Amy Leventer
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It's hard to believe that I'm finishing my sixth year at Colgate! I'm having a great
time, both in the classroom and in the field. I continue to teach Introduction to
Oceanography almost every other semester, a great way to meet lots of students and to
try to attract new majors. On the other end of the spectrum is Marine Geology, a 400-level
class that takes a much more in depth look at the oceans. Despite worries about rain and
rough waters, the highlight of the course this year was a weekend trip to Lake Champlain
(not quite the ocean) aboard Middlebury's research vessel. Nobody got seasick and we
collected cores that went back to the time when Lake Champlain was marine. My other
favorite course is Climate Change and Human History, a Core Scientific Perspectives
class. Over the years, I have felt an increasingly strong need to teach students
something that I feel is of critical importance to society. I hope that this class
helps students become more conscious of their responsibility to global issues and their
ability to make economic, social and political decisions that are based on scientific
realities. I've also started team-teaching Earth and Environmental Processes. The
best part of the course is the lab - every Tuesday afternoon we're outside, usually
at the Bewkes Center, but also on trips to the Adirondacks and Onondaga Lake.
Finally, each year I find myself spending more time on the Geology Off Campus.
Bruce Selleck has been very generous in showing me the ropes on the Canyon Loop -
I still can't believe I'm paid to do this!
My research on climate change in the Antarctic is progressing well, thanks to lots of
help from many, many students. So far I have participated in fourteen scientific
field expeditions to the Antarctic and am fortunate to have shared this experience
with so many Colgate students, including Athan Barkoukis '03, Kate Clark '99, Emily
Constantine '04, Mark Hayes '98, Beth McAndrews '99, Meredith Metcalf '02, Natalie
McLenaghan '02, Caroline Olson '02, Allison Ridder '99, Anna Rubin '02 and Eric
Williams '01. The cruises have ranged from two weeks to two months, with the longest
project approved as a Colgate Study Group, with the students receiving three course
credits during the cruise. On every expedition, student efforts have been critical
to the scientific success of the cruise; they worked 12-14 hours every day, monitoring
geophysical instruments, working on deck to recover coring equipment, and in the lab
to describe and sub-sample sediment cores. Of course, the friendships, scenery and
memories of our field work are exceptional as well!
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