Field trips are one of the most effective mechanisms for learning in the geosciences, and the Department of Geography, Geology, and Planning has always considered field trips to be an essential part of our curriculum.  In addition to the many short field trips offered in conjunction with our upper-division courses, we expect each of our undergraduate majors to have at least one extended field experience.  For our geology and earth science education majors, these extended field experiences usually take the form of our annual Spring Break field trip (GLG 360) and our May intersession course on Field Geology of the Mid-Continent Region (GLG 412).  For our geography, geospatial science, and planning majors, the extended field experience is provided by our newly restructured Field Study in Geography (GRY 470), with a different destination offered each May and August intersession period.

Unfortunately, extended field trips are becoming extremely expensive.  Transportation costs have skyrocketed in recent years, and it is now to the point where we have to charge at least $500 to $1000 per student in addition to tuition, and that’s for the “cheap” trips where we can travel by University van and stay in campgrounds.  For our overseas trips that require airfare and hotel accommodations, the fee can easily be $2000 or more in addition to the tuition.

As a way of partially offsetting some of the per-student transportation costs for these field courses, we’ve established a new Educational GeoTrip Fund.  This fund will be managed by the Missouri State University Foundation as a permanent endowment, with all earnings from this endowment being used exclusively to subsidize our extended field-experience courses (GLG 360, GLG 412, and GRY 470).

And here’s the exciting part…  The Gregg T. and Judith A. Summerville Charitable Trust has graciously offered to match all contributions to this endowment through 2008, up to a total of $20,000!  That means your contributions to this endowment fund will have twice the impact!  We hope you will consider making a generous contribution to this endowment so that we can continue to provide valuable field experiences for our current and future students at Missouri State University.

Contributions can be made online at www.ws.missouristate.edu/giving/pledge4.asp?searchBox=geotrip&B1=Go
or mail to...

Educational GeoTrip Endowment (Fund #2450)
Missouri State University Foundation
Missouri State University
901 S. National Ave.
Springfield, MO  65897

  
left: GLG 360 students examine an outcrop in the Llano Uplift of central Texas;  right: GRY 470 students hiking across the Athabaska Glacier in the Canadian Rockies.