4. Criterion 1. Response ID:74; Data

Transcription

1 Response ID:74; Data Instructional Program Criteria and Template Name of Person Completing this Report : David Larson Title of Person Completing this Report : Department Chair: AGES College or Unit : CLASS Programs Included : 5 Report No. : CLASS 24 Total number of service courses Please use Tables 1-6 to prepare your write-ups for the questions in this background information section (up to 250 words in total). I. Geography has been a degree-granting unit at CSU East Bay for over 50 years. Initially joined with Anthropology, Geography became a stand-alone department in the early 1970s. In the 1980s Geography took on administrative responsibility for the interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program, the first of its kind within the CSU system. Effective fall 2013,Geography and Environmental Studies has reunited with Anthropology to form the Department of AGES. TT faculty headcount for G&ES was 6 from 1999 to Including lecturers, the present head count is 8, the same for every year since Due to faculty assigned time and research leaves, the Total Instructional FTEF has averaged 4. II. Geography & Environmental Studies offers lower- and upper-division GE courses in the areas of social science (D) and science (B). We are proud of our role as a provider of breadth education focused on global and environmental literacy and sustainability. III. Geography students are required to take 13 core courses and 2 electives distributed across physical, cultural, technical, regional and natural resources areas plus 2 field courses. Environmental Studies students take 11 core courses in the department and specific coursework in as many as 8 other programs in three colleges. IV.The department contributes service courses to the following programs: Liberal Studies, International Studies, and History in CLASS; and Earth and Environmental Science in CSci. V. The department offers classroom-based lecture and lab courses, off-campus field courses, and online courses. VI.We offer primarily upper-division courses with minimal lower-division courses and graduate seminars. 4. Criterion 1 I. Institutional Learning Outcomes: (70%) Provide evidence to support current and/or planned alignment for each ILO (no more than 60 words for each ILO) 1. Graduates of CSUEB will be able to think critically and creatively and apply analytical and quantitative reasoning to address complex challenges and everyday problems 2. Graduates of CSUEB will be able to communicate ideas, perspectives, and values clearly and persuasively while listening openly to others 3. Graduates of CSUEB will be able to apply knowledge of diversity and multicultural competencies to promote equity and social justice in our communities SLO 4 for Geography BS: Think critically and apply analytical and quantitative reasoning to assess problems across local, national and global geographic scales and to effect practical and sustainable solutions both as an individual and within a team. SLO 3 for Geography BS: Communicate geographic ideas, perspectives and conclusions clearly and persuasively orally, in writing, and through maps and graphics. SLO 5 for Geography BS: Demonstrate their knowledge of the characteristics and cultures of two world regions in addition to their own.

2 4. Graduates of CSUEB will be able to work collaboratively and respectfully as members and leaders of diverse teams and communities 5. Graduates of CSUEB will be able to act responsibly and sustainably at local, national, and global levels 6. Graduates of CSUEB will demonstrate expertise and integration of ideas, methods, theory and practice in a specialized discipline of study. SLO 4 for Geography BS: Think critically and apply analytical and quantitative reasoning to access problems across local, national and global geographic scales and to effect practical and sustainable solutions both as an individual and within a team. SLO 4 for Geography BS: Think critically and apply analytical and quantitative reasoning to access problems across local, national and global geographic scales and to effect practical and sustainable solutions both as an individual and within a team. SLO 1 for Geography BS: Demonstrate a broad and deep understanding of the fundamental concepts and techniques of the discipline of Geography. SLO 2 for Geography BS: Prepare, use and interpret maps and other spatial data with and without the aid of computers. II. Shared Strategic Commitments: (30%) We engage in all SSGs, especially academic quality, sustainability, and STEM: Our graduates routinely continue to Masters degrees and to geography-related careers; our faculty have participated in clusters, FLCs and PEIL; one was named the University's Outstanding Professor in Geography has numerous sustainability-focused courses equipping students to think and act sustainably; several require project work enhancing campus sustainability. Faculty promote sustainability on/off campus and deliver the certificate in Sustainable Resource Management. We offer GE Science (Area B6) courses, graduates are trained in in the spatial sciences (GPS/GIS, Digital Cartography) and our BS program has a STEM core. Faculty research, consult and publish in vital STEM areas including water resources, climate change, renewable energy and erosion. 5. Criterion 2 I. FTES, Number of Majors, and Number of Degrees Awarded GEOG Transfer the 5-year average and the quartile for total FTES from the total program table only to the table below. 5-Year Average Quartile Remedial 0.00 Lower Division Upper Division Graduate 5.55 TOTAL FTES B. Number of Majors, Options and Minors (for information only) Major Option 5-Year Average Quartile

