VOLCANOES IN NEW ZEALAND: A FIELD EXPERIENCE FOR LIBERAL ARTS STUDENTS

Centre College, a liberal-arts institution of 1200 students located in central Kentucky, places a strong emphasis on study abroad for its students. Approximately 85% of its students graduate with some sort of study-abroad experience, a percentage that ranks in the top five nationally among colleges and universities. The College operates or collaborates in several semester-abroad programs, which typically have no science course offerings. Centre also offers many shorter study-abroad experiences during the three-week CentreTerm in January. The study-abroad programs historically emphasized the social sciences and humanities, with few offerings for science students. As a response to this lack, a course on volcanoes has been developed and taught in New Zealand during the CentreTerm in alternate years since 2004. The course is conducted on the North Island, which contains a stunning variety of volcanic features. Almost the entire course is conducted outdoors, with lectures being given in the field in a setting relevant to or illustrative of the topic under discussion. Students observe at close hand such features as monogenetic volcano fields, calderas, cinder cones, composite volcanoes, lava flows, and lahar channels, as well as hot springs, mud pots, fumaroles, and geysers. The course content, logistics, and settings will be described.