Minutes Of The 2004-2005 Geography Articulation Meeting

Minutes of the 2005 Geography Articulation Meeting

Date: May 7, 2005 Location: Coquitlam College, Coquitlam Chair: Wim Kok, Northern Lights University Co-chair/secretary: Kathy Fitzpatrick, Coquitlam College

1. Call to Order  The meeting was called to order by Wim Kok

2. Introduction and Regrets

Those present introduced themselves

Brett McGillivray Capilano College Barry Weaver Camosun College Roger Hayter Simon Fraser University Don Stone Malaspina University College Earl Noah Douglas College Norma Kerby Northwest Community College Maija Heimo Thompson River University [email protected] Allison Lutz Selkirk College [email protected] Colin Mills Langara [email protected] Steven Marsh Univ. Coll.of the Fraser Valley [email protected] Ed Swanson College of the Rockies [email protected] Lyle Courtney Kwantlen [email protected] Dan Smith Univ. Victoria [email protected] Ken Denike Univ. British Columbia [email protected] Cliff Raphael College of New Caladonia [email protected] Chris Jackson Univ. Northern British Columbia Wim Kok Northern Lights College [email protected] Kathy Fitzpatrick Coquitlam College [email protected]

Attending also: Jennifer Oram BCCAT

Regrets: Don McPhee, Douglas College; Bernard Momer, Okanagan University College Not present: Trinity University College 3. Approval of Agenda  Moved by Brett McGillivray, seconded by Earl Noah

4. Approval of the Minutes of the 2004 Meeting at Northern Lights  Approval of the minutes moved by Lyle Courtney, seconded by Earl Noah

5. Business Arising from the Minutes of the 2004 Meeting  TIPS report o Equivalency of first year physical geography and geology courses led by a task force including Robbie Dunlop, SFU o Jennifer Oram reports that there is a parallel decision that the steering committee should be expanded to include representatives UBC & UVic’s geography and geology departments. Robbie Dunlop will call the expanded committee together in the near future. Jennifer will send a note to Wim regarding the time line and there will be another report in 2006. o Chris Jackson, Cliff Raphael and Dan Smith have agreed to continue on the committee, and Ken Denike will assign someone from UBC.

 Geography Descriptive Pathways Transfer Grid o Motion that Colin will draft a letter and send it through the chair to BCCAT stating the importance of the Geography Descriptive Pathways Transfer Grid . Moved by Brett McGillivray . Seconded by Cliff Raphael  List Serve o Moved by Wim Kok, seconded by Brett McGillivray to thank Alison Lutz for keeping up the list serve

 Geography Articulation Website o Will be updated by Colin o Please send pictures to put on the webpage o Moved by Wim Kok 2nd by Brett to thank Colin for putting the minutes on the website

 Report Contact Hours: First Year Human Geography/Physical Geography Courses o Wim’s report summarized the contact hours for first year human and physical geography courses and identified variations between the institutions. This report was followed by a general discussion about variations in contact hours between the institutions and within the institution (ex: evening courses vs day courses), as well as considering the different teaching modes included in the calculation of contact hours. New Business

a.Institutional Reports a. Camosun College i. Plans to have an Associate Degree in Geography available online by Fall 2008. BC Campus is funding Barry Weaver to convert Geog 232 (Cultural Geography) and Francis Yee and Catherine Griffith to convert two other courses to an online format for delivery 2006-2007 ii. An Associate Degree in Geography Information Science in partnership with Department of Computer Science has received approval by Education Council and it will have its first intake in September 2005 iii. Budgeting cuts will reduce the number of sections for 2005-2006 by two. iv. Some concerns regarding how decision made at UVIC may impact enrollments and class sizes in the non physical and techniques courses v. A Geography Faculty Award will be awarded to a 2nd year student who plants to continue in Geography at a university

b. Capilano College i. Chris Gratham has been seconded as Manager of Education Technology and Scott McLeod is on paid educational leave and is about to have two books published – one on Economic Geography and the other on the Geography of Asia ii. Spring enrollments are down perhaps related to increasing summer school offerings. iii. Mixed Mode (blended mode) teaching

c. College of New Caledonia i. Concerns regarding decreasing enrollments

d. College of the Rockies i. Concerns regarding maintaining enrollment ii. New academic classroom block funded for completion in 2007

