Program/Department Development
University of Wisconsin - Green Bay / Manitowoc campus
Goals for change at the program/department level
- GOAL 1--Continue working to establish a viable network of geographers, geologists, geoscientists in Wisconsin and the neighboring areas. Perhaps including the upper peninsula of Michigan, northern Illinois, and eastern Iowa and Minnesota.
- GOAL 2--Encourage more individuals, both traditional and non-traditional ages, to explore the joy and desirability of working in the fields of geography, geology, and geosciences. This encouragement has and will continue to include both high impact practices and high context teaching methods. As a men's advocate, I want to encourage young men to consider continuing their education beyond high school, thus enhancing their possibility in becoming a successful citizen of the world. This work will include young men of all recognized ethnic and lifestyle categories as well as those whose ethnic identities are blurred.
- GOAL 3--Expand the possibilities for inclusion of geography, geology, and geoscience courses and methods into other programs within the UW system; for example, in the new "Water Science" major.
Strategies/Activities
As our institution has changed names and identification, this will be difficult. The transition has been chaotic, but for the most part, amiable. The unfortunate turn for geography is that it is housed in two different departments in two different colleges. As a university is composed of different colleges, each with their own missions and goals, being bisected is challenging and places one in a position similar to an adjunct but only at the rank of faculty. Human/cultural geography is housed in the geography unit of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS). Physical geography is housed in the geosciences unit of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET). Even though geoscience is our home department, I am now teaching in 4 (and maybe 5) departments in two different colleges of the university. Therefore, strategies and the resultant activities have to be carefully considered. For the immediate future, my goal is to get more male students into the university system. The university we are associated with is approximately 67% female in an area which is 52% male (ages 18-24 years). A larger portion of males versus females in the university are engaged in athletic activities. Therefore, my efforts will have to focus initially on recruiting males into the four campuses of the university. This will mean more travel to the area high schools and making presentations to community service groups which provide financial support for college students. It will also mean being more visible in the community via the popular press. Encouraging students to attend colleges and universities will be an excellent opportunity for me to make my discipline more obvious.
Summary of proposed activities:
1. More involvement with student services to recruit students from the high schools
2. More visibility through public lectures and popular press about the issue of declining male enrollment
3. Inclusion of geoscience career information within the framework of male student enrollment
Outcomes
To date there have been several activities which I can point to that have been successful. Although geography and geoscience are small departments at UWGB, any time a student expresses an interest there are several things which can happen. For those interested in geography, I have several contacts at transfer campuses where they can continue their studies and possibly do graduate work. So far I have successfully placed students at UW Eau Claire, UW Milwaukee, and UW Stevens Point. Each of those students also received an award named in memory of my predecessor. One is currently seeking admission to graduate school in GIS.
In addition, through the successful SAGE 2YC workshops we have conducted, I have been able to develop a series of lectures about teaching methods which I have presented at several national and now international professional conferences. The response to these presentations have led to several opportunities to continue to enhance my own teaching methods, and spread the message that we need more young men enrolling in our colleges and universities.
University of Wisconsin - Green Bay / Marinette Campus
Goals for change at the program/department level
- GOAL 1: Establish a viable network for promoting the geosciences throughout the University of Wisconsin System.
- GOAL 2: Ensure that any student within the University of Wisconsin System has an opportunity to consider the geosciences as a choice for an academic field of study.
- GOAL 3: Ensure that any student who wants to pursue the geosciences as an academic field has the resources and pathway clearly available.
Strategies/Activities
Given the structure of the two-year campuses within the UW System, it is imperative that we look beyond the individual campus level. There is very little that can be accomplished by a single-person department on a very small campus, but we have experienced some success reaching throughout the 2 and 4-year campuses within the system.
When the UW Colleges was forcibly disbanded this past year, we lost our natural and ready-made network within the Geography/Geology/Meteorology department of the 2-year campuses in the state. Fortunately, we have been able to maintain communication with many of them and they have been faithful participants in our fall workshops. We have also had some luck attracting attention from 4-year faculty and given that a few of them have come to more than one workshop, we believe our message is resonating with them.
Goals 2 and 3 above are totally dependent upon the success of Goal 1. We plan to continue outreach to our geoscience colleagues who have responded so far over this final year of the SAGE 2YC: Faculty as Change Agents project. We also intend to build upon this core in the years to come through a series of workshops, field experiences, shared curricular strategies, and whatever other tools we can conjure to do the job.
Outcomes
The only real outcome of our efforts at the program level has been the enthusiasm displayed by our workshop participants. The challenge will be to transform this enthusiasm into positive and effective connections between campuses, geoscience departments, and individuals. Everything we have witnessed so far gives us confidence that this is possible.