3 1 GEOG BS GEOG BS GEOGRAPHY MINOR C. Number of Degrees Awarded (30%) Major Option 5-Year Average Quartile 1 GEOG BS GEOG BS GEOGRAPHY MINOR

4 15 16 D. Over the past 5 years the Geography program has been been relatively stable in terms of students served, majors, and degrees awarded, while the complementary Environmental Studies program has experienced an increase in majors. Departmental College Year FTES has occupied a narrow range between 148 and 132, averaging Our internal demand comes from science GE (Area B1,B6) in the form of Physical Geography, Physical Landscape Analysis, Climate Change, and Energy and Society courses, several of which are taught multiple times. Geography courses also serve as requirements for students majoring in International Studies, History and Environmental Science. We also teach introductory level courses for the general student body that enrich understanding of cultural diversity (Cultural Geography), globalization (Economic and Resource Geography) and sustainability (Intro to the Environment) As the discipline that examines the spatial relationship between humans and their environment, Geography is an essential element of global literacy. We further this literacy by rigorously examining, from both a physical and cultural perspective, the past and ongoing tends in local, regional and global inter-dependency. Our undergraduate program provides students with a broad-based education in liberal arts and science that requires them to acquire, synthesize, and critically weigh facts and opinions concerning human habitation of Earth. Graduates possess familiarity with concepts fundamental to understanding human society, civilization and the natural environment. As for external demand, our students are prepared for employment in fields emphasizing spatial analysis and map making, surveying, and various elements of environmental impact assessment, detailed in the next section. II. California State Jobs Projections for Each Program (35%) Programs TOTAL Jobs for each program from worksheet in Appendix 3 1 GEOG

5 16 B. Please discuss the selections you made for the total jobs in your worksheet in Appendix 3 In recent years graduates of our Geography program have sought and found employment in the mapping profession or in enterprises that require knowledge of cartography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which is only minimally represented (3%) in the jobs total. Alternatively, since our geography majors are in certain respects "cross-trained" by virtue of taking selected core courses in the Environmental Studies program they graduate with more core environmental knowledge than the typical graduate of a stand-alone Geography program. Hence, they are well prepared to compete for entry-level positions in the environmental field (Environmental Scientists and Specialists). The COEP does not reflect the fact that professional positions identified in the Job Projections categories are more commonly available in the high-tech Bay Area. 6. Criterion 3 1a. List average teaching evaluation scores (average for questions 1-8 of the teaching evaluation questionnaire) for all program faculty in Fall, Winter and Spring Quarters of the academic year. On-Ground Course Evaluations Dept Mean (Q1-8). Transfer Data from Table 11 On-line Course Evaluations Dept Mean (Q1-8) Fall Winter 2013 Dept Spring 2013 Dept b. System for continuous improvement of teaching First, everyone teaching classes is made aware of the results of their course evaluations on a regular basis. Suggestions for improvement, if needed, are made by the chair. Classroom visits by a peer, for example, can provide on-site evaluation if that is thought to be helpful. All lecturers are reviewed annually by both a faculty committee and the department chair who submit meaningful evaluations identifying strengths and weaknesses. Second, course critiques are solicited during exit interviews of seniors. Helpful information is shared with instructors so as to make improvements in the curriculum. 2. Teaching awards, teaching grants, and recognitions Geography faculty have served in the faculty In Residence program and made contributions (led workshops) to the Faculty Learning Center. Internal teaching grants have been acquired. A $50,000 PEIL grant to support sustainability initiatives at the university produced significant results. 3. Faculty-supervised student projects Directed study course supervised by regular faculty have been used to advantage by Geography majors. Internships (GEOG 4910) and participation in Co-Op Education (3898) are common. For example, students working in conjunction with faculty and U.S. Geological Survey staff to sample water quality in the East Bay. In 2012, Geography majors asked the department to reactivate its CSU East Bay chapter in Gamma Theta Upsilon, the International Geographical Honor Society. Co-directed by David Woo and David Larson, GTU organizes academic-based field trips within the Bay Area. Two GTU members presented their work at the California Map Society meeting last year. 4. Other evidence of quality indicators related to instruction that may not be listed elsewhere, including, for example, rigor of course syllabi and assignments, faculty diversity within the program Michael Lee, who commonly teaches online classes, earned an Online Teaching Certificate from our university. Gary Li, who

