2009 Institutional Report

Reporting Institution

The University of British Columbia

Representative

Mary Lou Bevier

Changes

  Programs/Courses

1. New courses: EOSC 116 (Distance Education version, to complement existing lecture course): Mesozoic Earth: Time of the Dinosaurs (3 cr.); EOSC 118 (Distance Education only ): Earth's Treasures: Gold and Gems (3 cr.); EOSC 340 Global Climate Change (3 cr.); EOSC 372: Introductory Oceanography: Circulation and Plankton (3 cr.); EOSC 373: Introductory Oceanography: Climate and Ecosystems (3 cr.)
2. The second year of the five year Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) is complete. See http://www.eos.ubc.ca/research/cwsei/ for complete information and news. We hired two more full-time Lecturers to serve as Science Teaching and Learning Fellows (STLFs) in the department and to date about 62% of instructors have interacted on some level with STLFs and over half of the courses in the department had major to minor revision. We have a continuing need for sessional lecturers to cover teaching while existing faculty develop new course paradigms.
3. The department is beginning curriculum renewal in all programs based on issues identified by CWSEI-inspired changes, starting with department-wide learning goals for service courses and a new curriculum for the Environmental Sciences program. In fall 2009 a new program will be developed for a Majors Geological Sciences program (to be implemented in fall 2010). This program will be more rigorous than the existing Majors EOS program and will serve students seeking professional registration as a geoscientist but who may not be interested in or qualified for an Honours program.
4. Steer all prospective transfer students to www.eos.ubc.ca to examine the links to Undergraduate Programs, Advising, Courses, and Scholarships. We offer Honours degrees in Geological Sciences, Geophysics, Oceanography (Combined Honours programs only), and Atmospheric Sciences, Applied Science degrees in Geological Engineering, broader Majors programs in Earth and Ocean Sciences and Atmospheric Sciences, and Honours and Majors degrees in Environmental Sciences.
5. Advise incoming transfer students of the Annual EOS Undergraduate Advising Meeting to be held on the first day of term 1 in September, as part of Imagine UBC Day. In this meeting we go over UBC administrative procedures, scholarships and bursaries, EOS student clubs, and provide advising for all EOS degree programs.
6. Updated 2009-2010 Guide to Honours Geological Sciences Program at UBC and Honours Geological Sciences Course Template will be on department web site www.eos.ubc.ca sometime in June 2009.
7. Scholarships: In 2008-2009 over $140,000 in departmental scholarships was given out to approximately 55 deserving students. As a reminder about Aho Entrance Scholarships (three $1K awards for students interested in mineral exploration who enroll in UBC Geol Sci, Majors EOS, or GEOE programs who are transferring in from a community college with >75% for full course load, no failures), ***Have transfer students in Science and Engineering (Applied Science) contact Lori Kennedy lkennedy@eos.ubc.ca and send a copy of their transcript in summer as soon as their grades are available so that we can consider them for Aho Entrance Scholarships.***
8. Undergraduate student clubs: Dawson Club (Science students in EOS), Georox (Geol Eng students), Storm Club (Atm Sci students), and the Environmental Science Student Association (ESSA) are all very active in the department, sponsoring speakers, first aid and firearms acquisition certificate courses, helping with the EOS Careers Fair, and arranging social and sporting events and field trips. 

Staffing

New Head (as of July 1, 2009): Greg Dipple

New faculty: Craig Hart (Director, Mineral Deposits Research Unit), Tara Ivanochko (Instructor I, Environmental Sciences program), Erin Lane (Carl Wieman Science Teaching and Learning Fellow), Josh Caulkins (Carl Wieman Science Teaching and Learning Fellow), Eldad Haber (starting fall 2009, geophysics),

New staff: Cary Thomson (Graduate Secretary), Marcel Veronesi (Facilities Coordinator)

Summer Sessional Lecturer positions in EOS

The department would like to identify additional Sessional Lecturers who are interested in teaching one or more summer courses an on-going basis. Possible courses include: EOSC 110, EOSC 114, EOSC 116, and EOSC 326, both in face-to-face and possibly Distance Education versions. Please contact Mary Lou Bevier (Chair, Summer School Committee) or Roland Stull (Chair, Distance Education Committee) for more details if you are interested.

Enrolment Trends

Enrolment is growing slightly. About 366 students are enrolled in 2nd , 3rd , and 4th year EOS programs, including Environmental Sciences; about 25% of these transferred from community colleges. This year we are graduating approximately 25 in Majors EOS, 33 in Geol Eng, 30 in Environmental Sciences, 6 in Geol Sci (including Combined Honours degrees), 0 in Geop, 0 in CHN Ocgy+Another Science, and 4 in Atm Sci. We have about 170 graduate students in all of our programs.

Facilities

Pacific Museum of the Earth : The Pacific Museum of the Earth (located in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at UBC) may be booked for school group tours by calling Curator Mackenzie Parker < mparker@eos.ubc.ca > at 604-822-6992. The museum shop is open 12-2 weekdays.

Issues/Challenges

1. The NEW Earth System Sciences Building (ESSB) has been approved. Construction will start in spring 2010, with an estimated occupation date of April 2012.This building will contain new lecture theatres, classrooms, offices, research laboratories, and common space for EOS as well as space for the Dean of Science office, Department of Statistics, and the Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences. The building will be situated such that there is an obvious spatial link across Main Mall between the Pacific Museum of the Earth in EOS and the new Beaty Biodiversity Museum .
2. EOS East will be torn down early in 2010 to make way for the new building, so faculty, grad students, and staff will be displaced both from it and from the west wing of BioSciences (due to refurbishing of Biosciences). Temporary space for offices and labs will be identified and occupied during the latter half of 2009.