e. Coquitlam College i. Concerns regarding declining enrollment

f. Douglas College i. Declining enrollments resulted in the loss of a section of Geography in the Fall 2005 semester ii. Funding shortages for equipment and supplies continue to be a challenge iii. Possible college reorganization may impact the department g. Kwantlen University College i. James Urquhart retired and the selection committee is in the process of hiring a new physical geographer. John Rose was awarded a regular appointment effective May. Rod Fowler was on leave during the spring term, and is returning this fall. ii. Enrollment is down approx 10% from last year iii. New course offerings: 1. Geography 2250 – Urban Geography iv. New courses under development for 2006 1. Geography 1130 – Human Impacts on Canadian Environments 2. Geography 2150 – Geography of Canadian Arctic v. Initiatives 1. Social sciences is planning to create lab space and purchase computer equipment that would enable Geography to establish GIS facilities and related courses. h. Langara College i. enrollment is strong ii. planning to add a new Regional Geography of Latin America and is considering developing a course along the lines of “Geographic Change in a Modernizing World” iii. recent sessional hire – John Thistle, iv. a new addition to Langara College will be constructed shortly although it is unclear how much it will relieve office space pressures v. college is beginning to equip classrooms with projectors and computers for easy Power Point and internet utilization i. Malaspina University-College i. The BA Major in Geography was implemented in September 2004 with a general option and 2 specialized streams - Natural Resource Management and Urban Growth Management. ii. New courses 1. Geog 100 (World Regional Geography) 2. Geog 111 (Atmospheric Environments) 3. Geog 112 (Earth Environments) replace Geog 110 (Human Impact on Environment) 4. Geog 120 (Human Geog) 5. Geog 210 (Physical Geography) iii. John Fairfield and Julian Fox retired from the Department in 2004 iv. Three new full-time faculty members were hired: Don Alexander, Hannah Wilson and Martin Andresen v. Geography enrolment has increased vi. New courses approved for delivery in 2005-07 1. Geog 226 Introductory Spatial Analysis for the Environmental Sciences 2. Geog 474 GIS Applications in National Resource Management vii. An additional dedicated GIS lab (24 seats) has been added viii. A proposed B.Sc. Minor in Geography is anticipated to be approved by January 2006. ix. The Advanced Diploma in GIS Applications program, which is a cost- recovery post-graduate 8 month program in GIS will begin in September. More information on this program is available at http://www.mala.ca.ccs.certificates/gis.htm x. SFU’s UniGIS program is being transferred to MU-C and is expected to enroll approximately 30 students per year xi. Acquiring a site licence from ESRI to support both the Advanced Diploma in GIS Applications (face to face) and UniGIS (online) programs. xii. Office space for additional instructors and maintaining or increasing students enrolments in Geog courses are two challenges facing MUC j. Northern Lights College i. Enrollment in Geography Program is down somewhat ii. Wim Kok will be on sabbatical 2005/2006 iii. Fort St. John Campus - $12.0 million provincial funding announcement for Education Technology Centre & student residences iv. Dawson Creek campus – a new regional administration building is planned k. Northwest Community College i. Course changes Geog 224 World Regional Geography; Geog 222 Economic Geog ii. Gordon Weary is going on leave for 1 year iii. Enrolment trends – unchanged iv. Initiatives include: 1. Geog 112 Environment & Planning – Coordinated Class Projects in the District of Stewart 2. Geog 222 Econ Geog includes discussion of traditional economies through Kitlope Field Session offered cooperately with the Haisla First Nations l. Selkirk College i. Frank Fowler has taken over Leslie Anderton’s courses and Allison is on maternity leave starting May 31, 2005 ii. Davis Weather Station is up and running & Selkirk College Geospatial Center is a tremendous success iii. Enrollments are low but are projected to be 10-15% higher for UT Sept 2006 iv. Geog 254 Map and Air Photo Use and Application was offered in the winter and will be offered next winter. Students taking this course are required to take 2 extra labs and do extra readings.