6 teaches courses in Geographic Information Systems, is an authorized instructor for ESRI, the world's leading developer of GIS software. Consequently, he is called upon to teach workshops on and off campus to practicing professionals. Rigor flows like a river through the Geography & Environmental Studies curriculum. A premium placed on graphical skills, the ability to write clearly, to speak convincingly, and to think critically. There is diversity within the program: One female and two Asian Americans out of 5 regular faculty. 1a. TT faculty contributions Total Number Average per TT Total Number Average per TT Total Number Average per TT Total Number Average per TT Total Number Average per TT Peer reviewed journal publication, juried exhibitions, juried/reviewed and commissioned/presented creative activities and performances, book chapters, books Peer reviewed proceedings, conference presentations, abstracts, and non-refereed publications, non-juried and self-produced creative and performance activities Number of TT faculty in Table1 in supplemental data package * b. Comment on contributions in professional achievement by TT and FERPs (up to 50 words) All tenure-track faculty are members of national academic associations and/or professional societies. The Geography and Environmental fields are rich in opportunities for applied work. Faculty produce consulting reports, contributions to environmental impact reports, and various other forms of so-called gray literature that is not represented in the above table. 1c. Comment on contributions in professional achievement by lecturers and FERPs (up to 50 words) Lecturers have served on Master's thesis committees at other Bay Area universities. A long-time lecturer served two separate terms as president of the Bay Area chapter of the Society of Environmental Professionals. Another lecturer is a high-ranking water resources analyst at the East Bay Municipal Utilities District. 2. List significant examples for the following (up to 100 words): Scott Stine: Comer Science and Educational Foundation $8,250 (2008); Consultant to the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District; Consultant to the Mono Lake Committee; Adjunct Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 2011-present David Larson: California Air Resources Board - Greenhouse Gas Emissions Grant $150K (2011) Michael Lee: CSUEB PEIL Grant ($50K); Chancellor's office Campus as a Living Lab Grant ($12k) Karina Garbesi: 2012 Taylor Technical Talent Award of the Illuminating Engineering Society; [Grants totalling $4 Million while on leave at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab ( )] 3. List significant professional activities (up to 100 words) Michael Lee: Invited Keynote Presenter, University of Chile Sustainability Symposium (2012); Keynote Panel on STARR at AASHE Conference (2012); Reviewer, Journal of Applied Geography (2012)

