GEOS XChair Blog

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Enrollment Update 2018

All plots represent Fall Semester enrollment data from UA Institutional Research and Assessment

Total enrollment history. Both undergraduate and graduate numbers are sill dropping, largely because of an ongoing oil price bust in 2015 that strongly affected geology enrollments.

Degrees awarded are steady, but this is a 4+ year lagging indicator of enrollment.

Undergraduate student history and breakdown. BS Geology is down 24% from 2015 high, and BA Geography is down over 40% on the same period. Meanwhile the BS Earth Science degree is growing rapidly, up 200% since 2015.

Graduate student history and breakdown. Geoscience PhD students have flattened out at 18, underpinned by 9 hard-funded teaching assistant (TA) slots and supplemented by 9 research assistant (RA) positions. Conversion of Geography MA degree to MS is almost complete (MA Geography degree is discontinued). Geology MS continues to be impacted by slow hiring in the oil and gas sector following the price collapse of 2015-6 and industry rotation to unconventional resource plays that are driven more by data analytics and less by geoscience.

Geology field camp enrollment history. Perhaps the tide has turned on Geology Field Camp. Non-UA students increased by over 50% from 2017. Special thanks to UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz who worked to get in-state tuition for all Field Camp participants starting with summer 2018.

Friday, August 31, 2018

GEOS Colloquium

You should be able to scroll U/D and L/R to see everything. Yellow highlight dates are open. As we fill slots, this site will stay up to date.

Final colloquium schedule will be posted before the beginning of each semester at

https://fulbright.uark.edu/departments/geosciences/eventsandcolloquiumcalendar/

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Process notes from Jo Ann Kvamme (4/27/18):

Speakers are solicited from the Geosciences Faculty
one slot each semester is reserved for a speaker sponsored by the GEOS External Advisory Board
Suggestions for speakers are solicited from the Geosciences Faculty
1. Off campus speaker expenses are generally covered by the inviting faculty member
2. If a speaker requires Department funds, prior approval from GEOS Chair is required.
Society sponsored speakers (AAPG, AWG, AAG, AGU, etc)
1. Expenses are generally mostly covered by the organization with some expenses paid by the department – all department expenses require prior GEOS Chair approval
All suggested speakers are considered, prioritized and contacted about participation (in the event the slots for the semester are full I ask if we want to place the speaker on a “potential speaker” for the next semester or can set a date for the next semester).

It is best if we can fill the lectures for the semester the previous semester. I keep a running calendar (now live above) so we can also place suggestion speakers and dates for two semesters out.

Scheduling priority:

Sponsored speakers are usually locked in first since these must be booked early
Faculty bringing speakers to campus (we try to accommodate speakers who are visiting – however this is not always possibly depending on the speakers previously booked.)
Faculty on Campus (we try to have campus faculty (or those not needing a hotel room] on football, BBB weekends since hotels may be hard to find and require multiple night stay)
We try to insure there is something for everyone in the department with a variety of subject matter