State University
Action Plan Focus: Recruitment and retention of geology majors.

George Mason University: Randy McBride and Julia Ann Nord Cooper

Essay: Department of Oceanic, Atmospheric and Earth Sciences at George Mason University
Curriculum: Earth Science B.S., George Mason University
Action Plan Focus: Building community. From recruitment through retaining students to alumni outreach.

Gustavus Adolphus College: Julie Bartley & James Welsh

Essay: Geology Department, Gustavus Adolphus College
Curriculum: Geology Curriculum, Gustavus Adolphus College
Action Plan Focus: curriculum planning/design

Hampton University: Benjamin Cuker

Essay: Hampton University Department of Marine and Environmental Science
Curriculum: Marine & Environmental Science, Hampton University (updated 2014)
Assessment Planning Documents: Hampton University Marine & Environmental Science Mission Statement and Student Learning Outcomes
Action Plan Focus: Retention

Indiana University of Pennsylvania: Katherine Farnsworth, Jonathan Lewis & Michael Poage

Essay: Geoscience Department - Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Curriculum: Geology Curriculum, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Action Plan Focus: Crafting a mission statement and aligning department goals with those of our college, university and PA System of Higher Ed.

Middle Tennessee State University: Patricia Boda & Melissa Lobegeier

Essay: MTSU Department of Geosciences
Curriculum: Geographic Techniques, Middle Tennessee State University
Action Plan Focus: The focus of the plan is to increase enrollment and majors by increasing our visibility and communication with the campus, community and students.

Mount Royal College: Katherine Boggs

Essay: Mount Royal College, Calgary, Alberta; Department of Earth Science
Curriculum: BSc in Geology, Mount Royal College
Action Plan Focus: Development of alumni (we have none) and geology community (we are relatively new); develop newsletter to start engaging alumni

Northern Virginia Community College: Callan Bentley

Essay: NVCC Geology Department
Curriculum: Geology Curriculum, NVCC
Action Plan Focus: Recruiting students in coordination with GMU (I'm at NOVA, which "feeds" majors into GMU)

Queens College, City University of New York: Stephen Pekar & Gillian Stewart

Essay: Queens College School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Curricula: Environmental Sciences at Queens College-CUNY
Action Plan Focus: Improving the Geology Major ; replacing retiring geology faculty and keeping a strong geo dept; find commonality between geo and ensci majors

Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania: Thomas Feeney & Tim Hawkins

Essay: Department of Geography and Earth Science, Shippensburg University
Curriculum: GeoEnvironmental Studies, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Assessment Instrument: Student Survey from the Shippensburg University Department of Geography and Earth Science
Action Plan Focus: recruiting students

Skidmore College: Sarah Black, Amy Frappier & Kyle Nichols

Essay: Skidmore College Geosciences
Curriculum: Geosciences Curriculum, Skidmore College
Action Plan Focus: Recruitment!

Smith College: Amy Rhodes

Essay: Department of Geosciences, Smith College
Curriculum: Educational Geoscience Concentration, Smith College
Action Plan Focus: Evaluation of our new curricular program.

SUNY College at Oneonta: Jerome Blechman & James Ebert

Essay: State University of New York (SUNY) College at Oneonta, Earth Sciences Department
Curricula: Earth Science
Recruitment Materials: Posters about student research (Acrobat (PDF) 362kB May8 09) and a six-day field trip experience for incoming first-year students (Acrobat (PDF) 1.2MB May8 09)
Assessment Instrument: SUNY Oneonta Student Exit Survey
Action Plan Focus: Recruitment of more majors in our department, specifically geology and hydrogeology but also increasing our meteorology numbers

SUNY Geneseo: Dori Farthing & Amy Sheldon

Essay: SUNY Geneseo Department of Geological Sciences
Curricula: BA, Geological Sciences, SUNY Geneseo
Action Plan Focus: setting up a mid-point check-in on our dept's action plan stated in our last review

Thomas Nelson Community College: Peter Berquist & Lynsey LeMay

Essay: Thomas Nelson Community College Department of Geology
Curriculum: Geology Course Offerings, TNCC
Action Plan Focus: Increase department visibility; increase geoscience awareness; increasing enrollment/recruiting; preparing students for the workforce

Tidewater Community College: Shelley Jaye & Azam Tabrizi

Essay: Geology at Tidewater Community College
Curriculum: Introductory Geology and Earth Science, Tidewater Community College, Chesapeake Campus
Action Plan Focus: Increase the enrollment; Introduction to the geological sciences to prospective students.

Towson University: Rachel Burks & Jonathan Filer

Essay: Towson University Geosciences
Curriculum: Geology Curriculum, Towson University

University at Buffalo: Bea Csatho & Tracy Gregg

Essay: Department of Geology, University at Buffalo
Curriculum: B.S. Geosciences, University at Buffalo
Action Plan Focus: Our main focus at this stage is to find a way to get our faculty to participate in a formative assessment of our current undergraduate curriculum, with the goal of decreasing the undergraduate teaching load.

University of Cincinnati: Craig Dietsch & Lewis Owen

Essay: Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati
Curriculum: Geology Curriculum, University of Cincinnati
Action Plan Focus: Conversion from trimesters to semesters, and total revamping of our undergraduate program.

University of Mary Washington: Jodie Hayob & Melanie Szulczewski

Essay: Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Mary Washington
Curricula: Geology Curriculum, UMW * Environmental Science, UMW
Action Plan Focus: Goals = 1. recruit/retain more high-quality geology majors (via creating a new environmental geology option). 2. Improve co-curricular activities between faculty/students and students in our 2 programs (via more out of class events and activities such as a dept. newsletter, end of year banquet honoring seniors, dept. field trips to more exotic locales, etc.).

University of North Carolina at Pembroke: Martin Farley

Essay: Geology & Geography Department, UNC-Pembroke
Action Plan Focus: Student recruitment

University of Pennsylvania: Jane Dmochowski

Essay: The Earth and Environmental Science (EES) Department at the University of Pennsylvania
Curriculum: Environmental Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Action Plan Focus: Curriculum design; Faculty-student interactiions; Formulation of undergrad program objectives

University of Toledo: David Krantz

University of West Florida: Matthew Schwartz

Essay: University of West Florida Department of Environmental Studies
Curriculum: GIS Certificate, University of West Florida
Action Plan Focus: curriculum revision

Valdosta State University: Paul Vincent

Essay: Geosciences at Valdosta State University
Curriculum: Environmental Geosciences: Geography Track, Valdosta State University
Action Plan Focus: Recruiting new students to our program.

Vassar College: Jeff Walker

Essay: Program in Earth Science, Department of Earth Science and Geography, Vassar College
Curriculum: Earth Science, Vassar College
Action Plan Focus: introductory curriculum and how it attracts students to the intermediate level courses and/or to major

Virginia Wesleyan College: Elizabeth Malcolm

Essay: Earth and Environmental Science Department at Virginia Wesleyan College
Curriculum: Earth and Environmental Science, Virginia Wesleyan College
Action Plan Focus: Strenthening relationship w/ local community colleges to recruit more transfer students.

Washington University in St. Louis: David Fike & Jennifer Smith

Essay: Washington University in St. Louis, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Curriculum: Earth & Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis
Action Plan Focus: Recruitment of undergraduate majors

Wesleyan University: Martha Gilmore & Peter Patton

Essay: Earth and Environmental Science Department, Wesleyan University
Curriculum: Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University
Action Plan Focus: M.A. student recruitment. Improving relationship with alumae. Curricular analysis with particular focus on our capstone course.