Department of GeologyCarleton College

Northfield, Minnesota 55057

June 14, 2004

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Northfield! As always, it has been a busy, exciting year here, and the geologydepartment is doing very well, though there have been some big changes. We graduated 20 wonderfulseniors this year and we are delighted and amazed to see how much they’ve grown and accomplishedduring their time here — it is such a pleasure and so stimulating to be surrounded by these students. Iencourage you to read the titles of their comps projects; you’ll see that they have done some impressivethings. We had students doing fieldwork in Italy, Mongolia, Alaska, and Chile, to name a few!

The big news this year is the retirement of Betty Bray, who, as departmental assistant had atremendous effect on students and faculty alike. Betty’s cheerful competence, her amazing organiza-tional skills, her ever-present smile, and her warmth went a long way towards making our departmentsuch a fine place to work. She has enriched the lives of hundreds of students, and all of us in thedepartment. While Betty can never really be replaced, we are all pleased to have been able to hire anew departmental assistant, Sarah Rechtizgel, formerly in the Dean of Student’s Office.

Mercifully, Tim did not make a retirement pact with Betty — that would have spelled certainruin. This means that there is even more pressure on Tim to keep things running smoothly, but if any-one can do it, he’s the one.

We were very fortunate this year to have Sara Gran Mitchell ’98 in residence for the wholeyear, teaching Geomorphology in the fall and Intro in the spring, and advising a sizeable group of sen-iors comps projects. Sara did a terrific job for us, teaching two very important classes; she returns to

the U. of Washington next year to finish her Ph.D. We also had Ben Harrison ‘03 with us as the 5th

year intern. Ben worked on a variety of research projects with Bereket, pursuing work on Tertiarybasalts in the Pacific Northwest as an extension of work he and Bereket started during Ben’s senioryear.

As always, there were many field experiences for students and faculty this year. The fall beganwith another (and perhaps the final) edition of the Geology of Italy program. Jenn and I, along withSandro, assisted by Luc Mehl ‘00 and Tiffany Larsen ‘03, had a wonderful time with the 25 students.As usual, the students acquired good mapping skills and good pizza-making skills. Clint’s fall termSedimentary Geology class finished off the term with a trip to the Bahamas to study modern carbon-ates. The fall field trip returned to the Black Hills and Badlands and the spring trip was in southernMissouri. Bereket’s winter term Geochemistry class traveled out to the University of Utah to use massspectrometers and other equipment as part of a class research project on local groundwater ages. In anew development, there were two combined Petrology/Structures field trips this spring, which workedout very nicely.

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We had a series of fantastic outside speakers this year, including Richard Alley from Penn State,who spoke about abrupt climate change; Dave Montgomery from Washington who spoke about geo-morphology and salmon; and Guy Narbonne from Queen’s who spoke about the emergence of complexlife. We also had some outstanding talks and satisfying visits from Adam (Snowball) Maloof ‘98 (justfinishing his Ph.D. and Harvard) and Dr. Professor David Barbeau ‘97, who is taking 3 students (andJenn and I) to Spain this summer for some fieldwork.

Here are a few more highlights. Clint offered two new classes this year on earth history andmodeling and is working on plans for a joint Bio-Geo off-campus program in Australia for winter of2006. Mary is now director of the Learning and Teaching Center on campus; she is also working on aproject with Cathy Manduca at the Carleton Science Education Resource Center and thus did not teachin the department year, but she’ll return to action in a half-time role next year. Cathy, by the way, wona prestigious national geoscience education award from AGU — we’re lucky to be associated with herand the work at SERC. Bereket continues to develop our water geochemistry capabilities, his ion chro-matograph is getting used in many classes; his geochemistry class made some very interesting discov-eries on the ages of groundwater that will undoubtedly lead to a publication. Jenn’s cave research istaking off – her NSF grant was funded on the first try and her lab is full of busy students from Biology,Chemistry, and Geology. Her Geomicrobiology class has even apparently discovered a new kind ofmicroorganism associated with springs in the nearby Cannon River Wilderness Park. Cam, along withseveral other faculty, wrote an NSF proposal, which we just learned has been funded, to get an attach-ment for the Biology department’s SEM, which will allow us to make elemental maps of geologicmaterials.

As many of you already know, Jenn and I spent a good part of this year looking for jobs else-where after it became apparent that Carleton could not find a way to offer Jenn a secure, long-termposition. As luck would have it, Penn State advertised for two positions that seemed to be a perfect fitfor each of us and they ended up offering us very attractive positions. Members of the CarletonGeology Department made a valiant effort to try to come up with a solution, but in the end, the offersfrom Penn State were just too good to pass up. I will take on the role of undergraduate program head,and Jenn will take a position in Astrobiology; both of us will be in the Geosciences Department, whichis filled with some outstanding colleagues. As excited as we are about these new positions, we are verysad to leave Carleton.

As always, thanks to all of you who provide help and support to our students during the courseof the year — the network of geology alumni is really important to us.

Best Wishes,

Dave Bice

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Geology Department Chair Dave Bice Ô81 andhis wife, Jenn Macalady Ô91, both faculty members inthe Geology Department, have accepted new posi-tions at Penn State University at University Park,Pennsylvania.

While technicallyDave is still with us until theend of 2004 but on leave, bothof them are in the process ofmaking their transitions toPenn State. Dave will lead theundergraduate program intheir Geosciences Departmentand Jenn will join theirAstrobiology group, also in theGeosciences Department.These are wonderful opportu-nities for both Dave and Jenn.At Penn State, Jenn will beworking with a large group ofresearchers and graduate stu-dents who are investigatingdifferent aspects of geomicro-biology. DaveÕs appointmentshows that Penn State recog-nizes both his exceptionalteaching record and his abilityto bring liberal arts ideals andpractices to a Òbig-schoolÓenvironment.

Jenn graduated fromCarleton with a geology majorin 1991, and earned her M.S and Ph.D. at theUniversity of California at Davis, followed by post-docs at the University of Wisconsin and UC Berkeley.She has taught Geomicrobiology and IntroductoryGeology here for two years.

Dave has been a member of the CarletonGeology Department since 1987, rising to the rank offull professor in 1999. He earned a B.A. in geologyfrom Carleton in 1981 and a Ph.D. in geology from theUniversity of California at Berkeley in 1989. Hechaired the department for six academic years, 1998through 2004.

DaveÕs courses over the years, always verypopular, have included Introductory Geology,Geology and Global Change, Structural Geology,Tectonics, Oceans and Atmosphere Dynamics, theCanyonlands Research Seminar, Advanced StructuralGeology, Sedimentary Geology, and as part of theItaly program, Field Observational Skills, Geology ofItaly, Basin Analysis and Event Stratigraphy. Dave

also has written extensively on the concepts of teach-ing quantitative modeling and earth systems sciencein the undergraduate environment.

DaveÕs educational leadership manifesteditself immediately upon his arrival as a young profes-

sor in the Geology Departmentwhen he used his start-upmoney to purchase severalMacintosh computers for thelabs. Macintoshes were unfa-miliar to the rest of us at thetime, and we werenÕt quitesure what he was up to, butsoon he was using them exten-sively for modeling sedimen-tation and other geologicalprocesses. Our first internalcomputer network was theAppletalk daisy chain thatgrew over several years andfinally wound through all ofMuddÕs ground floor. In itsfinal configuration before itwas replaced by Ethernet, theAppletalk network included astar hub, about eight comput-ers scattered around thedepartment, and a printer.Dave also introduced the useof the dynamic modeling program STELLA¨, which inthe ensuing years has been

extensively used by many of our classes. DaveÕsonline guide to modeling geologic processes withStella is available on the Carleton Geology website.

