Dr. Kolenbrander believes the best thing about the department is its "young and energetic staff." Within the last five years, several new professors have joined the team. Professors Lord, Peterson, and Young are recent hires at Western. They join professors Bates, Neff, Burr, Triplette, White, Yurkovich, Bennett, Hollingsworth, Oser, Pankowski, and Kolenbrander.

The faculty are always available to help answer questions, sponsor field-research, and train students in the use of high-tech equipment. Some "pluses" that distinguish the department include:

• The department sponsors a series of field trips to gain hands-on field experience. To view photos from recent trips, click here.
• Besides the Blue Ridge mountains, the department's most important learning resource, Geosciences and Natural Resource Management has abundant facilities to help students learn, including a Cartograhy and Remote Sensing Lab, a map room, X-ray Diffraction equipment, and a Geology Museum. For a complete listing, click here.
• Faculty are engaged in highly visible and timely research. To name just one example, Geology professor Rob Young recently recieved a $100,000 grant from the Public Entity Risk Institute to study the effects of storms like Hurricane Floyd on coastal land. (Read about it here).

Click here to read about Geoscience faculty.

Click here to read about Geography and Geology Courses available.