Degree Information
The Geology Department offers a major with several distinct tracks, allowing students to choose a degree path aligned with their interests. Any student from the five Claremont Colleges can pursue a degree in geology!
Geology Major Tracks
- General Geology
- Environmental Earth Science
- Earth, Planetary & Space Science (EPSS)
- Public Policy in Geology
- Geochemistry
The Geology Department provides a service to the college as a whole, as well as to its undergraduate majors. Taking advantage of the department’s proximity to such features as the San Gabriel mountains, the Pacific coast, the San Andreas fault and the Mojave desert, students augment their classroom and laboratory experiences by exploring the spectacular geological setting around them.
Several courses are taught to introduce the subject of geology to students with no previous background, and each seeks to help students recognize that the Earth’s present condition is not to be taken for granted but results from the interplay of forces and processes that can be observed to act today or that can be inferred from the study of rocks to have acted in former times. Advanced courses are small allowing students to work in close contact with faculty members. Increasingly, learning occurs through hands-on exploration and through individual or collaborative engagement in original research.
Use of computational and experimental techniques has become increasingly important in our teaching activities but, because technical methods constantly evolve, the department focus in these and more traditional areas of instruction continues to emphasize the basic principles that should endure.
Geology Minor
The Geology Department offers a minor that serves to complement degrees in many other fields. For instance, if you are majoring in history, economics, anthropology, art or literature your education could be enriched by studying the landscapes, resources and geological events that play a critical role in the evolution of most societies, whereas students of math, chemistry, physics and biology will find exciting new arenas within which their developing skills can be applied.