Dave founded the Italy program in 1993 inthe hamlet of Coldigioco, in the mountains southwestof the port city of Ancona, and he has run it six timeson alternate years. The program has been extremelysuccessful and is always oversubscribed. The programhas featured extended field trips to the Italian Alps,Tuscany, and other locations around Italy. Studentsalso fell in love with Italian culture and cuisine dur-ing the program, and they enjoyed taking excursionsto Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Assisi, Gubbio and Sicilyamong many other places, during vacation days.

In his 17 years teaching at Carleton Daveproved himself to be a master teacher. While we aresorry to see Dave and Jenn leave, and they will besorely missed, we wish them the best of fortune intheir new endeavors!

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Jenn Macalady, Dave Bice and their son Luca

Dave Bice And Jenn Macalady Depart For Penn State

We have to be both happy and sad that BettyBray is retiring at the end of this school year. Happyfor her that she and Mike will get to do a lot of thingstheyÕve been waiting to do, and sad that sheÕs leavingus as a colleague and presence in the GeologyDepartment.

Betty has been a supportive constant in thedepartment for longer than any of us can remember:she was already here when each of us arrived!

Many people sort of glide into retirement dur-ing the last few years they work. You know the type,putting in their time and finishing out their years.That wouldnÕt be Betty. Betty didnÕt decide to retireuntil just a few months ago. Even then, the prospectof retirement on the horizon didnÕt dampen herenthusiasm for getting done today what somebodyelse might put off until tomorrow. Betty is a Now per-son, and I think she always will be. If somethingneeds doing, get to work on it!

Betty joined the Geology Department asSecretary in 1971 at $2.31 an hour. Her current salaryas Administrative Assistant is confidential, but itÕsprobably gone up a bit. We were in Leighton Hallthen, and she had an IBM Selectric typewriter and lotsof carbon paper.

ÒI remember making carbon copies of corre-spondence and student recommendations; sometimestwo and three copies, which of course meant erasingall those copies if I made a mistake. What a big differ-ence from the computer world today!Ó Betty rates theconversion from typewriters to word processors asone of the biggest challenges and highlights of hercareer because of the way it changed the way sheworked.

One of the memorable moments in BettyÕscareer was our symposium in 1983 commemoratingthe 50th anniversary of the founding of the GeologyDepartment. Betty did almost all of the organizing.She says, ÒPeople came from all over the country,including Larry Gould, and the night before the bigsymposium we had the biggest snowstorm in 40years! The airport closed, highways were closed, andnobody could get anywhere without a snowmobile. Inspite of the fact that things didnÕt happen as planned,the symposium was a big success and went off with-out a glitch. Since Larry Gould was known for hiswork in Antarctica, we told him we ordered thisstorm just for him.Ó

Helping create CarletonÕs Century of Geology,a commemorative book about the GeologyDepartment and its faculty, alumni and students, in1975, was another milestone. Betty tracked downevery single one of the 235 geology graduates, givingus a 100% response rate of all the graduates from 1931through 1975. Even today students are awed byBettyÕs persistence as she ÒencouragesÓ every seniorto hand in their final comps papers in duplicate.

Tardy people find themselves getting a phone call at 9a.m. (dreadfully early for a student), and if the paperdoesnÕt come within a few days the next call comes at8:30, then 8:00, and... you get the picture. The papersget turned in.

Betty and her husband Mike celebrated their40th anniversary last summer. Mike retired fromteaching health and driverÕs ed in the Rosemount-Apple Valley school district in 1997. They have twogrown children and three grandchildren. Julie and her

husband Ted live in St. Paul so Betty and Mike seetheir grandsons quite often. Joe is a major in theArmy, and he and his wife Susan are stationed inGermany.

Betty was born and raised in Montgomery, atown of about 2,000 mostly Czech descendents westof Northfield. Before she settled into the GeologyDepartment she had another life as a beauty queen. Inhigh school in Montgomery Betty won a medal forplaying the leading role in a one-act play competition,and she was runner-up to the Kolacky Queen in the1958 Montgomery Kolacky Days celebration. (Akolacky is a Czech pastry, often with a poppy seedand/or prune filling.) After graduating from highschool, Betty lived for a time in Nevada where shewas crowned Miss Pershing County, became a finalistin the 1961 Miss Nevada contest, and was voted MissCongeniality by the other Miss Nevada contestants.She still turns heads today.

Betty says, ÒI have two pages of things writ-ten down that I would like to accomplish after I retire,and then I want to write a book. Mike and I are look-ing forward to making up our own calendar of eventsfrom now on!Ó

Take it away, Betty!! Have a great time.

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Betty Bray RetiresAnd We Hope She Has One Heckuva Good Time!

Betty Bray

Jenn Macalady ReceivesNational ScienceFoundation Grant

Carleton College News BureauJenn Macalady, assistant professor of geology

at Carleton College, has received a National ScienceFoundation Grant for her proposal titled ÒMicrobialCommunity Controls on Sulfide Oxidation Rates andCave Formation in a Subsurface BiogeochemicalSystem.Ó The total award is $179,935 for three years.

Microorganisms shape the chemistry of theearthÕs surface and atmosphere in ways that areimportant for climate change, elemental cycling, agri-culture, and human and environmental health. Mostmicrobial communities in nature are too complex topredict their behavior, but those below the earthÕs sur-face are among the simplest.

Macalady will carry out her research at a cavecalled Grotta di Frasassi in Italy. ÒBecause the cavemicrobial communities are simple enough to study ingreat detail, we can ask very basic ecological ques-tions like ÔWhat controls the diversity of microorgan-isms in a specific place?Õ and ÔHow does microbialdiversity affect the geochemistry of the environment?ÕÒ she said. ÒWe are after general rules that will helpus predict how microorganisms assemble themselvesin response to geochemical conditions.Ó

Macalady says that formulating such ruleswould help future efforts by other researchers todesign microbial communities to do jobs like pollu-tant biodegradation or methane production.ÒStudying microbially-dominated communities likethose in the cave may also shed light on the behaviorof the earthÕs surface biogeochemistry and evolutionduring the three billion years when microorganismswere the only biota,Ó she said.

Macalady has had the assistance of severalCarleton students while working on this project,including Laura Cleaveland Ô01, Katja Meyer Ô03 andBess Koffman Ô04. She also hopes to have four chem-istry, geology and biology students working on vari-ous aspects of the project each year. Most of her workis done in her lab on campus, though some of thework will also be carried out in the cave and in amini-laboratory she set up this fall at the OsservatorioGeologico di Coldigioco near the cave. Students in hergeomicrobiology classes also will look at the microor-ganisms and minerals from the cave as examples ofthe intimate link between microbial activity and geo-logical processes.

ÒOne of the best things about doing this proj-ect at a place like Carleton is seeing students with dif-ferent backgrounds collaborate,Ó Macalady said. ÒIt

brings their expertise as geologists, chemists, or biolo-gists into focus. At the same time, they are reachingacross disciplinary boundaries in pursuit of findingout something new. For me, these are some of the bestmoments in the lab.Ó

Carleton Geology Faculty,Students And Staff Present

Research At GSABy Kelen Tuttle Ô04Carleton College News Bureau

Fourteen Carleton professors, students andstaff members presented their research at the 115thannual meeting of the Geological Society of America inSeattle on Nov. 2-5. With over 7,200 attendees, this wasthe largest annual meeting in the SocietyÕs history.Topics presented ranged from new theories in geo-science education to detailed scientific research anddiscoveries.

