Message from Eleanor M. Miller,

Dean of UVM’s College of Arts and Sciences

If you are a frequent reader of the CAS E-Newsletter, you will recall that we have been profiling each of the natural sciences departments in the College of Arts and Sciences in successive CAS E-Newsletters and have in past issues focused on Biology, Chemistry, and Physics (http://www.uvm.edu/artsandsciences/?Page=enews/archives/default.html) . In this issue we conclude our survey of the physical science departments in the College with an overview of the Department of Geology (next up: the Fine Arts--beginning with the Theatre Department). The research profile of the Department of Geology is an impressive one, especially for a department that doesn’t offer a doctorate. Perhaps because it doesn’t have doctoral students, this is also a department with a strong tradition of integrating undergraduates and masters’ students into both the laboratory work and the fieldwork of faculty. The Department’s website has a wonderful array of pictures of students and faculty working together close to home and in exotic settings (http://www.uvm.edu/~geology/?Page=imagegallery.html&SM=discovermenu.html) and documents the incredible array of external research and summer internship opportunities for department majors (http://www.uvm.edu/~geology/?Page=opportunities.html&SM=oppmenu.html).

Professor Charlotte Mehrtens, who will be stepping down as department chair at the end of this academic year, is herself an exemplar of the teacher-scholar model of faculty engagement in the Department. As a winner of the university’s highest teaching award, the George V. Kidder Award, she is well-known as an inspiring and dedicated teacher. At the same time her work in stratigraphy and sedimentology is also highly regarded and she is a tireless college and university citizen. For a more detailed introduction to the Department, please see “Char’s” Message from the Chair.