A department at Eastern offers students annual study abroad opportunities in Europe and the Republic of Ecuador.

The same department predicts the weather and offers a senior seminar class called Spaceship Earth.

The geology and geography does it all.

The department strives to make its students more aware of their surroundings by offering students these opportunities.

John Paul Stimac, chair of the department, is directing the annual trip to Europe this year with professor Jim Davis.

“(The trip) is three weeks in length. You get three credit hours and a variety of courses,” Stimac said. “You can also get senior seminar credit, so a lot of our students sign up for that. It is a great way to get a global perspective on situations and problems.”

The trip flies students to locations such as Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. One of the stops during the trip is at the concentration camps in Auschwitz.

Stimac said this is where he gets the most positive feedback.

“We visit three concentration camps that are part of the Auschwitz complex,” he said. “It is an emotional day for the students and for the instructors, as well. Everyone came out crying. That’s how emotionally powerful it was.”

Stimac said he receives excellent feedback from the students that attend the trip.

He encourages anyone who is interested in Europe to look into the program.

Students may also want to look into the trip to the Republic of Ecuador.

Betty Smith, professor in the geology and geography department, directs the trip. Smith said when students travel to a different country, they see themselves and their culture differently.

“The students fall in love with the place,” Smith said. “The Galapagos Islands truly are enchanted, and you see things that you wouldn’t see anywhere else, such as the plants and the animals – and you make friends on trips like this.”

The first time Smith took a group to the Republic of Ecuador was in 1998 during spring break. But she said it was too short and expensive to go there for only one week. She decided to conduct the trip during the summer instead.

“We decided to expand the trip from just doing the continent, the mountains of Ecuador, the jungles and rainforests; we decided to add Galapagos Islands and make it a three-week trip in the summer time,” Smith said.

Both the Europe and the Republic of Ecuador trips are open to all majors.

Not only does the department provide students with trips to other countries, it also provides up-to-the-minute weather forecasts.

The Daily Eastern News relies on the department’s four stations for daily weather reports. “We have been using these weather stations for two years now,” Stimac said. “They are very reliable, and all of the data is immediately put online, so you get live data. You can look at temperature, pressure, wind direction, wind speed and cloud height. Students also use the data because it is archived.”

The students use this data to pull up old weather reports to use for any projects they may have.

Cameron Craig, of the geology and geography department, runs the stations.

“Mr. Craig also has a weather forecasting class which is part of our broadcast meteorology program,” Stimac said. “In that, they actually do online weather forecasts, and students have internships as well. The internships include WCIU television and WCIA.”

The department also offers the senior seminar Spaceship Earth.

Philosopher R. Buckminster Fuller coined the term “Spaceship Earth” in his “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth.”

“He thought that the Earth was essentially a spaceship, and we were its inhabitants,” Stimac said. “He wanted us to be aware of the problems that were happening on our spaceship. We need to be aware of resource management, pollution, population and conflicts. So we need to be aware of all of that.”

The class talks about problems on the Earth and how students can help solve these problems. The class teaches that individuals can make small adjustments to help the world change.

Stimac said the department has many opportunities for students interested in the geology and geography major.

Nathan Koehler, sophomore geology major, recently changed his major from chemistry.

“I am just starting to see the different programs the department offers to students,” he said. “There are many to choose from.”

Koehler said he will take his new major one step at a time.

“At least there will always be something to do,” he said.