m. Simon Fraser University i. New Facility – 2003-2006 Meg Holden, Eugene McCann, Jay Taylor, Janet Sturgeon, Nick Hedley, Paul Kingsbury, Geoff Mann, Jeremy Venditti, ii. Departures – Mike Roberts is retiring in 2005 and Mike Hayes has been appointed Associate Dean of SFU’s new Faculty of Health Science iii. Applied to hire a replacement in Geography of Health and Inequality, and a lecturer in Physical Geography iv. The Environmental Speciality Major and Certificate in Spatial Information Systems are both growing. The Major in Geographical Information Systems is new this year. Most courses are filled to capacity with a few spaces open. v. The GeoSpatial Data Lab and Environmental History Data Lab are two new CFI-funded data laboratories. In 2006 the Geography department will be expanding into to space vacated by the School of Communications creating more research laboratories (spatial Interface Research Lab, hydraulics laboratory with a 16 meter flume & Human Geography Research Lab, and a research facility for the Metropolis project) and offices for visitors and sessional instructors vi. Ravinder Multani has been promoted to Student Advisor; B-Jae Kelly has been hired as Field, Lab and Resource Specialist vii. Eleven new upper level courses were offered 2003-20006 viii. SFU’s Senate has approved the establishment of Breadth, Quantitative and Writing requirements (6 credits each) for all Bachelor’s degrees and this will come into effect Fall 2006. Transfer equivalencies for writing- intensive courses are still unclear. Geog 300 is designed as a breadth requirement in the humanities, GIS & statistics courses and well as many physical geography courses meet quantitative requirements ix. Certificate in Urban Studies has been restructured and adds new electives in the upper division, requires a capstone seminar and a course in methods (GIS, qualitative methods or statistics) x. Field-based instruction is expanding and Geog 497, the International Field School is poised for its 3rd successful offering in England this summer. A new Physical Geography Field Course has been approved which will help physical geographers majors meet the requirements for APEGBC certification as professional geoscientists. xi. Geog 150 could replace Geog 250 in 2007 xii. Geospeakers will include a special series on “Space and Power” in 2006 organized by Paul Kingsbury n. Thompson Rivers University (formally the University College of the Cariboo) i. The department separated from Sociology and Anthropology and is now the Department of Geography ii. Enrollment is expected to grow due to several new courses (six in physical geography and seven in human geography) as well as courses from BCOU iii. Jim & Mary Miller retired in August 2004 iv. Four new faculty members hired in August 2004 are Darryl Carlyle Moses, Maija Heimo, Nick Cradock-Henry, Chrystal Huscroft, v. Part time instructors will be hired in the fall and winter semesters to teach introductory human courses vi. TRU is hosting the WDCAG March 10-11, 2006 vii. Planning a physical and human geography field school to start May 2006 viii. Issues and challenges include Masters program and department review suggestions o. University of British Columbia i. New faculty Brett Eaton, Marwan Hassan, Markus Weiler ii. Retirements Olav Slaymaker, June 2004 & Ken Denike December 2004, Mike Bovis June 30, 2005 iii. Enrollment – remains high for all year sections iv. Curriculum changes  Geography 101 – deleted & replaced by Geog 102 & Geog 103  Geography 102 Climate & Vegetation  Geography 103 Water & Landscape  Geography 121 & 122 – title change --Geography, Modernity & Globalization I & II  Geography 250 – Geography Cities  Geography 270 – GIS and geomantics – renumbering of Geog 370  Geography 376 was Geog 470  Geography 410 – renamed Environment and Society  Geography 470 deleted  Geography 475 – was Geog 375 Spatial Data Analysis  Geography 496 – Geography of Africa  Geography 500 level – graduate courses renumbered  Geography 512 Climate Change in the 21st Century  Geography 514 Topics in Environmental Geography ii. Department members continue to participate in talks at Richmond Nature Park iii. Geography Students Association organized a one day fieldtrip to Squamish/Whistler area iv. Spring Geography 379 Human Geography Field Course led by David Edgington to the sister university in Ritsumeikan in Kyoto, Japan v. New faculty searches – Arts CRC in Health & Science & FRBC Endowed Chair in Hydrology (1/3 Geog; 2/3 Forestry) vi. Curriculum review completed vii. Space crunch & future staffing – physical geography faculty to be hired in the future viii. Expansion of UBC at Okanagan campus – Point Grey & Okangan will have separate calendars p. University College of the Fraser Valley i. Claire Beaney & Ken Brealey to be regularized Sept 2005 ii. Retiring – Don Tunstall iii. New hires 2006 – 2007 one human geographer and one physical geographer (possibly) iv. Enrollment is steady v. The new summer semester has been extended from 7 weeks to 12 weeks vi. There are six additional courses and Geog 302 has been split into Geog 302 Coastal Geomorphology and Geog 304 Fluvial Geomorphology vii. The department is moving to a new renovated space, and a new thermoluminiscence lab is planned viii. The Borderland course with WWU is now coordinated by Michelle Rhodes and John Belec ix. Study tours include Spain 2005, Hawaii 2005, & Mexico 2006. Adventures in Geography trips include Mt. St. Helens Fall 2004 and Las Vegas Fall 2005. x. BSc. proposal xi. Partnership – groundwater sampling of Abbotsford –Sumas Aquifer with WLAP/FHA/Env. Canada xii. Challenges – the department is growing and there is a lack of space. q. University of Northern British Columbia i. Roger Wheate is on Sabbatical next fall and hiring of a term replacement is in progress ii. Dr. Pat Mather is newly hired iii. Two proposed Geog. BA Joint Majors (Geography and Anthropology & Geography and International Studies) to be in place for 2006/07 iv. Geog BA minor degree changes increases concentration of upper level courses in focus areas v. Revisions expected for the Geog BSc degree to increase quantitative components for developing Professional Geoscientist (P.Geog) accreditation vi. Enrollment is strong vii. UNBC’s Community Devleopment Institute (CDI) is mandated to support rural and small town communities adjusting to the new economy through research, information and development needs. For more information contact Greg Halseth [email protected] viii. UNBC RRT will house the BC Parks Research Forum. For further information contact Pam Wright [email protected] ix. A proposed Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Institution (NRESI) is pending Administration and Board of Governors approval x. What’s New in Geography http://web.unbc.ca/geography/whatsnew/ is a regularly produced bulletin highlights what Geography is and what Geographers do by profiling Geography activities of faculty, students and alumni. This is circulated to the administration of UNBC xi. A regionally based Physical Geography Field School will be offered Spring 2006 xii. Major RRT degree revisions planned for 2006 xiii. Challenges include understaffing of GIS/remote sensing/cartography faculty and teaching support r. University of Victoria i. New personnel – Josh Lapawsky, Dr. Fred Wrona (limited term), Carrie Stekler, John Fowler ii. Returning faculty members Dr. Doug Porteous, Dr. Steven Lonergan iii. Tier II Canada Research Chair in Urban Population Health position iv. Dr. Peter Keller, Dean of Social Sciences v. New course effective July 1, 2005 Geography 491 Advanced Special Topics in Geography vi. Anticipated program changes at the 2nd year level 1. Geography 211 Economic Geography (revised content) 2. Geography 2XX Cultural Geography (new) 3. Geography 2XX Introduction to Resource Management 4. Geography 2XX Regional Geography of Canada 5. Geography 2XX Fundamentals of Physical Geography 6. Geography 470 Advanced Hydrology b. BCCAT Publications and News – Jennifer Oram o Transfer Friendly course outline . Institutions may use this on-line course outline template which specifies all the information required for articulating courses and includes a modified SFU form for writing intensive courses. . This is NOT mandatory, but is only a suggestion