Cathryn Manduca, Director of CarletonÕsScience Education Resource Center, presented ÒSharingTeaching Materials and More: New Opportunities forPlacing DLESE Resources in Context,Ó which describedpossible applications of the Digital Library for EarthSystem Education. Also, in collaboration with ProfessorDavid Mogk of Montana State University, Manducapresented a poster session titled ÒUsing Science toTeach Science: Motivations, Methods and Tools.Ó Inthis session, Manduca described several current proj-ects of CarletonÕs Science Education Resource Centerthat supports effective science education nationwide,including the development of an online communitycenter for the Digital Library for Earth SystemEducation, professional development workshops andon-line resources for geoscience faculty, and an inter-disciplinary effort to understand how faculty engagestudents with data in their courses.

With similar goals, Elizabeth Clark Ô03 andMary Savina, the McBride Professor of Geology andEnvironmental Studies, presented a poster sessiontitled ÒAnalyzing Historical Climatology Records inIntroductory Geoscience.Ó This poster discussed theopportunity for introductory geology classes to utilizepreexisting data sets in a classroom setting, buildingstudentsÕ confidence in their data analysis skills whileimproving the depth of their geological knowledge.

Savina presented ÒUsing Nineteenth CenturyLiterature in Geoscience Classrooms.Ó This talk dis-cussed the feasibility of using non-fictional accounts ofearth scientists such as Henrik IbsenÕs ÒAn Enemy ofthe PeopleÓ and Mark TwainÕs ÒLife on theMississippiÓ in the classroom. In collaboration withassistant professor of geology Bereket Haileab, Savina

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also presented a poster session titled ÒBuildingCommunity through Group Projects,Ó which discussedcivic engagement projects in geology and environmen-tal studies that were recently completed by Carletonstudents.

In collaboration with Savina, Charles Priore,research and instruction and science librarian, ColleenMcFarland, former research and instruction librarian,and Cameron Davidson, associate professor of geology,presented ÒInformation Literacy in the Geosciences atCarleton College: Strategies and Assessment,Ó a postersession describing how students build competency inusing data and library resources through their geologycourses at Carleton.

Davidson presented a poster session titled ÒAProposal to Build Data-Rich Rock Suites for LearningPetrology,Ó a call to the geoscience community to helpdevelop resources for learning important geologic con-cepts in discovery-based environments. In addition,Davidson is co-author on research papers presented byDevin McPhillips Ô03 and Elizabeth Cassel Ô03, respec-tively titled ÒGeochronology From a ContactMetamorphic Assemblage Near the Edge of theWrangellia Composite Terrane, Talkeetna Mountains,Alaska,Ó and ÒCrystallization Depths of CretaceousPlutons Along the Wrangell Transect, SoutheastAlaska.Ó

Also working with data from Alaska, GeorgeTangalos Ô03 and Haileab presented a poster sessiontitled ÒGenesis and Contamination of the KodiakBatholith, Kodiak Island, Alaska,Ó which probes theeffects of regional plate tectonics in Alaska.

Sara Gran Mitchell Ô96, visiting instructor ingeology, presented a talk titled ÒPolygeneticTopography of the Washington Cascades andTopographic Signature of a Glacial Buzz Saw.Ó Thisproject is part of a collaboration to study the rise of theWashington Cascade Range, and includes Peter ReinersÔ91.

Benjamin Harrison Ô03, educational associate ingeology, presented ÒGeochemical Tracing of BasaltProvinces in the Early History of the Yellowstone HotSpot,Ó a poster session describing his recent researchdata.

Clint Cowan, associate professor of geology,presented a paper titled ÒThe Effect on Paleo-Productivity of the First Major Delivery of Mid-Laurentian Saprolite-Derived Material to PhanerozoicOceans,Ó with co-authors Anthony C. Runkel of theMinnesota Geological Survey and Matthew Saltzmanof Ohio State University. This research paper investi-gates the effects of the submergence and subsequentemergence of late Cambrian North America and theUpper Cambrian global carbon isotope, or SPICE,event.

Richard Alley Presents Chesley Lectures On

Global Climate ChangeThis yearÕs Chesley Lecture, titled ÒBack to

our future: A paleoclimatic view of what may hap-penÓ was delivered by Richard B. Alley, Evan PughProfessor of Geosciences and Associate of the EMSEnvironment Institute at Pennsylvania StateUniversity. Professor AlleyÕs research focuses on deci-phering and understanding the record of recent cli-mate change contained in large ice sheets as well asthe role of large ice sheets in effecting climate change.The lessons learned from his research into the pastbehavior of our climate system have important andsurprising implications for the future of our climate.Dr. Alley recently chaired a National ResearchCouncil study on Abrupt Climate Change, and hasserved on many other advisory panels and steeringcommittees. He has also testified before the U.S.Senate and advised Vice President Al Gore.

Dr. Alley also presented a technical talk to theGeology Department on the mechanics of glacial ero-sion and spoke on climate change in Jenn MacaladyÕssection of Introductory Geology.

Dr. Alley is a Fellow of the AmericanGeophysical Union, and has been awarded a PackardFellowship, a Presidential Young Investigator Awardfrom the National Science Foundation, the HortonAward of the American Geophysical UnionHydrology Section, the Easterbrook Award of theQuaternary Geology and Geomorphology section ofGeological Society of America, the Wilson TeachingAward of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciencesand the Faculty Scholar Medal of the PennsylvaniaState University. He is the author or coauthor of morethan 135 refereed publications and several books,including ÒThe Two-Mile Time Machine,Ó which wonthe Phi Beta Kappa Science Award in 2001.

Dr. Alley received his Ph.D. in geology, with aminor in materials science, from the University ofWisconsin-Madison in 1987, and earned an M.Sc.degree (1983) and B.Sc. degree (1980) in Geology fromOhio State University in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.

The Chesley Visiting Lectureship in the fieldsof the natural and physical sciences, mathematics, andanthropology is made possible by a gift to CarletonCollege from Jean M. Chesley Ô37 of Red Wing,Minnesota, and the late Dr. Frank G. Chesley Ô36. TheChesley Lectureship brings an outstanding scholarand teacher to Carleton each year for a series of class-es, public lectures, faculty seminars, and studentmeetings.

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Seds Class Studies ModernCarbonate DepositionClint Cowan’s Sedimentology and Stratigraphyclass spent a week studying carbonate sedimen-tation on San Salvadore Island in the Bahamasin December. Above, the class looks at excava-tion burrows left behind by ancient wasps. Thesediments that today are sea cliffs were deposited as migrating sand dunes and couldhave housed a variety of burrowing creatures.At left, Jeff Dorr ‘04, Mike Bagley ‘05 and Dan Jones ‘06 begin their underwater mappingproject at Singer Point. They mapped theactive deposition in the nearshore zone that isaffected by waves and tidal currents.

Guy Narbonne Speaks OnPrecambrian Paleontology

This year we welcomed Dr. Guy Narbonne,Professor of Geological Sciences at QueenÕs Universityin Kingston, Ontario, as our Bernstein Geologist InResidence for this year.

