Across the landscape of higher education, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused fundamental changes at a variety of scales. To understand which aspects of higher education instruction at the departmental (meso-scale) level were most and least impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, chairs of geoscience departments at public higher education institutions in…

Summarized are factors that have been identified as playing a role in the continued strength of the geology department at Carleton College. Discussed are the local environment, curriculum, teaching methods, and the atmosphere of the department. Suggestions for increasing the strength of academic geology departments are provided. (CW)