Geologic Field Techniques (GEOL380) - This sophomore-level core course is an intensive field course that includes three hours per week lab/activity time and 4-5 weekends in the field.  Students learn to perform basic field procedures that includes rock identification, mapping, field orientation, note taking, report writing.  In this class we hone our higher-order thinking skills and practice thinking on-your-feet in real field situations.    GEOL380 is typically taught in Fall semester. See a past syllabus for GEOL380

Geology Field Camp (GEOL481A) - Our field camp is generally taught in the first part of the summer (June/July).  It typically lasts about 5 weeks and for the past several years it's been held in Dillon, Montana.  This core course is a capstone course in which students are expected to apply much of what they've learned in their earlier geology courses.  We typically have 5-6 different projects that cover a wide range of geologic situations.  Each project has a significant mapping component and writing assignment.  See a past syllabus for GEOL481.

Geophysics (GEOL456) - This is an introductory geophysics course that covers applied methods such as seismic refraction and reflection, gravity, magnetics, and electrical methods.  A large portion of this course revolves around field assignments that are performed during lab hours and during weekend field trips.  Though we mostly perform experiments that more in the shallow subsurface realm of geophysics, we also do assignments that relate to crustal scale problems such as thickness of the crust and basin development.  Geology majors must either take this Geophysics course or Geochemistry (GEOL406).  See a past syllabus for GEOL456.

Geology of National Parks (GEOL310) - In this General Education course, we investigate the geologic features and processes that are found in many of our national parks.  The goal in this class is to learn about how Earth works by looking at some of the most visited places on Earth - our national parks.  We generally stick to the parks in the western US because (1) these are the parks mostly likely to be visited by our students and (2) they display many of the more noticeable geologic features , such as huge canyons (Grand Canyon) and volcanoes (Hawaii and Yellowstone).  See a past syllabus for GEOL310.

Structural Geology (GEOL360) - Structural geology is a core course for geology majors.  This course generally involves (1) descriptions of structures (e.g., faults, folds, fractures); (2) documenting the movement or distortion of Earth materials; (3) evaluating how the rocks get deformed via stresses in Earth’s lithosphere.  This class has two labs per week and I generally have two mandatory weekend field trips where we map and evaluate structures building on field technique skills learned in GEOL380 (Geologic Field Techniques).  See a past syllabus for GEOL360.

Quaternary Tectonics (GEOL475) - In this course, processes and important observations that indicate Quaternary crustal movements are studied.  This is a multi-faceted course that takes a holistic approach to Earth’s surface study by using methods of paper and computer map analysis, assessing ages of the tectonic features, evaluating characteristic deformation styles from different types of surface and structural regimes, and looking into how past rates of deformation are assessed.  Course is taught ever 3 years or so.  See a past syllabus for GEOL475.

Graduate courses (GEOL5xx) - I teach a variety of graduate level courses including Advanced Concepts in Geology (GEOL500) [offered in Fall] and Research Techniques (GEOL501) [offered in Spring].