Dr. Narbonne is a leading expert on the pale-ontology of EarthÕs earliest complex life forms, includ-ing the famed Ediacara fauna. His work has takenhim and his graduate students around the world,from Namibia to the Arctic, but perhaps the mostspectacular recent result of his research has been thediscovery of extraordinarily-preserved Ediacaran fos-sils at Mistaken Point, on the Avalon Peninsula ofeastern Newfoundland, Canada. Here, amazingÒPompeiiÓ-like fossil beds (animals buried rapidly byvolcanic ash), have allowed Guy and his team to ana-lyze the ecosystem structure of these earliest complexanimals. Intriguingly, the Ediacaran at Mistaken Pointmake their appearance immediately following a pos-tulated ÒSnowball EarthÓ event, when the globe mayhave been entombed in ice for millions of years.

Dr. Narbonne has also been active in researchon Precambrian stromatolite reefs that crop out in theCanadian Arctic. Most of the research crosses the bor-ders of paleontology, biology, sedimentology and geo-chemistry. Guy is widely published in the scientificliterature, and his work has appeared on CBC televi-sion and radio, and recently as the cover story inCanadian Geographic Magazine.

During his visit, Dr. Narbonne presented talksentitled ÒIn the Aftermath of Snowball Earth: Fossilsof the Oldest Complex Animal LifeÓ andÒPrecambrian Microbial Reefs: Templates for ModernReef Ecosystems?Ó He also participated in geologyclasses, including Paleobiology, had lunches with stu-dents, and open office hours.

The Bernstein Geologist In Residence series issupported by the Parnassus Foundation, founded byRaphael and Jane Bernstein, parents of John BernsteinÔ86.

David Montgomery Is Allensworth Geologist

In ResidenceDr. David Montgomery visited as our second

annual Allensworth Geologist in Residence.Established by Georgina (Gina) Michl Ô96 in memoryof her grandparents, Frances and Rol Allensworth, theAllensworth Distinguished Lecturer Endowment sup-ports scholarly work and a distinguished lectureseries in the Carleton Geology Department.

Dr. David Montgomery is a Professor in theDepartment of Earth and Space Sciences at theUniversity of Washington where he teaches geomor-phology, fluvial geomorphology and runs numerousgraduate-level seminars. He is also currently theDirector of UWÕs Quaternary Research Center.

DaveÕs research emphasizes an understandingof the linkages between the physical processes thatgenerate and redistribute sediments in natural land-scapes, which is necessary to provide a basis forunderstanding impacts of human activity and climatechange on both geomorphic and biologic systems.Dave is currently leading a research program inMountain Drainage Basin Geomorphology to developmethods for analyzing and predicting geomorphicresponse to both natural processes and anthropogenicdisturbance. A major goal of this program is to devel-op models of the physical environment necessary forunderstanding landscape development and ecologicalresponse to disturbance. This program involves fieldstudies of geomorphic processes and development ofdigital terrain models for predicting the spatial distri-bution of erosional processes, channel morphology,and sediment production and routing. Parallelresearch efforts focus on slope instability, fluvialprocesses in mountain drainage basins, and the upliftand sculpting of mountain ranges using a combina-tion of field experiments, field observations, andmodeling. For more information, visit MountainDrainage Basin Geomorphology Research athttp://duff.geology.washington.edu/index.html.

DaveÕs many publications, appearing in jour-nals such as Science, Nature, Geology and GSABulletin, focus on the linkages between the physicalprocesses that move sediment around and the impactsof humans and climate change on geomorphic andbiologic systems. He has worked in locations like theWashington Olympics, the Oregon Coast Range, thePhilippines, and Tibet. In 2003 he published a bookentitled ÒKing of Fish: The 1,000 Year Fall of Salmon,Óthat discusses the ways humans have facilitated thedestruction of wild salmon stocks worldwide. He cur-rently advises or co-advises no fewer than fourCarleton geology alums at the University ofWashington.

Dave presented two talks during his residen-cy: ÒKing of fish: the thousand-year run of salmon,ÓThursday, April 1 at 4:30 p.m. and ÒA fluvial tourthrough eastern Tibet,Ó on Friday, April 2 at 1:30 p.m.

During his visit, Dr. Montgomery also partici-pated in geology classes, had lunches with studentsand open office hours.

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Cathy Manduca Honored ForExcellence In Education

Congratulations to Dr. Cathryn Manduca,Research Associate in the Carleton GeologyDepartment, who has been named the 2004 winner ofThe American Geophysical UnionÕs Excellence inGeophysical Education Award.

The award recognizes a sustained commit-ment to excellence in geophysical education by ateam, individual, or group. It is given to educatorswho have had a major impact on geophysical educa-tion at any level (kindergarten through post-gradu-ate), who have been outstanding teachers and trainersfor a number of years, or who have made a long-last-ing, positive impact on geophysical educationthrough professional service. The presentation cere-mony was at the AGUÕs spring meeting in Montrealin May.

Cathy is the director of the Science EducationResource Center at Carleton where she is involved ina variety of projects that support improvements ingeoscience and science education (see SERC). She alsois a Research Associate in the Carleton CollegeGeology Department.

Cathy is a leader in the geoscience communi-ty, organizing workshops and other activities for fac-ulty and educators of all types and developingInternet resources that link teaching resources, peda-gogy and discussion. Much of her work is in supportof the programs of the National Association ofGeoscience Teachers (NAGT), the Digital Library forEarth System Education (DLESE), and the NationalSMETE Digital Library (NSDL).

The letter of nomination by two other profes-sors of geology, Heather Macdonald Ô76 of the Collegeof William and Mary and David Mogk of MontanaState University, cited Cathy as Òa leader and vision-ary who has demonstrated a deep and sustained com-mitment to excellence in geophysical education andhas had a major impact at the national scale.Ó Of hermany accomplishments, they highlighted her work asCoordinator of the Keck Geology Consortium, hercontributions to national digital libraries, and herinvolvement in bringing important issues to the atten-tion of the geophysical education community throughcommunity-wide conferences and workshops, ses-sions at professional meetings, and leadership withinprofessional societies. The nominators also under-scored CathyÕs interest in collaboration and her initia-tive, energy, enthusiasm, and good humor.

Cathy Manduca ElectedPresident Of NAGT

Congratulations (again) to Cathy Manduca onher election to the presidency of the NationalAssociation Of Geoscience Teachers!

The NAGT, established in 1938, fostersimprovement in the teaching of earth sciences at alllevels of formal and informal instruction, emphasizesthe cultural significance of the earth sciences, and dis-seminates geological knowledge to the public.

The NAGT is probably most well known forits journal, ÒThe Journal Of Geoscience Education,Óbut it also organizes the technical program in geo-science education each year at the annual meeting ofthe Geological Society Of America and sponsors tech-nical sessions, workshops, and field trips. The organi-zation fosters advances in the teaching and learningof geoscience through scholarship aid to summer fieldcamp students, professional workshops for geosciencefaculty, a distinguished speaker series and a partner-ship with the National Association for BlackGeologists and Geophysicists.

Cathy served as the organizationÕs SecondVice President in 2001 and as a Distinguished Lecturerin 2000-2001. Her term as president runs fromNovember 2003 to November 2004.

Sarah Rechtzigel Is NewAdministrative Assistant

WeÕd like to extend a warm welcome to SarahRechtzigel, who will be replacing Betty Bray as theAdministrative Assistant in the Geology Departmentoffice.

