Volume 12, Issue 2 | Spring 2023

Foundations

NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GEOSCIENCE TEACHERS GEO2YC DIVISION

In this Issue:

  • President's Column
  • Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award
  • NAGT needs you!
  • Funding opportunities for 2YC faculty and students
  • Upcoming meetings
  • Geo2YC pencils
Geo2YC Website

President's Column

Becca Walker, Mt. San Antonio College


I recently wrapped up co-leading a virtual workshop, Inspiring Innovation: Two-Year Geoscience Faculty As Agents of Change (NSF-DUE 2311369) with Karen Layou, Eric Baer, Heather Macdonald, and over a dozen 2-year college STEM faculty facilitators. Workshop sessions centered on effective teaching and student learning; diversity, equity, and inclusion; supporting students' career and transfer paths; and moving faculty work forward. Many of these sessions drew from the Catalyzing Change: STEM Faculty as Change Agents, a volume in New Directions in Community Colleges. I am thrilled to let you know that most of the chapters in this volume are now open access, so please share these chapters with interested colleagues.

As I eavesdropped on small-group discussions, read questions, comments, and ideas in the chat, and observed the intellectual work coming out of this workshop, I was reminded about the substantial pedagogical and professional changes that 2YC STEM faculty have experienced during the past couple of years. Despite our in-person classes, field trips, and face-to-face professional development opportunities coming to an abrupt halt in spring 2020, our community has worked tirelessly to serve our students in innovative, impactful, and inclusive ways. As we continue to interact with students and colleagues virtually but also return to in-person teaching, service, and professional development, I'd love for you to look back over your shoulder, smile about all that you accomplished during the pandemic, and leverage those accomplishments to make just one change in your professional practice. It doesn't have to be huge! Here are a few ideas for some things you might consider trying this summer, some of which are also mentioned in this quarter's newsletter:


The GEO2YC Division would love to increase its membership this upcoming academic year. Please help us do that by encouraging your colleagues to join and/or renew as members. For those of you who have wrapped up your spring term, congratulations and hope that you are looking forward to a fun, rejuvenating, and productive summer.

 

Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award

Winter 2023 Honoree - Shannon Call, Whatcom Community College

The OAFA Committee is excited to recognize Shannon Call of Whatcom Community College as the winner of our 2023 quarterly award. Shannon has been teaching oceanography and biology at Whatcom for six years. Early on, she volunteered to apply a research-demonstrated approach to closing equity gaps for a state-wide project about Transparency in Learning & Teaching (TILT). This required she "TILT" two assignments in one class for one quarter; she shared these assignments for feedback with a peer community, and identify ways to improve. Like many, Shannon also braved the transition to online instruction during the COVID pandemic. Throughout this time, Shannon continued to develop new ideas for her curriculum in oceanography, including integrating more place-based practices into her classroom. After participating in a learning community on Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE), she's implemented CURE in her  general biology and marine biology courses. In the fall, Shannon's oceanography students will also partake in CURE as they study they utilize GIS principles to study the effects abiotic factors have on coastal eutrophication. Shannon also serves on the adjunct affairs committee, which helps to advocate for adjunct faculty across the campus, and is currently the committee's chair.

Kaatje Kraft, who nominated Shannon, says, "Oceanography continues to be one of our most popular classes in the geosciences, and [Shannon] has created some incredibly creative and interactive ways for students to navigate the content and keep them engaged... We are so fortunate to have Shannon at Whatcom, and I am grateful for the incredible dedication she has to our students, our community, and her craft of teaching."

 

Spring 2023 Honoree - Lauren Hanneman, Cabrillo College

Lauren Hanneman is a passionate geoscience instructor and has a gift for helping students ignite their own fires for meaningful and lasting connections with the Earth and our community, writes Dave Reynolds, who nominated Lauren.

