2009 Institutional Report

Reporting Institution

Douglas College

Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Campus locations

New Westminster Campus

700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster, B.C.

David Lam (Coquitlam) Campus

1250 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam, B.C.

Representative

David Waddington (instructor) (604) 527-5236 waddingtond@douglas.bc.ca

Program/Course Changes

The department has been renamed from Geology to Earth and Environmental Sciences, to mark the inclusion of the previously freestanding (but without department) Environmental Science Program. We now offer Associate of Science (Geology) Degree (2 years) as well as the Associate Degree in Environmental Science.

Dave continued with development of a Diploma in Resource Exploration, conducting market analysis and receiving industry advice. This diploma is envisaged as a credential leading toward a technical career in the mining (and related) industries. Michael is designing upper-level courses in Global Change and Natural Resources as options for 4-year degree programs in other disciplines.

Staffing

Continuing faculty and staff:

Ed Frey (lab tech IV) freye@douglas.bc.ca

David Waddington (instructor) (604) 527-5236 waddingtond@douglas.bc.ca

Michael C. Wilson (chair) (604) 527-5226 wilsonmi@douglas.bc.ca

Contract faculty:

Alan Weston (contract instructor) westona@douglas.bc.ca

Personnel Notes

Sandy Vanderburgh (Dean of Science and Technology) has left to take a Dean's position at Lethbridge College in Alberta. As an earth scientist Sandy was very supportive to our program and will be missed. Michael and Dave continue on as regular faculty. Dave received a 2-section release in 2008-2009 for program development and Michael took partial leave for family-related reasons, so we were able to hire Alan Weston and Marc-Andre Brideau as contract instructors in Fall 2008. Alan is currently teaching a summer course (GEOL 1120). Ed Frey joined us in Summer of 2008 as Lab Tech IV, coming from Thompson Rivers University. His duties include lab instruction as well as other lab and curatorial tasks.

Enrolment Trends

Overall enrollment levels have stabilized this past year.

S2008 - W2009

Student Enrollment in GEOL and SCIE

Douglas College

Note: “48-(3)” means 48 students in 3 sections.

 Note: Last year's value for SCIE 1107 was in error, so in last year's table overall GEOL+SCIE enrolment was overstated by 35.

Facilities

 We have two labs (at two campuses) with associated preparation and collections rooms. We use the labs for lectures wherever possible, in preference to separate lecture rooms, because displays are either set up on a semi-permanent basis (NW) or easily brought in from the prep room (COQ).

We recently purchased a standard 10” rock saw for specimen trimming and have a much larger slab saw available if another program is looking for one. Please contact us if you are interested.

Collections continue to grow, especially in terms of paleontology. We are able to give tax receipts for significant donations and recently received from public donors a large section of Arizona petrified wood (Triassic, “ Araucarioxylon ”) and a mammoth tooth from the Peace River (old Site One Pit).

Courses and Textbooks

GEOL 1120 Intro to Earth Sciences; Physical Geology ; Monroe and Wicander.

GEOL 1121 History of the Earth; The Earth Through Time ; Levin.

GEOL 1130 Dinosaur Planet; Dinosaurs, The Textbook ; Lucas.

GEOL 1200 Natural Disasters; Natural Hazards ; Keller and Clague.

GEOL 2201 Marine Geology; Oceanography ; Garrison.

GEOL 2320 Paleontology: Life Through Time; Bringing Fossils to Life ; Prothero.

GEOL 2420 Ancient Environments: Stratigraphy and Sedimentology ; Boggs

SCIE 1100 Environmental Issues: Environmental Science ; Cunningham et al.

SCIE 1107 Introduction to Environmental Science: Environmental Science ;

Cunningham et al.

SCIE 2307 Field Research Project

Issues/Challenges

1. Enrollments seem to be stabilizing but we continue to face a “numbers game” in terms of ministry and college expectations. It is not clear now whether the emphasis is upon absolute overall numbers or percentage enrolment in specific courses. It remains difficult to be entrepreneurial with new offerings given the pressure for high numbers.

2. The desire by students for a wider variety of courses includes requests for increased or more regular second-year offerings. However, we are hampered by the expectation for high numbers (typically, 35 students per section). Despite strong interest from a small number of students, we are unable to offer listed Mineralogy or Petrology courses (students are also unwilling to take Math and Chemistry prerequisites). Paleontology (GEOL 2320) and Ancient Environments (GEOL 2420) are offered in alternate years and attract about 20 students.

Experimentation

In order to increase numbers we are encouraged to experiment with timing and delivery of courses. Thus we have begun to offer GEOL 1120 as an evening course, blocked with lecture and lab the same evening (4 hours total). The numbers are encouraging, even in the Summer term.