Sarah comes to us from the Dean of StudentsOffice where she was Secretary to the Associate Deansof Students for seven years. Prior to that she workedin the college Wellness Center and as a lab reception-ist at the Allina Clinic in Northfield.

Sarah lives in Kenyon with her husband, Joel,and children, Luke, 6, and Emily, 4. Her favoritehobby is flower gardening.

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Black Hills AndMissouri Field TripsThe Departmental field trips this year went to the Black Hills last fall and Missouri this spring. Twenty eight students went on the South Dakota trip and 35 on the Missouri trip. Clockwise from left:

• Mary Savina coaches one of the small mapping groups working in Little Elk Creek Canyon.

• Bereket Haileab leads the discussion at the summit overlook of Bear Butte, just east of the Black Hills;

• On the Missouri trip, Cam Davidson led a discussion of the petrology and structure of the dike atop Knob Lick;

• Clint Cowan worked with Lyndsey Kleppin ‘04 and Nick Riordan ‘07 as they worked on a mapping challenge in Johnson Shut-Ins.

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NATURE Articles Co-authoredBy Carleton Grads Take OppositeSides In Debate Over The Role Of

Rainfall In Mountain BuildingThe following story is excerpted from an article in

the Dec. 11, 2003 issue of NATURE, ÒGeomorphology:Nature, nurture and landscapeÓ by Peter Molnar,Department of Geological Sciences, and the CooperativeInstitute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES),University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado.

The endless debate over the relative impor-tance of nature and nurture in child development hasits equivalent in geomorphology. In this case, theargument is about the roles of tectonics and climate inmountain erosion. Tectonics (nature) sets the initialconditions by raising EarthÕs surface and, whereactive, renewing topography. Climate (nurture)shapes the surface into its various forms through itseffect on glaciers and rivers. Three papers in theDecember 11 issue of the prestigious journal NATUREtake the argument forward by isolating and evaluat-ing the importance of certain climatic and tectonic fac-tors in erosion.

Although there is a long tradition of measur-ing sediment transport by rivers, only infrequentlywill that record include the full range of floods thathave shaped the landscape. Flooding obeys a power-law distribution, and the largest floods have thelargest effect on landscape. But only in rare regionsare we likely to have witnessed them - hence the needfor an approach that will produce a record thatincludes several such extreme events.

To quantify erosion rates, the research groupsapply thermochronometric methods to rock nowexposed at the surface. Temperature increases withdepth in the Earth and, at high temperatures, noblegases emitted in radioactive decay diffuse away;defects (tracks) in crystals, produced by the chargedparticles expelled in nuclear fission, anneal. By meas-uring the concentrations of such gases or tracks, onecan date when the sample cooled below a tempera-ture at which diffusion or annealing is slow. With anassumed temperature gradient in the Earth, theupshot is an estimate of the average exhumation rate,which in these cases equals the rate that materialabove the sampled rock has been eroded. Such esti-mates apply to periods as short as 500,000 years to aslong as several million years. But in all cases theyspan several glacial and interglacial cycles, and sosmooth the effects of large climatic changes.

Peter Reiners Ô91, Sara Gran Mitchell Ô96 et al.present the simplest result: erosion rates averaged

over the past few million years in the North CascadeMountains of Washington state correlate with thepresent-day distribution of rainfall. Precipitation anderosion rates vary by an order of magnitude acrossthe range, with rapid erosion having occurred whererain falls most today. As virtually all of the rockexposed in the mountains must have lain below sealevel a few million years ago, they deduce that rockmoved up relative to sea level despite the absence ofany tectonic process. Because of isostasy (ArchimedesÕprinciple applied to the EarthÕs crust immersed in itsmore dense mantle), removal of a mass of rock fromthe EarthÕs surface will be compensated by the riseabove sea level of approximately 80-85% of that mass.

By contrast, D.W. Burbank, Beth Pratt-SitaulaÔ93 et al. deny that precipitation has a major role inerosion in their study area, the Himalaya. They meas-ured rainfall along a profile across a segment of theHimalaya, and they compare that rainfall with esti-mates of erosion rates along a valley floor from theLesser Himalaya into the Greater Himalaya. A narrowzone separates the Lesser Himalaya (where widerivers, bounded by sediment-filled terraces, flowthrough relatively gentle, deeply weathered hillslopes) from the snow-capped Greater Himalaya(where slopes are steep, valleys deep, and weatheringand terraces sparse).

Burbank et al. measured much more rapiderosion in the Greater than the Lesser Himalaya. Moreimportantly, they detected no measurable differencein erosion rates across the Greater Himalaya despite afive-fold decrease in precipitation there. They inferthat precipitation does not exert a first-order controlon erosion. Noting that all of the rapidly eroding ter-rain moves rapidly upward with respect to the lower,gentler region to the south, and leaving open thequestion of what physical processes cause erosion,Burbank et al. suggest that tectonically forced upwardmovement is the most important factor affecting ero-sion across a region of such different rainfall.

A Note From Ed BuchwaldRetirement seems to suit us just fine. Cynnie

and I have divided our time among family, travel, andgood deeds. Adam and Nancy live in Boston, Julieand Chris in New Orleans, and Charles and Amy onSalt Spring Island in British Columbia, so we havegreat places to visit while enjoying the company ofsome terrific people. Last fall we combined a traintrip to Boston for AdamÕs wedding with a chance tovisit some of the great natural history museums inAmerica.

Cynnie and I have been volunteering as edu-cators at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in

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Nebraska, and we thought it would be fun to seewhere some of those Miocene mammal fossils wereon display. We were able to see great exhibits at theField Museum in Chicago, the Peabody at Yale, theAmerican Museum of Natural History in New York,and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Weare hoping to see the Carnegie collection in Pittsburghin the fall. Working in the Volunteers in Parks pro-gram has been terrific. I especially enjoy helpingrangers update their knowledge of geology and pale-ontology and also working with local school children,all of who attend one-room schools.

Cynnie continues to volunteer at theNorthfield Hospital and I am still the Scoutmaster ofTroop 337, having celebrated 35 years in that job lastDecember.

I have enjoyed attending alumni weekend atCarleton and hope to see many of you. It is suchgreat fun for me to catch up on your lives!

Ed Buchwald

Carleton Geology Graduates Score!

By now everyone has probably heard thatCarleton has ranked well in the U.S. News and WorldReport rankings, but here is a little supplemental infothat is more specific to geology.

CarletonÕs Office of Institutional Researchmonitors statistics for the college and they recentlycirculated some findings regarding the success of ourgraduates in earning advanced degrees.

Between 1991 and 2000, a total of 46 Carletongraduates earned Ph.D. degrees in geology, placingour graduates second (behind UC-Berkeley) inabsolute number of geology Ph.D. degrees earnedamong graduates of all four-year colleges and univer-sities. All the other schools in the top 20 in the listingwere much larger with 10,000 to 60,000 graduatescompared to the 4402 Carleton graduates who wouldhave been in the age group likely to have earnedadvanced degrees during the decade.

In the same years Carleton graduates earned58 Ph.D. degrees in all areas of earth science, placingus seventh behind the graduates of larger schoolssuch as UC-Berkeley, UW-Madison, Penn State, andso on. All the other schools in the top 25 in the rank-ing had more than 10,000 alumni in the appropriateage group.

In terms of the proportion of graduates earn-ing geology and earth science Ph.D. degrees, Carletonranks first among liberal arts colleges. The onlyschools ranking higher on a proportional basis aretechnology universities.

