The Provost and Regent can speak as they wish of “increasingly interdisciplinary” and “topics in the field have expanded significantly”, but the problem is whether interdisciplinary or not, those other fields still must fall within the constraints of underlying geology. The petrology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, hydrogeology, etc., must still be understood before it is leveraged by these other fields.

Having been involved in a few of these interdisciplinary type projects at the UM and MSU, it is the geologic discipline that is underrepresented and underappreciated in its impact on the outcome. I suggest it is a call to move geology to the front seat, not to the unassigned seating at the back of the train.

The irony is at a time when demand for drinking water is increasing, our understanding of nuclear power generation safety is grey at best, and the changes to our pale blue dot are now apparent to most, geology departments are being eliminated or diluted. The very field that can add in addressing these global issues and we push it aside.