Analysis

Michael has been tracking trends through the enrolment period and the numbers show that most courses fill rapidly to the final number; then they stabilize well ahead of the start of term, even if the number is well below course capacity. In contrast, GEOL 1120 (Introduction to Earth Science) levels off and then rises again sharply at the beginning of the term. This suggests that we have a core of students aware of and interested in Geology as a major or option, but a significant second group who are moving into the course as a second choice. Possibly they are discovering a new subject, overlooked until they cannot get a desired first choice. It could be that greater publicity on and off campus will improve awareness of Geology as an option, attracting more of these students. Most of our students, overall, appear to be taking our courses as science options for other programs (Humanities, Social Sciences, Business) but we have a core of about 10-15 students seriously interested in Geology as a program pathway.

We also have a few upper-level students from SFU who are taking our second-year courses to save tuition money or because of GPA problems. Their numbers are not significant enough to influence program success here; yet they do reflect increased awareness of our offerings.

In Environmental Science we are also dealing mostly with students taking science options for other programs. We have a small number of dedicated majors, not enough for us to be able to teach second-year courses on a scheduled basis. Thus we offer SCIE 2307 (Field Research Project) on an individualized guided study basis, which is taken on as an overload by the instructor. This has succeeded thus far and in the past year two of our students have graduated with the Associated Degree in Environmental Science, one receiving a Gold Braid for high academic achievement.

Department Awards

Ed Frey traveled to Ottawa in November, 2008, to receive the GSC Earth Sciences Sector Team Merit Award for Creativity and Innovation. Ed worked as part of an 8-person team in producing the Geotour Guide for Kamloops BC. The team of eight authors was cited for creativity and innovation.

Michael Wilson traveled to Olympia, Washington, in May, 2009, to receive the Washington State Dept. of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, State Historic Preservation Officer's 2009 Annual Award for Special Achievement, for his work on the San Juan Islands fossil bison project. The first major paper on this project was published in Quaternary Research in January 2009 but the online version was on the journal website in November, 2008. There it was spotted by Discover magazine, which featured the project in story #10 of the Top 100 Science Stories of 2008.

Publications

Turner, R.J.W., R.G. Anderson, R. Franklin, M. Cathro, B. Madu, C. Huscroft, E. Frey, and K. Favroholdt. 2008. GeoTour Guide for Kamloops, British Columbia: Our Land, Our Community (GSC Open File 5810 and BC Geological Survey Geofile 2008-6). 35 p.

Wilson, M.C., L.V. Hills and B. Shapiro. 2008. Late Pleistocene Bison antiquus from the Bighill Creek Gravels, Gallelli Pit, Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences , 45(7): 827-859 .

Kenady, S.M., R. Mierendorf, R.F. Schalk, and M.C.Wilson. 2008. A new perspective on the DeStaffany Site, and Early Lithic site in the San Juan Islands, Washington. Current Research in the Pleistocene , 25.

Wilson, M.C., S.M. Kenady, and R.F. Schalk. 2009. Late Pleistocene Bison antiquus from Orcas Island, Washington, and the biogeographic importance evidence of an early postglacial land mammal dispersal corridor from the mainland to Vancouver Island. Quaternary Research , 71: 49-61 .

Wilson, M.C. 2008. Review of Liam Brockey, “Journey to the East: The Jesuit Mission to China, 1579-1724,” H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences Online) , posted on the H-HistGeog and H-Asia lists .

Wilson, M.C. 2008. Bison, sea levels, and corridors: an early postglacial emergent landscape in northern Puget Sound and southern Strait of Georgia (abstract). Society for American Archaeology, 73 rd Annual Meeting, March 26-30, 2008, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Abstracts : 596.

Kenady, S.M., R.F. Schalk, and M.C. Wilson. 2008. Ayer Pond archaeology and responsible legal compliance. The Islands' Sounder , May 14, 2008. Eastsound, Orcas Island, WA.

Wilson, M.C. 2009. Come to the islands: early postglacial paleobiogeography, insular megafauna, and community succession in the Pacific Northwest (abstract). CANQUA-CGRG Biennial Meeting, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Program and Abstracts : 173.

Wilson, M.C. 2009. Early postglacial (Late Pleistocene) vertebrates from southwestern British Columbia and Puget Sound: discoveries, prospecting, and potential (abstract). Eighth British Columbia Paleontological Symposium, Vancouver, B.C., May 15-18, Program and Abstracts : L-5.

Research

 Dave Waddington:

Program design and market research, Resource Exploration Technology

Michael Wilson:

Quaternary fossil vertebrates from San Juan Islands, Vancouver Island, BC Lower Mainland, and Peace River district (bison, mammoth, ground sloth, giant short-faced bear).

Evidence for early peopling of the New World

Early postglacial environments, Pacific Northwest