Posts tagged with “Departmental News” (All posts)

  • Duncan Stewart Fellows For ’09-’10 Named

    3 April 2009

    Each year, the geology faculty faces the difficult task of selecting a few students to be Duncan Stewart Fellows. The Duncan Stewart Fellowship was established in 1976 by Daniel Gainey, class of 1949, in honor of Duncan Stewart, professor of geology at Carleton for nearly 25 years.

    We select the Stewart Fellows based on a combination of excellence in scholarship, a high level of intellectual curiosity, potential for scientific growth, and involvement in departmental activities. As we make this selection, we realize how fortunate we are to have so many talented, interesting, and impressive students within the department.

    We are very pleased to announce that Mark Hagemann, Nate Evenson, Jordan Epstein and Sarah Crump, all class of ’10, have been named Duncan Stewart Fellows, extending the number of Stewart Fellows over the years to 97. Congratulations and best wishes to all of you!

  • The Carleton Geology Facebook Group Is Growing

    7 January 2009

    We’re entering the 21st century!

    A Facebook group called “Carleton College Geology” was created for our students and alums in February, 2008.  By the end of 2008 the group had 188 members, and it’s still growing.  The membership of the group consisted of 81% geology and ENTS majors (both students and alums), 10% Carls of other majors, and 9% non-Carleton alums.  This last group includes Carleton staff and faculty and their family members as well as siblings and friends of geology majors.

    The ages of the Carleton student/alum members were:    

    Class Year Fraction of Group
    2009-2012 (students) 15%
    2000-2008 43%
    1990-1999 30%
    1980-1989 8%
    1970-1979 4%

    Facebook was founded at Harvard University in 2004, and was expanded to some other colleges and high schools in the following couple of years.  In late 2006 it was made available to the general public.  For a more thorough description of Facebook and its history, see the Wikipedia article on Facebook.

    All the members of the Carleton Geology family are invited to join our Facebook group!

  • 2008 Geological Society Of America Annual Meeting,  Houston, Texas.

    The following people presented papers in technical sessions at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Houston, TX in October:

  • Geology Web Site Being Redesigned

    12 November 2008

    Probably by the time you read this news item you will have already noticed some changes going on under the hood of our web site.   Yes, we are redesigning the site and moving it into the college’s web content management system, Reason.

    I won’t bore you with enthusiastic blabber about how user-friendly and beautiful the newly designed site will be – you will see that for yourself soon enough (if you actually agree that it is better!).  But I will say a few words about why we are making the change.

    The Reason system is being used by virtually all the other departments on campus now; we have been one of the last holdout departments still doing significant parts of our web site using the old HTML code and code generators like Dreamweaver.  The main advantage to Reason, besides consistency across departments, is that it is managed by Carleton’s Web Services office, which has a staff dedicated to managing and maintaining the college’s web presentations.  All of the pictures, text and other resources that we put into the Reason system will be archived within the system and made available as appropriate for use by other departments, administrative offices, and so on.  Likewise, we will be able to use stories and pictures put up by other departments in the Geo web site.  For example, if the college publishes a press release about a faculty member winning an award or grant, we can use it directly in the Geo site without having to rewrite it or re-enter it.

    There will be some changes in the site navigation, but we hope to keep it as clear and straightforward as possible.  If you have ideas, suggestions or questions, please feel free to email me at tvick@carleton.edu.

    In the meantime it’s a work in progress, so thanks for bearing with us!

  • Bryn Benford Joins The Geology Department

    3 September 2008

    We’d like to extend a very warm welcome to our newest faculty member, Bryn Benford, who will be teaching some of our Introductory Geology sections this year.

    Bryn is a graduate student in geology studying under the direction of Basil Tikoff at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, with her research centering on tectonics and structural geology. One of her recent publications is:

    Tickoff, B., Benford, B., and Giorgis, S., 2008, Lithospheric control on the initiation of the Yellowstone hotspot: Chronic reactivation of lithospheric scars. International Geology Review 50:305-324.

    Bryn is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and a track and field athlete with lots of experience in jumps, throwing and running half-marathons.

    Please help us welcome Bryn!

  • Carleton has been named one of the 25 “greenest” colleges in the United States, according to the recent edition Kaplan College Guide 2009. The Kaplan Guide features 25 green private and public colleges from across the nation. The section provides students with a look inside the classroom, around campus, and at student life, while shining a spotlight on what’s good for the globe at each college.

  • Sarah Titus Quoted In SCIENCE Magazine

    27 June 2008

    Although many research universities care about teaching, faculty members there always know that research is the key to getting tenure. But faculty members at liberal arts colleges face a constant challenge to find the elusive sweet spot that combines innovative and successful teaching with modest but productive research.

    “Teaching really is the number-one goal,” says Sarah Titus, a second-year faculty member in the geology department at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Many schools, including Carleton, emphasize the educational benefit of research to their students. “They’re really happy if you can involve students in your research,” she says.


    Read The Whole Story

    Alert readers who were at Carleton in the late 1970s and early 1980s will also recognize the name of Tom Moore ’76, now a physics professor at Pomona, who is quoted as well. After Tom earned his PhD he returned to teach at Carleton for a couple of years.

  • Mary Savina Awarded Charles L. Denison Endowed Chair

    3 June 2008

    Congratulations to Professor Mary Savina ’72 who has been awarded the Charles L. Denison Professor of Geology endowed chair! This is a great honor. Previous holders of the chair were Duncan Stewart from 1961 through 1970, Eiler Henrickson ’43 from 1970 through 1988, and Shelby Boardman from 1988 through 2007.

    Established in 1962, the Charles L. Denison Professor of Geology chair was named in honor of a geologist who developed several successful coal, silver, and gold mines in the eastern United States and Canada during the late 1880s and early 1890s. At the time of Mr. Denison’s death in 1930, Loren Wood ’99, a prominent New York lawyer, was co-trustee of the Denison estate. Knowing his client would approve of the estate being used to train future generations of geologists, Mr. Wood established the endowed chair in his name. The professorship has helped Carleton develop one of the preeminent undergraduate geology departments in the nation.

    Mary previously held the Lloyd McBride Chair in Environmental Studies from 2002 through 2008.

  • Jean Boardman Passes Away

    2 June 2008

    Dear Faculty and Staff,

    It is my sad duty to inform you of the death this past weekend of Jean Boardman. Jean was married to the former Dean of the College and Charles Denison Professor of Geology Shelby Boardman. What Jean has meant to our community cannot be overstated. The College can boast of no friend who has been more loyal, committed, and generous. Jean was gracious and wise, and she had an energy that seemed boundless. Whether you came across her walking in the Arb, on a downtown sidewalk, or at a Carleton basketball game, she always had a word of kindness and you would invariably be treated with her beautiful smile. As a community, we are very fortunate to have been so deeply influenced by Jean and Shelby Boardman.

    A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 21, at the First UCC Church in Northfield (300 Union Street). Memorial gifts are being designated for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the First UCC Church.

    Our thoughts and prayers are with all of Jean’s family and friends. She will be greatly missed.

    Sincerely,
    Scott Bierman, Dean of the College

  • Carleton College dedicated a memorial in honor of former professor and Dean Shelby Boardman on Saturday, May 31, near the entrance to the Cowling Arboretum. The memorial is located past the Hill of the Three Oaks on the border of the arboretum. Boardman, the Charles L. Denison Professor of Geology and former Dean of the College, passed away in January 2007 at the age of 62 and served at Carleton from 1971-2007.

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