Workshop Program

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Dinner conversations at the 2009 workshop on Strengthening Your Geoscience Program. Photo by Carol Ormand.

Strengthening Your Geoscience Program: Ideas & Examples

Tuesday, June 2

5:00 Opening Reception and Icebreaker, Chesapeake A, Sadler Center

6:00 Dinner, Chesapeake A, Sadler Center

7:30 Opening Session: What Makes a Strong Department?

List of Characteristics of Thriving Departments from the 2005 workshop on Developing Pathways to Strong Departments of the Future

Wednesday, June 3

7:30-8:30 Breakfast, Center Court Dining Facility, Sadler Center

8:45-9:00 Opening Remarks, Chesapeake A, Sadler Center

9:00-10:30 Developing a Program Model: Bringing Together Planning and Assessment (PowerPoint 445kB Jun3 09) - Cathy Manduca, Science Education Resource Center

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• Understanding By Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
• Setting SMART Goals

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Participants discussing logic models at the 2009 workshop on Strengthening Your Geoscience Program. Photo by Carol Ormand.

10:30-11:00 Break

11:00-12:30 Breakout Sessions on Major Themes

• Curriculum and Program Design (PowerPoint 2.1MB Dec3 09) - Mary Savina, Carleton College, Chesapeake A
  

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  • A Matrix Approach to Curriculum Design
  • Curriculum Design Worksheet: Curriculum as Goals, Skills and Experience (Microsoft Word 34kB Jun3 09)
  • Curriculum Design Worksheet: Building a Curriculum Matrix (Microsoft Word 52kB Jun3 09)
  • Compiled Lists of Participants' Responses from the Workshop Exercise (Acrobat (PDF) 393kB Jun8 09) (morning session)

• Preparing Students for the Workforce (PowerPoint 345kB Jun2 09) - Diane Doser, University of Texas - El Paso, Chesapeake B
  

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  • Professional Preparation pages in the Building Strong Geoscience Departments website
  • Workforce questions with answers from workshop participants (Microsoft Word 31kB Jun8 09)
  • Summary of small group discussions on workforce-related questions (Microsoft Word 33kB Jun8 09)
  • UTEP alumni workforce survey results (Microsoft Word 33kB Jun2 09)

• Recruiting and Retaining Students (PowerPoint 2.8MB Jun3 09) - Randy Richardson, University of Arizona, Chesapeake C
  

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  • Student Recruitment pages in the Building Strong Geoscience Departments website
  • 2007 Workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors
  • List of recruitment strategies (Microsoft Word 29kB Jun3 09) generated by participants in the 2007 Workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors
  • Additional recruitment strategies (Microsoft Word 39kB Jun8 09) from participants in this workshop
  • Poster about a six-day field trip experience for incoming first-year students (Acrobat (PDF) 1.2MB May8 09), from the Earth Sciences Department at SUNY College at Oneonta
  • Action planning worksheet focusing on recruitment goals (Microsoft Word 52kB Jun8 09)

• Program Assessment (PowerPoint 4.2MB Jun3 09) - Diane Clemens-Knott, California State University - Fullerton, McGlothlin-Street Hall Room 224
  

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  • Program Assessment & Review pages in the Building Strong Geoscience Departments website
  • Online Survey Tools

12:30-1:30 Lunch, Center Court Dining Facility, Sadler Center

2:00-3:30 Breakout Sessions on Major Themes

• Curriculum and Program Design (PowerPoint 2.1MB Dec3 09) - Mary Savina, Carleton College, Chesapeake A
  

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  • A Matrix Approach to Curriculum Design
  • Curriculum Design Worksheet: Curriculum as Goals, Skills and Experience (Microsoft Word 34kB Jun3 09)
  • Curriculum Design Worksheet: Building a Curriculum Matrix (Microsoft Word 52kB Jun3 09)
  • Compiled Lists of Participants' Responses from the Workshop Exercise (Acrobat (PDF) 310kB Jun8 09) (afternoon session)

• Beyond the Curriculum: Geo Clubs, K-12 Outreach, Departmental Seminars, and More (PowerPoint 48.9MB Jun5 09) - Dallas Rhodes, Georgia Southern University, Chesapeake B
  

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  • Beyond the Curriculum pages in the Building Strong Geoscience Departments website
  • Blank graph of extra- and co-curricular program elements: (Acrobat (PDF) 241kB Jun2 09) their scope of influence and projected duration
  • Dallas' example graph of extra- and co-curricular program elements (Acrobat (PDF) 895kB Jun3 09)
  • Matrix of extra- and co-curricular program elements: (Excel 35kB Jun2 09) their scope of influence and relationship to strategic objectives

• Recruiting and Retaining Students (PowerPoint 2.8MB Jun3 09) - Randy Richardson, University of Arizona, Chesapeake C
  

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  • Student Recruitment pages in the Building Strong Geoscience Departments website
  • 2007 Workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors
  • List of recruitment strategies (Microsoft Word 29kB Jun3 09) generated by participants in the 2007 Workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors
  • Additional recruitment strategies (Microsoft Word 39kB Jun8 09) from participants in this workshop
  • Poster about a six-day field trip experience for incoming first-year students (Acrobat (PDF) 1.2MB May8 09), from the Earth Sciences Department at SUNY College at Oneonta
  • Action planning worksheet focusing on recruitment goals (Microsoft Word 52kB Jun8 09)

• Building a Department Team (Microsoft Word 28kB Jun9 09) - Geoff Feiss, College of William and Mary, McGlothlin-Street Hall 224
  

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  Strategic Planning pages in the Building Strong Geoscience Departments website

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Participants discussing curricular components at the 2009 workshop on Strengthening Your Geoscience Program. Photo by Carol Ormand.