Hanneman is an inspiring instructor, dedicated mentor, and brilliant community connector. She has been teaching part-time at Cabrillo College, a community college and HSI that serves Santa Cruz County, California and surrounding areas since 2015. Her students regularly report how her enthusiasm motivates them to engage in local environmental efforts and take more courses or major in the geosciences. Part of the reason Hanneman is so successful is because of all the other roles she has or has had in our community, especially the ways she has inspired younger students to look forward and imagine themselves in college. For nearly two decades, Hanneman also worked part-time as an environmental educator with several local non-profits, including O'Neill Sea Odyssey and with Watsonville Wetlands Watch, organizations which introduce local K-12 public school students to hands-on, field-based science. Once they arrive in college, Hannemen helps students connect with the next steps in their education, in particular because she also has taught part-time and/or attended Cabrillo's three main transfer universities. She advises students from personal experience and also connects them directly to her network. Of course, not all students attend community college to transfer and Hanneman spends a tremendous amount of time mentoring students who are looking for employment in the field. Again, because of her relationships with colleagues in local non-profits, universities, and government agencies, she is able to knowledgeably advise students.

Hanneman's dedication to the Geology, Oceanography, and Environmental Science departments and to the overall institution goes far beyond teaching courses and directly mentoring students. She has been involved in developing and revising curriculum and in several grant-funded efforts. She designed and has been teaching a new course called Intro to Environmental Policy and contributed to the development of two new A.S. transfer degrees in Environmental Science and Sustainability & Environmental Studies and a new certificate in Sustainability. She also co-designed and co-piloted the new course Energy for a Sustainable Future with one of our Engineering faculty. For our Intro Oceanography course, she co-wrote the laboratory manual that was used for many years and is collaborating with other department faculty on two new ones that will address the distinct approaches of face-to-face and online labs. Hanneman led the revision of our Intro Environmental Science Lab course and collaborated across campus on our recent STEM III HSI grant, with a focus on supporting students to do field work and peer learning. And now she is taking a leadership role in a partnership we are developing with a local high school in order to help re-engage students who have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. I am particularly impressed with Hanneman's vision to model the 1st step (engagement) of the 5Es that she teaches to ensure Watsonville High School and Cabrillo students will be co-creators of the effort.

 

Shannon and Lauren, thank you for all you do for your students, your institutions, and the two-year college (and NAGT) community!  We are pleased to support these faculty with a one-year complimentary membership to NAGT and the Geo2YC Division, and they will be entered into the pool of honorees under consideration for the Annual Outstanding Faculty Award, which is sponsored by a professional development stipend of up to $1000 from McGraw Hill. If you know a two-year college adjunct who does great work, then tell us about them! Your nominee might win one of our quarterly awards and also have a chance to win an annual award. Please complete an Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award nomination today: http://nagt.org/nagt/divisions/2yc/oafa_nomination.html 

 

Grow your NAGT experience 

NAGT Webinar Committee is looking for webinar hosts
NAGT offers a wide range of webinars each month to bring the latest in geoscience and pedagogy to our members. The NAGT Webinar Committee is looking for members who would be willing to host a webinar this coming academic year.  Consider sharing a fun teaching technique, resources you've used in your classroom, or collaborate with colleagues to tell us more about what's been going on in your professional world. If you have some ideas, please reach out to the current chair, Adrianne Leinbach (aaleinbach@waketech.edu).

NAGT Membership Committee is looking for a representative from the GEO2YC Division
The NAGT Membership Committee is charged with developing and implementing strategies for identifying and recruiting potential members and engaging and retaining current members. The Committee is looking for someone from GEO2YC to represent our Division's needs. Please contact Becca Walker (rwalker@mtsac.edu) if you are interested in serving. 

NAGT elections now through July 1

If you are currently a member of NAGT, you can vote in this year's election of new officers now through July 1.  Voting is also taking place for a few members of the executive committee of the Geo2YC Division.  Please show your support for these people who have stepped up to serve your organization.

Funding opportunities

Apply for a Geo2YC Faculty Development Grant! Next deadline is September 15.
Open to members of the Geo2YC Division of NAGT, the Geo2YC Faculty Development Grant offers mini-grants up to $500 to support an activity (workshop, field trip, etc.) which benefits faculty from multiple institutions and travel grants of $100 to support attending professional development activities. Rolling deadlines annually on April 15 and September 15.  Apply here.

