Dept of Geography and Geosciences Emergency Plan

Administration of the Department of Geography and Geosciences in the event of H1N1 Outbreak:

1)    Assignment of interim Departmental Chair:
   
The Department of Geography and Geosciences is fortunate to have two well-qualified faculty that can replace the existing Chair (Keith Mountain – 852-2692) in the event of illness.   David Howarth (852-2693) and Clara Leuthart (852-2703) have both served as Department Chair and would be assigned the interim role in this order.

2)    Unit Business Manager:

The unit business manager, Sharon O’Bryan, (852-2739) supports both the Department of Geography and Geosciences and the Department of Anthropology.  Ms. O’Bryan is, in return, supported by the Senior Program Assistant, Paula Huffman (852-2421).  In the event that either of these individual are unable to work these positionsare interchangeable and essential needs can met. 

3)    Instructor Illness and Class Obligations:

 The Department teaches two general education courses (Geography 200 – The Power of Place and Geosciences 200 - The Global Environment).  For Geog. 200 three faculty have taught this course and are interchangeable – Professors Song, Zhang, and Hanchette.  For the Fall Semester this course is examined by blackboard and immediate connections to the students in the event of class cancellations or the forwarding of necessary information is possible.

Geosciences 200 is also a course several faculty have taught. Professors Howarth, Lager, Hadizadeh, Leuthart and Mountain can all continue with the existing syllabus if necessary.  The other 200 level course – Introduction to Contemporary Issues in Meteorology (Geosciences 220) can be taught by either Dr. Howarth or Keith Mountain if the need arises.  As with Geography 200 all students are accessible through blackboard and have been advised to check for relevant information.

The remaining upper level courses taught for the Fall Semester are easily covered in the event of faculty illness.  The Graduate level courses (Geog. 600 – Foundations of Geography and Geog. 656, Advanced Quantitative Methods) are small and faculty- Hanchette, Song, Mountain and Zhang - are equally capable of ensuring continuation of the class.  In addition, these courses are heavily dependent upon electronic communication and all have access to students and class materials through e-mail, blackboard and class distribution lists. 


4)    Student Illness:

Instructors for all classes have been advised to schedule make-up exams for students that are unable to attend classes.  For several of the 200 level classes exams are given over blackboard so that they can be taken at the student’s convenience.  For the Fall Semester there are no laboratory sessions for the lower division courses although most classes require the submission of assigned exercises.  These can be submitted at a date beyond their assigned completion or can be submitted via e-mail.        

5)    Operations of the Center for GIS.

The Department maintains the systems and software for several courses that are computer intensive.  Remote sensing, image processing and GIS all require class attendance and are demanding in terms of student involvement in learning.  However, additional time will be allocated for the submission of required assignments and the computer labs will keep extended hours (including weekends) to allow students to make up lost time.   In addition, policies have been set in place to ensure cleanliness of the computer keyboards, printers, etc, to minimize the exposure and transfer any virus.
 
6)     Web Page Management.

The Departmental web page is maintained by Donald Biddle the GIS Support Specialist under Robert Forbes the associate Director of the Center for GIS.  Both of these individuals have access to all Departmental operations from the server. In the event of illness to Mr. Biddle any information relevant to the web page will be posted by Bob Forbes (852-2698).  In addition, Clara Leuthart serves as the Director for the Center for GIS and is also available to run the system should the need arise.  Phone numbers are as follows:  Biddle (852-2702), Forbes (852-2698) and Leuthart (852-2703).