Steve Ingebritsen ‘78 GivenGSA Hydrogeology Award

We are pleased to report that theHydrogeology Division of the Geological Society ofAmerica chose Steven Ingebritsen Ô78 as the 2003yearÕs recipient of the O.E.Meinzer Award.

The Meinzer award is given annually to theauthor or authors of a published paper or body ofpapers of distinction that have advanced the scienceof hydrogeology or a closely related field, and waspublished during the five calendar years prior to theyear of its selection. In addition to SteveÕs outstandingcontributions to hydrogeology, the 2003 O.E. MeinzerCommittee recommended the award be based on sixof his more recent papers. The presentation of theaward occurred in November 2003, at the annualmeeting of the Geological Society of America inSeattle.

Steve received a BA degree in Geology fromCarleton College (1978) and MS (1983) and PhD (1986)degrees in Hydrogeology from Stanford University.He has been a member of the USGS since 1980 andcurrently serves as Branch Chief for the WaterResources Division research group in the western US.Steve received the John Hem Excellence in Scienceand Engineering Award from the NGWA in 2000 andserved as the Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecturerin 2001. He and Ward Sanford are co-authors of thetextbook ÒGroundwater in Geologic ProcessesÓ(Cambridge University Press, 1998). His researchinterests include volcanic and hydrothermal systems,crustal permeability, and land subsidence.

The papers upon which the award was based are:* Hayba, D.O., and Ingebritsen, S.E., 1997,

Multiphase groundwater flow near cooling plutons:Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 102, p. 12,235-12,252.

* Ingebritsen, S.E., and Jones, D.R., 1999, SantaClara Valley, California - A case of arrested subsidencein Galloway, D. L., Jones, D. R., and Ingebritsen, S. E.,eds., Land subsidence in the United States: U.S.Geological Survey Circular 1182, p. 15-22.

* Ingebritsen, S.E., and Manning, C.E., 1999,Geological implications of a permeability depth curvefor the continental crust: Geology, v. 27, p. 1,107-1,110.

* Ingebritsen, S.E., and Manning, C.E., 2002,Diffuse fluid flux through orogenic belts: Implicationsfor the world ocean: Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences, USA, v. 99, p. 9,113-9,116.

* Ingebritsen S.E., and Sanford, W.E., 1998,Groundwater in Geologic Processes: New York,Cambridge University Press, 341 p.

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* Manning, C.E., and Ingebritsen, S.E., 1999,Permeability of the continental crust: Implications ofgeothermal data and metamorphic systems: Reviewsof Geophysics, v. 37, 127-150.

Way to go, Steve!

Talks In Our Department This YearTalks given during the 2003-04 school year

included:Butch Dooley Ô91, ÒThe geology and paleontol-

ogy of the Carmel Church Quarry, Virginia;ÓRichard Alley speaking on the Frank G. and

Jean M. Chesley Lectureship, ÒBack to our future: apaleoclimatic view of what may happen,Ó ÒWhy themating behavior of crayfish matters to climatechange,Ó and ÒHow glaciers erode.Ó

Dave Montgomery, University of Washington,speaking as an Allensworth Geologist in Residence,ÒThe king of fish: the thousand-year run of salmon,Óand ÒA fluvial tour through eastern Tibet.Ó

Jean Chu Ô73, ÒCommunity awareness andaction for natural disasters.Ó

Russell Shapiro, Gustavus Aldophus College,ÒThe history of life.Ó

Adam Maloof Ô98, ÒSnowball Earth.ÓDave Barbeau Ô97, ÒLinking tectonics and sed-

imentation: application of growth structures to kine-matic history analysis.Ó

Bret Berglund Ô85, Environmental geology con-sulting projects and opportunities in Alaska.Ó

Guy Narbonne, QueenÕs University (Canada),speaking as a Bernstein geologist in residence, ÒIn theaftermath of snowball Earth: fossils of the oldest com-plex animal life,Ó and ÒPrecambrian microbial reefs:templates for modern reef ecosystems?Ó

Carleton Senior Sean Bryan Presents At North-Central GSA

by Kelen Tuttle Ô04, Carleton College News BureauSean Bryan, a Carleton senior geology major

from Cincinnati, Ohio, presented research at the 38thannual meeting of the North-Central Section of theGeological Society of America in St. Louis, Ill., inApril, 2004. Approximately 400 geoscientists attendedthe event hosted by the Department of Earth andAtmospheric Sciences of St. Louis University.

Bryan presented a poster session titled ÒBasinMorphology, Sedimentology, and History of a SmallProglacial Lake, Matanuska Glacier, Alaska.Ó Thestudy examines the morphology, sedimentology andgeologic evolution of a small lake, located less than akilometer from the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska thatis now almost completely drained. Using data collect-

ed during the summer of 2003, Bryan determinedthat, at its peak, the lake was approximately 120meters long by 85 meters wide and had a maximumdepth of eight meters. Analysis of aerial photographyindicates that the lake was drained of most of itswater sometime after 1949.

BryanÕs study contributes to a general wealthof knowledge of the processes that take place aroundglacier margins, and will assist the interpretations ofglacial sedimentary deposits.

ÒConducting original research at the under-graduate level is invaluable experience and enforcesthe knowledge received in the classroom,Ó saysBryan. Building upon this experience, Bryan plans towork in geology related employment in Colorado fortwo years before continuing his education in graduateschool. ÒThis experience has better prepared me forboth future employment and graduate school,Ó saysBryan.

Duncan Stewart FellowsEach spring, the geology faculty faces the dif-

ficult task of selecting a few students to be DuncanStewart Fellows. The Duncan Stewart Fellowship wasestablished in 1976 by Daniel Gainey, class of 1949, inhonor of Duncan Stewart, professor of geology atCarleton for nearly 25 years.

We select the Stewart Fellows based on acombination of excellence in scholarship, a high levelof intellectual curiosity, potential for scientific growth,and involvement in departmental activities. As wemake this selection, we realize how fortunate we areto have so many talented, interesting, and impressivestudents within the department.

We are pleased to announce that Ellen SchaalÔ05, Nick Swanson-Hysell Ô05 and Lisa Kanner Ô04 willbe the recipients of this years Duncan StewartFellowship in Geology. Ellen, Nick and Lisa willextend the number of Stewart Fellows to 79. Fellowsfor this past year were Kristin Bergmann and BreanynMacInnes, both Ô04.

Our congratulations to Ellen, Nick and Lisa!

Network For Lesbian, Bisexual,Gay And Transgender Alums

The Network For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual andTransgender Geology And Natural History Alumsprovides students and alums with career information,fellowship and support. The network was founded in1990 and now has 36 members from coast to coast.

The network has the twin objectives of help-ing reduce isolation among alums and helping to pro-vide a more open, accepting and informative environ-

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ment on campus for students in geology and relatedfields.

The network consists of a confidential list ofnames and addresses, circulated only to members ofthe network, maintained by Marilyn Yohe Ô88, DanSpencer Ô79, and Tim Vick. Inquiries about joiningmay be addressed to any of them.

LGBT folks might also be interested in thegeneral alumni group called Out After Carleton. Weare happy to provide contact information for them aswell.

Geology Department T-shirts Available By Mail

We have some geology T-shirts available thatwe can mail out. The cost is $10 plus $3 postagepayable to Carleton College.