7 Scott Stine: Fellow, California Academy of Sciences; Reviewer for National Science Foundation; Review for Quaternary Research, Quaternary Science Reviews, The Holocene, Boreas; Presidential Plenary Lecture to the California Geographical Society (2011); Appeared in the PBS Nova Documentary: "Elements" (2012) Gary Li: Member, Water Resources & Policy Initiative, CSU, ; ESRI Authorized Instructor Karina Garbesi: Member, Board of Directors, WECARE Solar (2011-present) David Larson: Reviewer, University of California Press (2010); Oxford University Press (2011) 1. Describe the relevancy of your program as it aligns with internal and external needs (up to 100 words). Specifically, emphasize evidence of the following: The department sought curricular revision in recent years. The Environmental Studies major was the first to be revised (2010, 2011). Revisions to the Geography programs have been proposed by a committee of departmental faculty with input from International Studies and History. Further evaluation of the curriculum will be undertaken in the current academic year, in preparation for a 5-year review in and in consideration of the recent merger with Anthropology to form AGES, which will allow for more cross-listed courses. Alignment with university needs is a high priority in our curricular revision. Tracking of alumni has not been systematic. 2. List/describe innovations of the program curriculum (up to 100 words). Specifically emphasize the following: Geography has long embraced technology associated with spatial analysis and mapping. Specialized software for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is kept current in the computer lab largely due to Prof. Gary Li's professional connection (consultancy) with ESRI, the world's leading developer of GIS software. Mapping and graphics software for use in computer cartography courses was upgraded in Our Certificate in Cartography & GIS has been enhanced. A2E2 funding has made possible the purchase of new and innovative equipment for the instruments and observations field course. Presently the department offers two courses in the online format; several more are planned. 1. Accreditation, licensure, and external recognitions; list/describe the following (up to 100 words): Neither the department nor the Geography program specifically is subject to accreditation or licensure. 2. Effectiveness and sufficiency of current resources; list/describe the following (up to 100 words): The most important facility belonging to the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies is its dedicated GIS Lab: 21 workstations equipped with software specific to the curriculum. There most of the department's "technology and techniques" courses, with the exception of Air-Photo Interpretation, are taught. The department maintains an impressive and growing collection of equipment and instrumentation used for measurement and observation by students in field courses. Some pieces of equipment are in a one-to-ratio for student use; others must be shared by 2 or 3 students working together. The department's collection of books and periodicals in the Library is superb. 3. Student advising, experiential learning, internships, co-op, service learning; list/describe the following (up to 100 words): The Geography programs have clear degree roadmaps posted on the website and in hard copy in the department office. Selfadvised students thus have an unambiguous document that can guide them to their degree. Major advising in Geography is assigned to Michael Lee, with other faculty sufficiently cross-trained to advise when called upon. Internships and co-operative education opportunities are commonly available to Geography students through agencies (US Geological Survey, East Bay Regional Park District), local governments (Fremont, Oakland) and various environmental non-profits. 4. Assessment of learning outcomes; list/describe evidence for the following (up to 150 words): Assessment of learning outcomes suggests that we must do a better job of addressing our students' awareness of the kind of positions they are qualified for if they decide to not go on to a graduate program. Our merger with Anthropology to form AGES will enable us to retool the Geography program in ways that will better prepare our majors for a wider array of employment possibilities. Having just begun to function as a combined unit, AGES programs will work to create a multiyear assessment plan involving overlapping courses. 5. Student success; list/describe the following (up to 100 words): Several of our students (4?) were recipients of awards for sustainability-based projects stemming from the $50K PEIL grant awarded to Professor Michael Lee in

8 A modest sampling of former students with their respective positions: Sean Wilson, Chief Cartographer, AAA of Southern California Ron Chan, GIS Specialist, Information Systems, City of Fremont Mike Vukman, Senior Environmental Scientist, Stantec Consulting Inc. James Munson,Environmental Review Specialist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tonya Redfield, Senior Program Manager, Pacific Gas & Electric Company Spencer Shafsky, Zoning Technician, City of Fremont Christian Raumann, GIS Manager, URS Corporation Benjamin Sleeter, Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey 7. Criterion 4 A. You are given "% Difference" value over a 5 year period, comparing your program SFR data with systemwide averages for your program. If your program SFR is higher than the systemwide for a given year, notice that the value is presented as a positive ("+") percentage. If it is presented as a negative percentage ("-"), your program SFR for that year is lower than the systemwide average. The resulting four values are then averaged for you. Transfer the appropriate values to the template as specified. Transfer the average change SFR for lower division, upper division, and graduate SFR to the table below. Transfer Data from Table 16. Average Change SFR Lower Division -1% Upper Division +5% Graduate +68% B. In this section you will be provided with data in Table 16 that indicate any trend of your program SFR relative to the systemwide average for your program. This is presented as the number of times in 5 years that your program SFR has exceeded the systemwide SFR for your program. Transfer the trend for lower division, upper division, and graduate SFR to the table below. Transfer Data from Table 16. Trend - Number of Years Program SFR exceeded Systemwide SFR Lower Division 3 Upper Division 3 Graduate 5 II. Instructional Costs per FTES (Department Total Annual Instructional Costs/FTES College Year) (25%) Department Name Average Instructional cost per FTES Average Increase in instructional cost per FTES Department GEOG $3,

