Initial Publication Date: March 21, 2007

Community Visioning of this Project

Since 2004, several activities have contributed to our vision for the Building Strong Geosciences Departments project.

Advisory Board Meetings

In November 2005 and again in November 2007 the advisory board for this project met to review progress to date and to plan the next steps.


Download 2005 Meeting Report (Microsoft Word 37kB Jan19 06)

2005 GSA Town Meeting

Attended by more than 50 people, the goal of this session was to report on the results of the Feb 2005 workshop and obtain feedback on the 1) topics of high interest to departments, 2) ideas for department profiles, 3) potential next steps.

Surveys

To begin to discover what the largest opportunities and threats are for geoscience departments and how they are responding, in 2004 Richardson and Beck conducted a survey of departments at research-intensive institutions in North America. Their survey asked Department Heads to comment on several areas of current interest.

This team also conducted a more extensive survey of a broad range of departments in the fall of 2005 with the aim of eliciting more detailed information about the issues facing geoscience departments.

Letter to Department Chairs

Workshop participants sent a letter in June, 2005 to all heads and chairs of geoscience departments to convey the importance of collective action and sharing. The letter included the list of characteristics of thriving departments developed at the workshop. Evaluation Report

A summary of the workshop activities, survey of departments, and case study: Departments Summary Report (Microsoft Word 75kB Oct31 08)

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