The 2004 shirt is an exciting ÒOSHAÓ orangewith blue ink, the same as we have been painting ourrock hammers. The front patch has a take-off on ahammer and sickle shaped from a hand lens andhammer, and the back design is ÒPardon me, am IintrudingÓ as seen on the cover of this yearÕsNewsletter. 100% cotton, all sizes available.

The 2003 shirt is dark ÒhunterÓ green withwhite lettering. On the front it has a small patch thatsays ÒCarleton Geology 2003,Ó and on the back it hasthe timeless drawing by S.T. McWhinnie Ô85 saying,ÒMeet me behind the outcrop, baby... IÕm a little boul-der there.Ó ItÕs 100% cotton.

The 2002 shirt is light blue with black inkwith a picture of a trilobite and a hand pointing to itand saying ÒHoc animal maxime placet,Ó Latin forÒthis is my favorite animal.Ó 100% cotton.

Email Tim Vick at tvick@carleton.edu or callto find out whether your size is in stock.

2004 AwardsPhi Beta KappaKristin BergmanSigma XiDavid AuerbachKristin BergmanAnnaliese EipertLisa KannerBess KoffmanBreanyn MacInnesLeah MorganBrandon MurphyKristin OÕConnellDuncan Stewart FellowsLisa Kanner Ô04Ellen Schaal Ô05

Nicholas Swanson-Hysell Ô05Environmental and Technology Studies SummerInternshipEmily Schwing

Senior Papers - 2004Graduating senior geology majors, their hometownsand titles of integrative exercise (ÒcompsÓ) projects:David J. Auerbach, Salem, OR, ÓThe SteptoeanPositive Isotopic Carbon Excursion (SPICE) in silici-clastic facies of the Upper Mississippi Valley:Implications for mass extinction and sea level changein the Upper CambrianÓKristin Bergmann, Gaithersburg, MD, ÒStream inci-sion and sagebrush expansion on the Kern Plateau,California: A hydrologic perspectiveÓSean Bryan, Cincinnati, OH, ÓBasin morphology, sed-imentology, and history of a small proglacial lake,Matanuska Glacier, AlaskaÓJeff Dorr, Storrs, CT, ÒDesertification of the GobiÓAnnaliese Eipert, Seattle, WA, ÒOptically stimulatedluminescence (OSL) dating of sand deposited by the1960 tsunami in south-central ChileÓJoseph Graly, Berkeley, CA, ÓAn Intrusive Complexin the Khovsgol-Ulaanbadrakhin Terrane, southeast-ern MongoliaÓHeather Hilchey, Minnetonka, MN, ÒA signal ofabrupt climate change in AlaskaÓKristen James, Alexandria, VA, ÒDetermining thesource for the magmas of Monte Amiata (CentralItaly) using strontium, neodymium, and lead iso-topesÓLisa Kanner, Amherst, MA, ÒGeomorphic evidencefor Martian climate changeÓLyndsey Kleppin, Anchorage, AK, ÒPetrography andcharacterization of alteration in concrete containingaggregates from the Umbria Marche Sequence, ItalyÓBess Koffman, Yelm, WA, ÒMolecular phylogeneticanalysis of a bacterial mat community, Le Grotte diFrasassi, ItalyÓSarah A. Leibson, Rochester, NY, ÒUplift of marineterraces along the San Andreas Fault: Fort Braggregion, northern CaliforniaÓBreanyn MacInnes, Greensboro, NC, ÒUplift anddeformation of marine terraces along the San AndreasFault: DuncanÕs Landing to Fort Ross, CaliforniaÓSarah Margoles, St. Louis Park, MN, ÒTerrestrial car-bon storage and sedimentation in the Coon CreekWatershed, WisconsinLeah Morgan, Essex Junction, VT, ÒMolecular evi-dence for microbially-mediated sulfur cycling in thedeep subsurface of the Witwatersrand Basin, SouthAfricaÓ

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Brandon H. Murphy, St. Louis, MO,ÒCyclostratigraphic analysis of pelagic carbonates andastronomical correlation in the Early Oligocene atMonte Cagnero (Piobbico, Italy)ÓGabriel J. Nelson, Lake Nebagamon, WI,ÒMicrostructures associated with deep crustal subduc-tion deformation in the Cycladic Blueschist belt,Syros, GreeceÓKristin OÕConnell, Minneapolis, MN, ÒAges, geo-chemistry, and field relationships of mafic dikes alongthe Wrangell Transect, Southeast AlaskaÓ

Class Of 2005Timothy Beaster Grand Marais, MNWilliam Gallin New York, NYSarah Greene Montgomery, MNBrenden Hughes Springfield, ILCallen Hyland Glenville, NYKarla Knudson Decorah, IAEmily Levine Reisterstown, MDAndrew Lorenz Birmingham, MILouise Miltich Cohasset, MNCristina Robins Pratt, KSEllen Schaal St. Paul, MNMarisa Sowles North Yarmouth, MEKathryn Stalker Seattle, WANicholas Swanson-Hysell St. Paul, MN

Class Of 2006Michael Bagley Sitka, AKRachel Brown Northfield, MNMargaret Doheny-Skubic Oak Park, ILKelsey Dyck Bluffton, OHLee Finley-Blasi Littleton, COLianne Hilbert Ann Arbor, MIDaniel Jones Corvallis, ORAndrew Lorenz Birmingham, MIRebekah Lundquist Pelican Rapids, MN

Poetry From The Intro ExamThis spring Sara MitchellÕs class in IntroductoryGeology was given the challenge of earning extracredit on their final exam by writing a haiku or limer-ick. Here are a few of the best ones:

Rocks broken apartDeposited togetherLithification

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Basaltic lavasat divergent boundariesform new ocean crusts

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Vans outside of Mudd.Where are we going today?Much learning awaits.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I see formationsItÕs all sedimentaryMy tummy rumbles

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The Little Chicago HaikuWhereÕs the granite from?Proof of extensive glaciers:Laurentide ice sheet.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

There once was a lab ass named DaveWho always on Thursdays would slaveTo get us to explainThe strikes, slips and planesBefore to us the answers he gave.

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by Carol Roecklein, The Northfield NewsA warm smile forms on Mary SavinaÕs face as

she describes how her experience as a geology profes-sor, coupled with her understanding of local govern-ment, led her to discover the vital link between aca-demic work and community involvement.

ÒTeaching students about the local landscapeand history gives them a sense of place. ItÕs not justan inward look, but a look at where theyÕre situatedin geology and history,Ó she said. ÒIt also teachesthem to question: ÔWhat do the things we find tell usabout the people?ÕÓ

Savina is the McBride Professor of Geologyand Environmental Studies and HumphreyDoermann Professor of Liberal Learning at CarletonCollege. She is also the coordinator at the PerlmanCenter for Learning and Teaching. She earned herbachelorÕs degree at Carleton, and her masterÕs andPh.D. degrees at the University of California,Berkeley. Savina joined the Carleton faculty in 1978.

In addition to her work as a teacher, Savina isactive in local government. A few times a month, onMonday nights, Savina can be found at City Hallobserving Northfield City Council meetings for theNorthfield League of Women Voters.Because of her role as observer for the past eightyears, Savina has been privy to city government dis-cussions, which ultimately led her to an importantrealization.

ÒIt occurred to me that the city will neverhave enough staff or money to complete everything,Óshe said. Therefore, Savina began to engage her stu-dents through community projects, such as creating apreliminary natural resources inventory for the city.Other projects include creating city development flowcharts and compiling inventories and questionnairesrelated to local issues, such as open space and afford-able housing.