9 III. Narrative (up to 250 Words) (50%) The department has been a model of stability for the period covered in this report. Two obvious trends jump out from the data: The drop in total instructional salary (and Instructional Cost per FTES) during the four years covered. The disparity between $483K in and $402K in largely represents the salary of one full professor who has been on unpaid professional leave at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since early The variance in expenditures during and reflect different total salaries paid to part-time lecturers teaching some of the professor's courses. Yet because this leave has been approved by the Provost and President, that professor has remained in the department's faculty head count statistics. The professor will return to the university and her previous salary in Fall But salary stability will be largely maintained as another senior professor joined the FERP in at 50% time base. In terms of trends, then, the total salary for will closely approximate the 4-year average of $444K. And the Instructional Cost per FTES will be roughly equivalent to ! Meanwhile, Department FTES has dropped only 8% ( ) during time when the full-time faculty member has been on leave. Roughly half her salary was provided to the department for part-time lecturers. Normal sections were not offered due to insufficient funding and College Year FTES dropped as a result. CY FTES is expected to rise with her return. This is a high quality and relatively low cost program 8. Criterion 5 I. Use of Existing Resources (Up to 125 words) After years of receiving just enough resources to support (but not grow) our programs on an annual basis, we look forward to the opportunities that will spring from the merger with Anthropology to form AGES. Having a few more energetic, creative faculty joining ours will spur innovation. Geography & Environmental Studies has long looked for ways to balance high-enrollment courses with the much smaller-enrolled field and lab courses that are integral to our programs. With a combined budget, AGES will look to showcase each of our programs in synergistic ways that would not have been possible had we remained as two standalone departments. One potential opportunity for growth is to make additional curriculum available for online instruction in a format conducive to larger enrollment caps. II. Impact of Declining Resources (Up to 125 words) A reduction in resources in the form of a smaller annual allocation for part-time faculty would present curricular challenges. We employ only three lecturers, who collectively teach 15 classes annually. Those offerings are integral to our programs. The loss of any of them would require a significant redistribution of teaching responsibilities for regular faculty and thus a less robust curriculum. Courses that contribute to other university programs (Clusters, International Studies, History) would be cut.the department's regular faculty head count remained at 6 from 1999 to Now we are at 5. Yet the push is to secure a digital archaeologist/museum director to strengthen the overall composition of AGES. The lack of a museum director/curator would adversely impact the university's connection to the local region. III. Impact of Augmentation (Up to 125 words) The AGES faculty is unanimous in its belief that for the department to thrive going forward it is essential to revitalize the Anthropology program through the addition of a new hire with a specialization in archaeology, with a 21st-century commitment to digital archaeology and an ability to become the new director of the department's Anthropology Museum. We believe the merger has put us in a strong position to add a new faculty member to enhance and contemporize our archaeological and museum studies offerings. We are excited about the opportunity to more prominently feature the museum as a university-community asset. One can easily envision future exhibits built around core strengths of AGES, such as sustainability and global diversity. IV. Additional Information (Up to 250 words) AY proved to be a momentous year for the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies as a merger with Anthropology, discussed intermittently since 2010, was put forward and approved by the Academic Senate and the President. The merger brings together three compatible disciplines which take the world throughout human history as their subject matter. All three fields of study feature an inherently interdisciplinary approach, integrating science, social science and humanistic curriculum

10 and scholarship. AGES became operational in Fall 2013 with a chair and associate chair. The faculty of both departments believes the strategic merger will help address resource depletion issues (most acutely the erosion of full-time faculty in Anthropology) but also create opportunities for new courses integrating faculty expertise as well as the cross-listing of existing courses, enabling their use in more than one of our majors. In the near term, the department will continue to offer undergraduate degree-granting programs in Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies and M.A. programs in Anthropology and Geography. In AY AGES Tenure-Track FTEF was 7.4 and total majors by headcount was 181.