2009 Institutional Report

Reporting Institution

Okanagan College , Department of Geography & Earth and Environmental Science.

Representative

Terry Day

Changes

There have been many changes to our college and our department over the last four years. The Department of Earth and Environmental Science and the Department of Geography were both decimated by the transition from Okanagan University College to Okanagan College in 2005. All members of both departments except one decided to move to UBC Okanagan. This left only one permanent fulltime faculty member, Kathleen Jagger with a cross appointment between the two departments left after the transition. Subsequently, Leif Burge, Stephanie Bunclark, Terence Day and Stephen Doyle were hired in the Geography and Earth and Environmental Science departments. The departments were subsequently merged into one department called Geography & Earth and Environmental Science.

Programs/Courses

We teach Geography and Earth and Environmental Science Courses to first and second year Associate of Arts and Associate of Science students. We offer first year Earth and Environmental Science and Geography courses and a small selection of second year courses in our Salmon Arm, Kelowna , and Vernon campuses. Students transfer to university to complete their degrees.

We have a special interest in field work. During the summer of 2008 Stephen Doyle lead a group of students to Arizona to participate in three courses collectively termed “Southwest Studies”. He is running this field school again this year. In addition Stephanie Bunclark is leading an initiative field school to Vanuatu in the South Pacific.

We are continuing to develop our environmental offerings. We developed a new environmental studies diploma with two options: one in Interdisciplinary Environmental Arts and one in Environmental Management. In collaboration with the department of Sociology and Woman's studies we have received provincial funding to consult with First Nations in environmental programming.

Staffing

We currently have five fulltime permanent faculty members, and three term faculty members. Leif Burge continues as Chair.

Enrolment Trends

Enrolments in both Geography and Earth and Environmental Science have been respectable and are increasing. This is related to the growth in the population of Arts students who take our courses for lab science credit. We expect that this trend will continue with the increase in the number of Arts students.

Facilities

We have acquired new lab at the Kelowna Campus. We are building our field equipment for granulometry, soil moisture, shear strength, snow sampling etc., and have upgraded our GIS.

A new learning center that will provide new faculty offices and much needed classroom space is currently under construction in Kelowna . Our Kelowna library will receive a makeover at the same time.

Issues/Challenges