Collaborative Proposal: Geoscience Departments: Developing Pathways to Strong Programs for the Future

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A pilot program will be carried out that will gauge interest in and potential impact of a program supporting geoscience departments, develop an initial set of on-line materials describing geoscience departments and their programs, and initiate a set of activities that support communication and sharing among geoscience departments The program will 1) create a well defined set of materials, while experimenting with format and content to determine what products are of most use and of highest impact in supporting departments, 2) collect data and case studies in advance of development of a vision, 3) allow for compilation of a complete set of reference works from geoscience, research on learning, and other science disciplines and for development of an understanding of the implications of this work on geoscience departments, 4) provide opportunities to establish partnerships and advisory relationships with individuals and organizations, 5) provide initial evaluation to determine if a program supporting departments is worthy of continued effort. Participation in activities (both number and type of participant), as well as web-site usage, will be monitored. A workshop will bring together leaders from departments with exemplary programs. Building on the fall 2003 AGU session "Building Strong Departments: Examples that Work", this workshop will promote discussion among leaders in building strong departmental programs and sharing of their methods. The outcome of the workshop will be a set of on-line materials describing geoscience departments and their programs. The PIs will complete a pilot survey and follow up phone interview of selected geoscience departments. The survey will include demographic data on these departments in terms of numbers of faculty and students, as well as what department chairs/heads see as the largest threats and opportunities for their departments in the next five years. They will also seek information on departmental efforts to recruit and retain both faculty and students, as well as efforts to integrate/balance research and education within the department and the institution. Finally, they will ask departments the extent to which they rely upon, or value, departmental planning efforts. The results of this study will be incorporated into the website.