Essays

Preparing the College of William & Mary's Geology Students for Careers
Heather Macdonald, College of William and Mary
Heather Macdonald, College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary is a public university with a strong undergraduate liberal arts tradition. Geology majors select one of two tracks: general geology ...

The Geosciences and a Career in Business
Gerald FIne, Boston University
Gerald Fine, Boston University I write not as a member of a geoscience department, but as a geologist who leveraged his training into a long and varied career. I graduated from Amherst College in 1980 with a B.A. ...

An Earth Science Curriculum By Design
Dave Mogk, Montana State University-Bozeman
David Mogk, Dept. Earth Sciences, Montana State University The Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, recently implemented a top to bottom revision of its curriculum. We are a department that ...

Boise State University's Preparation of Undergraduates for Geoscience Careers
Karen Viskupic, Boise State University
Karen Viskupic, Boise State University The Department of Geosciences at Boise State University has approximately 150 undergraduate majors in two degree programs. The BS in geophysics is a small program with ...

Geosciences at Vincennes University
Dan Vaughn, Vincennes University
Daniel L. Vaughn, Vincennes University I have been pondering this essay until the 11th hour mainly because as a 2-year campus the large majority of my graduates do not head directly into the workforce. It is not ...

A Non-Traditional Geoscience Degree for Non-Traditional Students: Applied Environmental Geosciences at Weber State University
Rick Ford, Weber State University
Richard L. Ford, Weber State University Weber State University (Ogden, UT) is an open-enrollment, dual-mission institution within the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE). As a dual-mission institution, Weber ...

Geosciences program at Midwestern State University
Rebecca L. Dodge, Midwestern State University Midwestern State University (MSU) is a small (~6,000 students) largely undergraduate institution (~90%) in north Texas; we are Texas' only state-funded liberal ...

Next Generation Career Competencies via Interdisciplinary Professional Projects
Phyllis Pouyat Thibodeau, World Learning/ Graduate Institute @ DC
Phyllis Pouyat Thibodeau, Chesapeake Career Consulting LLC Essential to any educational process is to clarify "learning objectives". Typically objectives are defined by educational institutions, based on ...

A growing major in Earth Science at UCSD
Geoffrey Cook, University of California-San Diego
Geoffrey Cook, University of California-San Diego We have a relatively new (since 2007) undergraduate program in Earth Science at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The program is unique in that it is ...

Geological Sciences at SUNY Geneseo and the Challenge of Balancing Breadth, Depth and Growing Enrollment
Ben Laabs, North Dakota State University-Main Campus
Ben Laabs, SUNY College at Geneseo "The primary mission of the Department of Geological Sciences at SUNY Geneseo is to prepare undergraduate students for a successful life after graduation by providing a high ...

Transitioning Undergraduates from Students to Geoscientists for Successful Employment
Megan Pickard, Brigham Young University-Idaho
Megan Pickard, Brigham Young University-Idaho The geology program at BYU-Idaho has been a 4-year program since 2001. We currently have 178 majors and 6 full-time, tenured faculty, and 2 temporary, full-time ...

Preparing the Next Generation Atmospheric Scientists
Sen Chiao, San Jose State University
Sen Chiao, San Jose State University Preparing students for the workforce: The department's undergraduate curriculum meets and exceeds the federal requirements for employment as a Meteorologist as well as the ...

Training the Future Geoscience Workforce at the 2YC
Shelley Jaye, Northern Virginia Community College
Shelley Jaye, Northern Virginia Community College The US Geological Survey (USGS) headquartered in Reston, VA, approached Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in September, 2011 with a proposal to partner in ...

Preparing STEM Educators
Shelley Jaye, Northern Virginia Community College
Shelley Jaye, Northern Virginia Community College The Noyce Scholarship Program George Mason University (GMU) NSF Program Award Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Research Subaward NOVA Annandale has ...

Career Preparation in the Earth Systems Undergraduate Program at Stanford University
Kathleen Phillips, Stanford University
Kathleen Phillips, Stanford University The Earth Systems Program is an interdisciplinary degree and our students are interested in a wide variety of careers ranging from academia to non-profits to finance. Given ...

SUNY Oneonta: Workforce Preparation for Majors in Geology, Water Resources, Earth Science and Meteorology
James Ebert, SUNY College at Oneonta
James Ebert, SUNY Oneonta As a multidisciplinary Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, we provide four majors for our students: Geology, Water Resources (hydrogeology), Earth Science and Meteorology. Each ...

Geology program at Juniata College
Matthew Powell, Juniata College
Matthew Powell, Juniata College Juniata College is a small (~1500 students), residential, undergraduate-only liberal arts college in central Pennsylvania. Our geology department, which has existed since 1968, ...

Development of student skills and employment by graduates of the FHSU BS Geology program
John Heinrichs, Fort Hays State University
John Heinrichs, Fort Hays State University The BS program in Geology has been offered by Fort Hays State University for over 40 years, almost entirely through on-campus instruction and organized field experiences. ...

Workforce Preparation of Geology and Environmental Science Majors at a Large Urban University
Edmond van Hees, Wayne State University
Edmond van Hees, Wayne State University Wayne State University is a large, multicultural, commuter university (29,000 students, 41% minorities, 10% in residence, respectively), located in mid-town Detroit, ...

Preparing Students for Careers in the Atmospheric Sciences
Deborah Bathke, University of Nebraska at Lincoln
Deborah Bathke, University of Nebraska at Lincoln The University of Nebraska's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences offers a program leading to the Bachelor of Science degree in ...