Strategies for Growth in a Young Earth Sciences

Department

• Brad Clement, current chairperson

• Rosemary Hickey-Vargas, past chairperson

• Grenville Draper, past chairperson

Florida International University

• FIU is part of the University of Florida System

• Opened in 1972– Initial enrollment of 5600

• Enrollment in Fall 2005 exceeded 35,000 students

• Predominantly minority– 80% minority students

The Department of Earth Sciences at FIU

• Founded as a department in 1984– Grew out of a Physical Sciences Dept.

• The department currently has 14 faculty members.• The department offers the BA, BS, MS, and PhD

degrees• FIU invested in the department based on our

faculty’s research accomplishments– 2nd science department to obtain a doctoral program

Challenges in attracting majors

• Many minority students see college as a vocational endeavor – They are attracted to majors leading to “high-

paying jobs”.

•South Florida is not noted for its “in your face geology”

•The majority of our undergraduates have never left Florida - many have not left Miami

Topographically challenged!

Challenges in attracting majors

Full Complement of Faculty (graduate programs in place)

Two Strategies for Growth

• Hiring faculty with joint positions– Closely collaborate with research centers on

campus

• Develop a strong offering of courses for non-majors.– Meet the needs of the University’s Common

Curriculum (core requirements)

Department established

Master’s Program

Doctoral Program

Joint Faculty

• Of our 14 faculty members 4 are half-time in the department.– Two have half-time appointments in the

Southeastern Environmental Research Center– One has a half-time appointment in the Biology

Department– One is the Director of a Research Center

Joint Faculty

• The half-lines allow us to cover a broader range of expertise than would otherwise be possible.– Given our number of majors

• This was particularly important for developing a new doctoral program.

Courses for non-majors

• Courses must be approved as part of the University Common Curriculum in order to generate enrollment

• Most majors do not allow room for students to take electives that do not satisfy the UCC.

Courses for non-majors(in addition to Intro to Earth Science)

• Physical Oceanography

• Natural Disasters

• Environmental Geology

• Earth Resources

• Plus web-based sections of these courses

Courses for non-majors

• The University Common Curriculum requires that every FIU student take a life science course with a lab.

• In 2001 we began offering a “History of Life” course that satisfies this requirement.

Getting “History of Life” approved as part of the UCC:

• Was a very political process• We argued that our paleontologists have the

necessary background to cover evolution, genetics…

• It helped that one of our faculty has a half-time appointment in the Biology Department.

• It helped that the Biology Department is severely stretched in trying to meet the requirements of teaching life science courses to every FIU student.

History of Life

• We offer one section each semester.• We have acquired new teaching lab space to

handle the increased enrollment.• This Fall it capped at 250 students.• Enrollment in this course has not caused a

decrease in our other lower division courses.– New students that otherwise would not be exposed to

the Earth Sciences

History of Life

Challenges for the Future

• Surviving as a department that does not graduate lots of students, but as one that educates a large number of students– Particularly challenging in a “business-based funding

model” used within FIU

• Possible merger with the Environmental Studies Department

• Growing our number of Majors:– NSF-funded Geoscope project