SavinaÕs sense of community runs deep andsheÕs working to teach her students a sense of placeby linking their academic work with the Northfieldcommunity.

ÒThe students and the community both gainby these projects,Ó she said. ÒTheir work is never asubstitute, but it can help educate people in city gov-ernment and lead them to ask consultants better ques-tions and provide them with preliminary questions.Ó

Savina said the majority of Carleton studentsare from urban landscapes and are unfamiliar withthe Minnesota prairies and soils. She said communityprojects teach students about the local landscape inaddition to life-long lessons in civic engagement.

ÒI hope these students will go into other com-

munities and have the same habits,Ó she said. ÒI cansee students making connections and I hope they usewhat they learn to become informed, active citizenslater in their lives.Ó

Savina was born and raised in Stamford,Conn. Her father was a chemical engineer and hermother taught junior high math and science. JuliaSavina moved to Northfield seven years ago to benear her eldest daughter. Her younger daughter Jeanis an occupational therapist in Baltimore. Juliadescribed Savina as a brilliant student who was activein Girl Scouts.

ÒBy the time she went to school, she hadalready learned to read,Ó she said.Since Savina was a young girl, Julia said her daughterhas always been drawn to music and played in theyouth orchestra. Today, Savina is an active member ofthe United Church of Christ, where she sings alto inthe church choir. She also sings in the New Praguevocal group, Hymnus, and plays the cello in a quartet.

ÒSheÕs an opera buff and she goes to theopera all over the world,Ó she said. ÒI think music isher recreation.Ó As a teenager in the 1960s, Savinasaid her participation in the National ScienceFoundation programs was particularly influential. Shesaid her hands-on experience in Northwest Louisianaand Missoula, Mont. solidified her interest in science.

Savina also taught for three years inWellington, New Zealand and designed and led a 10-week class to Death Valley in the mid-1980s. She alsospent time in Grevena, Greece, working on an archae-ological dig with Nancy Wilke, where roughly 8,000years of archaeological information was collected.

Combining her years of teaching with civicengagement has been a natural progression forSavina.

Whether itÕs a Midwestern river or theCalifornia Mojave Desert, each year Savina leadsmany students through various terrains teachingthem about the landscape, the people and communityinvolvement.

ÒIf you see a student in a local river, explor-ing, he or she probably belongs to me,Ó she said.

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Mary Savina’s Students Work With City Government

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Northfield native brings message of hopeBy Carol Roecklein, The Northfield News

In response to a series ofbooks known as the ÒLeft BehindÓnovels that describe explicit end-of-the-world scenarios where an aveng-ing warrior Jesus kills non-believersand saves the moral righteous minor-ity, Barbara Rossing offers a hopefuland healing interpretation in herbook, ÒThe Rapture Exposed: TheMessage of Hope in the Book ofRevelation.ÓThe Left Behind novels have soldroughly 50 million copies and contin-ue to gain in popularity. The serieswas written by Tim LaHaye andJerry Jenkins, cofounders of theMoral Majority with Jerry Falwell in1979.

Last month, Rossing, aNorthfield native, appeared on 60Minutes II to debunk the series and itsmessage and was interviewed by Morley Safer for asegment entitled: ÒThe Greatest Story Ever Sold.Ó

Rossing is scheduled to speak at 8 p.m. May19 at St. JohnÕs Lutheran Church and will offer amodel for viewing Scripture in the power of JesusÕnonviolent, self-giving love for the world. Northfieldroots.

In addition to growing up in Northfield,Rossing is a 1976 Carleton College graduate with amajor in geology. She is the daughter of Dorothy andTom Rossing, a former St. Olaf College physics profes-sor. She is the sister of Mary Rossing, a Northfield res-ident and owner of Present Perfect, a store onDivision Street.

Rossing is an ordained minister in theEvangelical Lutheran Church of America and earneda doctorate from Harvard University Divinity Schooland a masters of divinity degree from Yale UniversityDivinity School. She teaches at the Lutheran School ofTheology in Chicago. Rossing said she was compelledto write the book after delving into the Left Behindnovels herself.

ÒAs I went out speaking at Lutheran churchesand around the country, more and more people wereasking me questions about these novels: ÔWhat doyou say about the fictional scenarios of the end of theworld in the Left Behind novels?ÕÓ she said. ÒI neededto answer that question. After I started reading them,I was so alarmed by them that I decided to apply for agrant to give me the time to write a book respondingto the novels.Ó

Rossing received a Lilly Endowment grantand spent a year writing the book.

ÒIt took me the full year to research it,Ó shesaid. ÒFirst, I read all the novels and then I went on atrip to the Middle East, where so many of the novelsare set in Israel, Palestine and Jordon.ÓResearch and strength

As a result of her research, Rossing said shegained an inner strength and knowledge.

ÒIt was really empowering because IÕvealways been a little intimidated by fundamentalists,Óshe said. ÒThe more I studied the whole origin of thisfundamentalist theology, the more I realized this isnÕtbiblical. It was empowering to realize I could standup to this. There are holes in their system and I needto expose their assumptions. Some of the things theywrite are not justifiable biblically. Now I feel a lotmore confident about critiquing their theology, and Ithink thatÕs an important kind of confidence.Ó

Rossing explores the image of Jesus as a lambin Chapter Six, entitled, ÒLamb Power.Ó

ÒI went out in the country where a family wasraising lambs and spent some time with the lambsreflecting on what the Bible means if it is casting Jesusin the role of the lamb,Ó she said. ÒWhat does thatteach us and what does lambness look like in ourworld? I believe that lamb power is a powerful wayof living in the world.Ó

Rossing stressed the importance of hope, par-ticularly in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy,the war in Iraq and recent events.

Barb Rossing with Morley Safer on the 60 Minutes set

ÒItÕs hard to live with a sense of hope some-times, but I do believe that is the bibleÕs message andthat God is with us,Ó she said. ÒMore and more, Iunderstand it to be a different set of lenses that cansee the hope in the midst of despair.Ó

A message of hopeIn the last two chapters of RossingÕs book,

ÒRapture in ReverseÓ and ÒThe Journey Outward,Óshe uses examples from the natural world to illustratehope.

She said using the natural world to portray amessage of hope was a result, in part, from her con-nection to nature.

ÒHow the rivers of our world can remind usof the river of life and how weÕre supposed to seeglimpses of GodÕs river of life in the Cannon River, orthe trees of our world, like in the Arboretum,Ó shesaid. ÒWe really are supposed to live with that visionfor a world that is renewing and healing and notdestructive.Ó

Rossing earned an undergraduate degree ingeology at Carleton.

ÒThe Carleton geology department field tripswere formative,Ó she said. ÒWe would go on week-long field trips to the Black Hills and to the Ozarks.You really get this great appreciation for the incredi-ble diversity and wonder of GodÕs creation.Ó

Rossing lives eight blocks from LakeMichigan in Chicago and connects to nature each day.

ÒCanoeing down a river and glimpsing aGreat Blue Heron taking off is the idea of wonder thatI want to talk about at St. JohnÕs and of the renewal ofthe world,Ó she said. ÒThe book of Revelation is notGodÕs nightmare for our world, itÕs GodÕs dream forour world and we see glimpses of that dream of hopefor our world. God wants to bring about the healingnot the destruction of the world.Ó

BarbaraÕs book is available from many book-sellers including Amazon.com.

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