The family of J. Doug Yule has established the Doug Yule Memorial Field Camp Endowment within the Department of Geological Sciences at CSUN. The goal of this endowment is to offset costs for the Summer Field Geology course, a four-week, intensive, capstone course for all Geology BS majors that takes place in the Owens Valley in southern California and other places of geological interest. This course is required for students who want to obtain a Professional Geologist or Field Geologist license in California, as the state mandates a minimum number of hours of field experience to be eligible for the exams. This course also requires that students leave their families, jobs, and homes for four weeks, in addition to summer tuition costs. This fund aims to offset these costs so that students do not incur a financial hardship, thereby making our major more equitable to all students.
Yule was passionate about the field geology curriculum in our department. He taught the Summer Field Geology course (GEOL 430 a/b) for more than 15 years, in addition to the introductory field course (GEOL 313) and the Advanced Structural Geology course (GEOL 310). The Summer Field Geology course provides not only the opportunity for students to apply their skills in real-world geologic situations, but also provides a unique pedagogy whereby students are focused on one topic (applied geology field-methods) for four weeks without the distractions of living and working at home. In our ever-changing, online-centric world, this style of teaching is unusual and allows students to learn things at a much deeper level than in a classroom or online setting. Yule was committed to maintaining the field curriculum for our students, and was always looking for ways to modify the course to make it more accommodating. He was also dedicated to his students’ success and well-being, and was always available for guidance and support.
Through your gifts to this endowment, the department will be able to continue offering the field course at minimal (or no) cost to our students, and to protect this fundamental aspect of our curriculum.
Click the "Donate" button above to give to the Doug Yule Memorial Field Camp Endowment.