o How To Articulate Handbook . Will be available at the end of the month. This is especially a helpful publication for new faculty who may not be familiar with articulating courses.

o Articulation Committee Handbook . This is a good resource for the chairs

o Transfer Tips . This revised publication is especially useful for 1st year students and advising/counseling departments. It is easy to differentiate between the older editions because the newest publications are yellow.

o On Line Transfer Guide . Revisions to the on-line transfer guide will be available next month and will be more user friendly

o Education Planner . Just taken over by BCCAT and describes the courses and programs offered by the institutions. If you have a concern or inquiry about this resource please contact Devorah Gaber, executive director overseas. ***check!!! o Transfer Development Kit . Acts as a institutional contact and transfer guide . Now when courses are articulated the information is input and the website is updated

o Instructor Qualifications . BCCAT policy suggests that instructors teaching courses should have at least a Master Degree in the discipline. . o Policies and Processes for Private Institutions . Useful information on the policies and processes of private institutions granting degrees explains that these institutions have to fulfill the requirements as set out by the quality assessment board. Two new private institutions that are now granting degrees are  University Canada West  Spratt Shaw College . In the future private institutions granting degrees may be interested in attending annual articulation meetings if they offer courses in the approved articulation degree o Undergraduate courses – writing section  Information on changes at SFU in regards to writing intensive courses affecting transferability can be found at www.sfu.ca/ugcr. o Research projects . Transfer Credits and Transfer Students at the University Colleges of British Columbia: A Study of the Baccalaureate Graduates of 1998-2001  Top academic students from high school tend to perform best at SFU, but the lower ended students from colleges did well, which suggests that colleges are important transition for some high school students o Updating Geography Descriptive Pathways . For a number of years the Geography Articulation Committee has stated that the Geography Descriptive Pathways housed at Langara is important and requires funding to update. BCCAT responded that initially there was seed funds for setting up the descriptive pathways but that there is no funding available at this time to update the system . What other committees are doing  Applied Business Technology o All institutional representatives submit new information to the committee and this information is examined at the next annual articulation meeting. This is then input by BCCAT and is found on the BCCAT website.  Biology o Two times a year (June 15 & Dec 15) representatives meet and one individual is responsible with a small committee  Business Administration o They have a subcommittee that is responsible for updating the information and they meet via teleconferencing two times a year  Early Childhood Education o This is quite a complex system with two matrices. The ECE transfer committee selects the transfer secretary who collects information from institutions three times a year o The committee reviews it and comes it comes back to the annual meeting in May for approval . BCCAT has limited resources but has an in-house technology person c. Co-Chairs’ Report (Kok) a. Highlights of the co-chair and system liaison person’s meeting i. Information on chair’s role ii. demonstration of education iii. overview of Advanced Education Media Acquisitions Center iv. Key issues & major challenges of admissions & transfers v. Public/private articulation: quality assurance for articulation d. BCCAT Education Planner (Noah) The BCCAT Education Planner is not including institutions that do not have an associate degree in Geography. Earl has corresponded with BCCAT and they are correcting this omission. e. Systems Liaison Person