3:30-4:00 Break, Chesapeake B

4:00-5:30 Reflection and Teamwork, Chesapeake A

• Teams for participants who are the only representatives of their departments
• Action Plan Template (Microsoft Word 28kB Jun2 09)
• Action Plan Review Questions (Microsoft Word 29kB Jun2 09)

5:30-6:30 Where Are We Now?

• Returning to Assessment (PowerPoint 1.5MB Jun2 09) - Cathy Manduca, Science Education Resource Center
• Plenary Discussion
• Daily Roadcheck

Dinner (in town)

Thursday, June 4

7:30-8:30 Breakfast, Center Court Dining Facility, Sadler Center

8:45-9:00 Opening Remarks, Chesapeake A, Sadler Center

9:00-10:30 Going from Plans to Actions (PowerPoint 135kB Jun3 09) - Geoff Feiss, College of William and Mary

10:30-11:00 Break

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Participants reviewing each other's action plans at the 2009 workshop on Strengthening Your Geoscience Program. Photo by Carol Ormand.

11:00-12:30 Breakout Sessions: Selected Topics Based on Participant Interest

Dallas Rhodes and Pamela Gore

• Dealing with Disciplines: Blended Departments, Collaborations with Allied Departments and Programs, and More - Dallas Rhodes and Mary Savina

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More than one geoscience-related discipline is represented on many of our campuses. This session will explore the advantages and challenges and models of working with programs in geography, environmental studies/science, marine science, and others.

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• Geoscience Courses Profiles
• The Future of Geoscience

• Reaching Beyond Your Institution: Forging Collaborations with Geoscientists at Other Colleges and Universities at the Local, State, and Regional Level - Pamela Gore and Heather Macdonald

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There are a variety of ways in which geoscientists from institutions in the same location, state, or region currently collaborate (e.g., co-led field courses, innovative articulation agreements, common courses for high school teachers, state-wide academic advisory groups, research collaborations across institutional types, and more). This session will explore the benefits and challenges of such collaboration, brainstorm other possibilities, and will provide an opportunity for participants in the same "area" to plan how they might collaborate in the future.

• Working with Alumni - Diane Doser and Randy Richardson

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Alumni are very valuable resources. They can be part of the network that helps your students connect with internships, employment, mentoring, and other real-world experiences. They can also provide feedback on initiatives and other proposed changes in the department. And, of course, they can be a source of financial support for scholarships, field trips, and even endowed chairs. What some of the best practices in working with alumni? In this session, we will share our experiences with alumni relations, from working with college/university alumni offices, the use of newsletters, alumni receptions on campus and at regional/national meetings, and other strategies to help alumni feel connected to the department in ways that are beneficial to all.

• Incorporating A Stronger Field Component in Your Curriculum - Yvette Kuiper and Geoff Feiss

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• Using Field Labs
• Teaching in the Field, including a searchable collection of Field Trips
• Using Field Experiences to Teach Geoscience
• Field-based Teaching Activities

• Graduate Programs - Diane Clemens-Knott

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• Collaborating with Students is a page on the website for Early Career Geoscience faculty. It includes several examples of written guidelines for student researchers (undergraduate and graduate).

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Participants reviewing each other's action plans at the 2009 workshop on Strengthening Your Geoscience Program. Photo by Carol Ormand.

12:30-2:00 Working Lunch: Department Teams Finalize Draft Action/Implementation Plans (Microsoft Word 28kB Jun2 09), Center Court Dining Facility, Sadler Center

2:00-3:30 Structured Review of Action and Implementation Plans

Review teams for action plans

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These questions are designed to prompt your thinking about the action plan and facilitate your ability to comment extensively and constructively on the plan as presented. (You may download these questions (Microsoft Word 29kB Jun2 09) if you like.)

1. Is it clear what the action plan seeks to address? Do you understand the goal, challenge or issue being addressed? the purpose of the plan? Is the goal at the right level of importance and achievability?
2. Do you understand the desired result? What success would look like? Are the proposed actions likely to address this goal, challenge or issue and lead to this result?
3. Is the action plan realistic and feasible in the context of this department and institution? Is it described in sufficient detail that you can see a pathway to successful completion? Is the timeline reasonable and realistic? How could the plan be strengthened?
4. Are the primary challenges to implementing the plan identified? Are there other challenges that could be foreseen? Is there a strategy for addressing these challenges? Is a strong fall back position identified for major challenges?
5. Does the plan make effective and appropriate use of the people in the department and institution and capitalize on their roles and strengths? Is there a strong plan for obtaining needed support and engaging appropriate people?
6. Is there a plan for monitoring progress and making appropriate adjustments? Will it be clear if the plan is successful? Is there a data collection/assessment plan that will produce the data needed to demonstrate success to other stakeholders?

3:30-4:30 Finalize Plans and upload them

4:30-5:30 Closing Session

• Desirable Support, Lessons Learned, and Recommendations
• Workshop evaluation