Plan ahead for next year - 2YC faculty, K-12 teachers, and 2YC students: please consider applying for the Dorothy Stout Grant! Annual deadline is April 15.
In honor of Dottie Stout, the first female president of NAGT, awards are made annually in three categories: Community College Faculty, Community College Student, and K-12 Educator. The awards support participation in Earth science classes or workshops; attendance at professional meetings; participation in Earth science field trips; and/or purchase of Earth science materials for classroom use. In addition to the $750 award, each winner receives a one-year membership to NAGT. Apply here.

Connect with your colleagues!

Earth Educators' Rendezvous, Pasadena, CA July 10-14, 2023 (registration deadline: June 30)
Please attend the ninth annual Earth Educators' Rendezvous this summer in Pasadena, CA. Hosted by the Division of Natural Sciences at Pasadena City College and the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at California Institute of Technology, the Rendezvous program includes workshops, oral and poster sessions, teaching demonstrations, panel discussions, plenary talks, working groups, and special sessions for K-16 instructors, graduate students, researchers, and administrators. Check out the technical program and register by June 30. Hope to see you in Pasadena this summer!

 

Geological Society of America:  Connects 2023, Pittsburgh, PA  October 15 - 18, 2023   (Abstract Deadline: July 25)
Consider submitting an abstract to the annual Geological Society of America meeting this fall in Pittsburgh.  There are a number of technical sessions being sponsored by NAGT (and a few also supported by the Geo2YC Division):

  • T18. Teaching Environmental Justice "In and Beyond" the Classroom.
  • T24. Field-Based Geoscience Education: Advances in Research, Program Evaluation, Pedagogy, and Curriculum.
  • T25. Metacognition in the Trenches.
  • T26. Bringing Ocean Expeditions and Science at Sea to the Classroom and Community (Posters).
  • T27. Making Sense of Methodologies and Theoretical Frameworks in Geoscience Education Research.
  • T28. 7th–12th Grade and Higher Education/Industry: Partnerships and Programs that Build Opportunities, Equity, or Inclusivity to Inspire Future Geoscientists.
  • T29. Expanding the Tent: Understanding Spatial Reasoning to Increase Equity in Geoscience Education Across Disciplines.
  • T30. Highlighting Successful Mentoring Strategies in the Geosciences.
  • T31. 2YC and 4YCU Geoscience Student Research Exhibition (Posters).
  • T34. Early Involvement in Geoscience Research Among K9–16 Students Can Ensure Sustained Growth of the Discipline (Posters).
  • T35. Exploring the Borders and Boundaries of Mixed Reality in the Geosciences.
  • T36. Iris Moreno Totten Research in Geoscience Education Session.
  • T38. Inclusive Geoscience Teaching for Today's Students.
  • T39. Geoscience and Hydrology of Your Public Lands: STEM Internships, Research, Science, Mapping, Resource Management, and Education.
  • T75. Honoring the Legacy of Teaching, Mentoring, and Research by Patricia Kelley: Predation, Conservation, Evolution, Education, and Diversity in the Geosciences.
  • T122. Planetary Exploration and Education: How We Learn about Our Solar System and Beyond.


NAGT Webinar Series 
Check out the schedule for the NAGT Webinar Series!  Lots of great opportunities for learning and discussion through these events, and we try to schedule 2YC specific content on the first Fridays of each month.  Even if you cannot attend, you can register so the link to the recording is sent straight to your inbox. An archive of prior webinars is also available.

AGU Chapman Conferences 
Keep AGU Chapman Conferences on your radar for in-depth meetings on key topics that impact the geosciences!  See the Chapman Conference website for 2023-24 offerings.

Where in the world are NAGT Geo2YC pencils? 

4 out of 6 Geo2YC division members come to Zoom meetings with their favorite pencils!

NAGT Geo2YC pencils are the best hiking buddies.