Motion that Lyle Courtney be the Systems Liaison Person for the Geography Articulation Committee  moved by Brett McGillivray  seconded by Roger Hayter)  Carried Unanimously e. Survey “W” courses a. Most institutions do not have a written intensive course with the exception of SFU that has floating W designated courses which varies from semester to semester, UNBC that has intensive writing courses in conjunction with the writing center f. Enrollments a. A general discussion about declining enrollments in geography courses. Some possible factors include: i. An increasing number of students are working part time and are taking less courses per semester ii. Less students attending colleges and universities iii. Expansion of offerings in other disciplines; increased competition within institutions iv. Expansion of lower level course offerings in larger universities v. Scheduling g. Fieldschools  A general discussion about fieldschools. Some of the responses included:  UBC has a number of fieldschools and fieldtrips to such places as the Rockies, and Whale Camp in Tofino, Banfield with a max 12 students  UCFV offers a 4 – 5 day fieldtrip to the USA, as well as fieldschools to Hawaii for 2 weeks and Spain & Mexico for 3 weeks (directed studies).  Langara offers 1 week intensive in-house & 2 weeks fieldschool  Selkirk has an interdisciplinary fieldschool at Arrow Lakes  TRU is planning a one week in-house and two week fieldschool  UCNBC’s fieldschool to Dundas Island includes classroom time & one week fieldwork Dundas Islands for a two course credit.  UNBC offers a four week course People’s Rights and Power consisting of with two weeks intensive in-class work and two weeks fieldwork in Guatamala &/or S. Africa (partnership with University of Pertoria.) Fieldschools include a combination of graduates and undergraduates, in total perhaps fifteen students.  Malaspina’s fieldschool travels to the big island of Hawaii for three weeks in the field and three weeks in the classroom for a total of six credits  SFU offers international schools in Europe and Hong Kong with mandatory fieldtrips  Capilano’s international fieldschool is five to seven weeks and is worth at least nine credits which permits students to be eligible for student loans. h. Fieldtrips and waivers a. A general discussion on waivers, risk statements on course outlines and catalogues for fieldtrips and fieldwork. Some institutions do not allow underage students to go on fieldtrips. A suggestion of a good fieldtrip waiver is found on the Queens Department of Geography website. i.First Year Physical Geography Textbooks General survey regarding Physical Geography textbook used by institutions  CNC Cummingham & Cummingham  UBC Strahler & Strahler  UVic Strahler & Strahler  Kwantlen Lutgens & Tarbuck  UCOR Strahler & Strahler  Langara Geosystems  UCFV Geosystems  Selkirk Geosystems  TRU Strahler & Strahler  UCC Strahler & Strahler  Douglas De Blis  UNBC De Blis  Malaspina Strahler & Strahler  Camosum Geosystem  SFU De Blis  Coquitlam Geosystem  Northern Lights Geosystem j. Selection of Co-Chair and Location of Next Meeting  A proposal was received from Mark Smith, Chair of the Geology Articulation to have a joint Geography/Geology articulation meeting at OUC (OUC @UBC) in Kelowna, BC in May 2006. It was suggested that Bernard Momer from OC be the co-chair for Geography Articulation Meeting and it be held at OUC Kelowna. If Bernard is unable to host then Norma Kerby offered to host the meeting in Terrace.

 ***update regarding next year’s geography articulation meeting – Bernard confirmed via email that he has accepted the co-chair position for geography and that the Geographer Articulation Meeting will take place May 4 – 6, 2006 (fieldtrips May 4 & 5, meeting on May 6) at UBC-O in Kelowna

o Chair - Kathy Fitzpatrick, Coquitlam College o Co-Chair - Bernard Momer, UCB Okanagan k. Adjournment  Motion to adjourn meeting, moved by Roger Hayter, seconded by Norma Kerby.

Kathy Fitzpatrick, Co-Chair/Secretary