My teaching philosophy relies on the presumptions that: 1) students have a desire to learn; 2) if properly motivated, students will take an active role in their educations, and this will help them to stay engaged with the learning process; 3) students should develop a deep understanding, or intuition, of the processes and mechanisms that govern the physical sciences; and 4) students need to know why the material being taught is relevant to the world around them so that they will be able to apply it in their careers.  Professors should be able to: 1) present information clearly and in a manner that is accessible to their students; 2) show students why the information being taught is relevant; 3) show students how to apply this information to the world around them; and 4) be able to gauge their effectiveness at helping students meet their education goals.

My challenge as an educator is to present course material in a manner that the students find interesting and can understand, so that they not only will do well in college, but will be able to apply these lessons in their careers.  I believe that these goals can be achieved by maintaining an open dialogue with the students, finding out about their interests, and when possible, augmenting the course to suit those interests.  This requires extra work on my part, as each year the course will be a little different.  However, I have found both through teaching and participating in courses taught by others that an ever-evolving course never gets stale.  I believe such an approach better holds students’ attention and helps to keep the instructor interested as well.  My courses may be a little rocky (pardon the pun) at first, as I try to assimilate new information into them, but I think that this will be a small price to pay for a more interesting course.

An important part of undergraduate education is to help students find out what truly interests them. Some (or even most) students have little idea of what they want to do for a career when they arrive at college.  I had no idea that I was going to be a geologist, and now here I am- a professor of geology.  I had many other ideas about what I wanted to be, and if you ask, I’ll gladly talk about those with you.  I find it very rewarding to help students with this decision process, whether their ultimate choice is geology or something else.

I find geology exciting because it relies on or incorporates aspects of astronomy, biology, chemistry, geography, mathematics, and physics, and as such it never gets boring.  To teach geology well, it is necessary to familiarize students with these other scientific disciplines, and doing so in a coherent way can be a real challenge.  Having worked in the fields of geochemistry, geophysics, and astronomical influences in Earth’s history, I am well prepared to show students how the physical sciences can be combined to address challenging scientific questions.  My strong background in computer programming, particularly using Excel and Matlab, will enable me to provide a quantitative education to the students.  I hope that by showing students that geology can lead to many exciting careers, they will take time to consider whether geology is the right career for them.

I recognize that not everyone wants to be a geologist.  However, I am certain that everyone would benefit from taking at least one course in geology.  Every person should know about natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, and floods.  They should know about climate change, and how we have used evidence for past climate change to understand current conditions and possible human impacts on climate.  They should know how rocks form, and how and why they deform.  They should know that the Earth’s crust moves via plate tectonics. They should know about Earth history, and the concept of deep time, which provides perspective for their lives.  They should know how the Solar System formed, and how the Earth, and Earth history, has been influenced by astronomy.  They should know about natural resources so that they can make informed decisions about their personal and professional behavior.
 
Geology students need a superior education with relevance, depth and breadth.  While classroom experiments and observations are an important part of teaching, there is no substitute for real-world experience, and so field exercises are an important part of any geology curriculum.  Having lived in the region my whole life, and having been educated here, I am familiar with much of the local geology and I intend to make use of this knowledge to teach the students about their surroundings.  The geology of California is very complex, and only rarely are strata found in layer-cake fashion like the rocks of the Grand Canyon.  Students need to know why their surroundings are so different from the geology found in textbooks, and the way to teach them is to take them into the field.  Skills appropriate for a Northern California geologist include learning how to identify faults and landslides, learning how to interpret mélange, learning how to study geology in areas with nearly complete ground cover, and learning how to study and interpret well core samples.  I consider all of these areas of study to be important for understanding California geology, particularly that of Northern California.

I believe that education is a life-long process.  There is always new information to learn, and there are always new ways to improve one’s teaching style.  I believe that I will have much to learn from my students and from other faculty.  Don’t be too surprised to find me sitting in on other professors' lectures at Sonoma State University!