The Union College Geosciences Department: A Student-Made Video Documentary

This award-winning* video documentary was made by Geosciences student Jon Campano (Union College, ’09), and is mostly interviews, statements, and examples by Union College students and faculty. Although it was made some time ago, so courses, terms abroad, and other specifics have changed somewhat, it remains an excellent description of the department and the experiences of our students to this day.

Image is from a student field trip in 2022 to parts of the Colorado Plateau (photo Kurt Hollocher).

Chapters

  1. Introduction to Union College
  2. Individual stories: finding the Geosciences
  3. Is it for you: who might like the geosciences
  4. Where to start: entry points to the curriculum
  5. What happens in the field: the world’s biggest laboratory
  6. Schenectady & upstate NY as a geoscience classroom
  7. Overview: Geosciences undergraduate experience
  8. Meet some professors: where it all starts
  9. The relevance of geology: it touches everything
  10. The relevance of environmental science: big overlap with the geosciences
  11. Goals of the geosciences: Practical field experience
  12. Financial aid opportunities: department-specific resources
  13. Keck Geology Consortium: inter-college and university projects
  14. Equipment & facilities in the Geology Department: amazing
  15. Engineering meets the Geosciences
  16. Courses: Earth and Life Through Time
  17. Courses: Stratigraphy & Depositional Environments of New York
  18. Courses: Natural Disasters, ice jamming in the Stockade
  19. Courses: Geology Senior Seminar
  20. Courses: Senior Thesis
  21. Overview: student experience outside the classroom
  22. Living in Schenectady
  23. Environmental endeavors at Union: on-campus student-directed activities
  24. GeoClub: The student Geosciences Club, a close and vibrant community
  25. Graduate school: an option many of our graduates want to do
  26. Employment: the background of our students lets them do almost anything
  27. Australia Term Abroad 1
  28. Australia Term Abroad 2
  29. Australia Term Abroad 3
  30. Australia Term Abroad 4
  31. Australia Term Abroad 5
  32. Alaska mini-term abroad 1
  33. Alaska mini-term abroad 2
  34. Alaska mini-term abroad 3
  35. Alaska mini-term abroad 4
  36. Alaska mini-term abroad 5
  37. The Bahamas: course-related trip
  38. Recommendations: what our students think
  39. Final thoughts from interviewees
  40. End credits

Total length of all 40 chapters is 2 hours 44 minutes. Chapters range in length from 1 minute 9 seconds to 11 minutes 29 seconds.

    * …won an award for Best Documentary at the Third Annual Electric City Film Fest last week at Proctors, where it was shown along with other winning entries. Campano began work on his project for the Geosciences and Environmental Sciences at Union last May and completed it this fall. This year’s film festival, presented by SACCTV-16, focused on the theme, “Why Schenectady?”