Mission Statement
Mission Statement
Our Mission
At the end of the Cretaceous Period, 66 million years ago, an asteroid impacted Earth, and produced instantaneous global climate change that caused the extinction of 75% of all species on Earth, including the 'great lizards', the dinosaurs. At Rowan University, the Jean and Ric Edelman Fossil Park was founded on an end-Cretaceous fossil locality and is a global destination for exploration in education, research, and outreach. The academic steward of the Fossil Park is the Department of Geology at Rowan University. The mission of the Department pivots from the Fossil Park and is focused on excellence in teaching, research, and outreach through understanding, from the geologic perspective, global climate and how humans have influenced it. Deciphering the geologic past through study of processes active today provides a foundation for predicting the extent of global climate change in the future, and thus how to advise human civilization to respond effectively to a new, world normal.
Because the Department of Geology at Rowan is built around an on-campus, world-class fossil site, our students are constantly immersed in meaningful, hands-on education and research. Members of the department actively participate in various outreach endeavors at the Fossil Park and work closely with the numerous community volunteers. The unparalleled resource of the Fossil Park provides our students with advantages found nowhere else. Through our curriculum, students learn to build excellent communication skills toward a goal of addressing complex issues in geology to a wide audience, using precise language founded in science.
The Department of Geology offers B.A., B.S. and Ph. D. degrees, with the curriculum built around the expertise of a world-renowned faculty who actively research and publish in their respected fields. In collaboration with the College of Education, we also offer a 4 + 1 (B.A. + M.A.) in Geology and Education. We prepare student to enter directly into the workforce after graduating, or to advance their career goals through entering a higher degree program. Finally, the research programs of our faculty, in our individual ways, support the mission of the department—understanding global climate change in the past and present, and predicting a safe future for human kind. We are a field-based program and encourage all students seeking a B.S. degree to conduct at least one semester of formal research with a faculty research mentor, thereby contributing directly their fields of interest with their undergraduate geology advisors.
About Us
Learn about the Department of Geology, the people in the department, our commitment to teaching, and our exciting research.
Letter from the Chair
Read the 2020 Letter from the founding chair, Dr. Harold Connolly.
Our Research
Find out about the exciting research our faculty and students are embarking on to better understand the world around them.