Rebecca Walker

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I went to college planning to be a trauma surgeon but changed my mind after I took a geology class my freshman year. I teach a variety of geology and oceanography courses at Mt. SAC, including GEOL1 (Physical Geology); GEOL2 (Historical Geology); GEOL24 (Field Studies of Central California); GEOL25 (Field Studies of Southern California); GEOL29 (Special Topics in Field Geology); GEOL10 (Natural Disasters); OCEA10 (Introduction to Oceanography); and OCEA10L (Oceanography Laboratory.) For each of these courses, the conceptual knowledge and skills that we acquire in the classroom come alive in the field, and to that end, I spend a lot of time on field trips. In addition to day trips to various local coastal sites and 2-5 day trips to Death Valley, the Eastern Sierras/Owens Valley, Capitol Reef, Santa Cruz Island, Morro Bay, the Mojave Desert, and Joshua Tree, I've co-led several extended field trips: a 3.5 week Hawai'i geology and astronomy field program in 2014; a 2.5 week field trip to Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah in 2015; and in 2017 and 2018, a 3-week environmental field and career preparation program in the Sierras and Owens Valley as part of the Environmental STEM (ESTEM) program. I feel really lucky to be part of some awesome teaching collaborations. Dave Mrofka (Mt. SAC) and I co-teach GEOL24, GEOL25, GEOL29, and GEOL2 and have incorporated mapping and section-measuring into our field trips. Julie Bray-Ali (Mt. SAC) and I co-developed and co-led the Hawai'i field program in 2014. I co-led the ESTEM program, which included geology, geomorphology, hydrology, and ecology field projects, with colleagues from College of the Atlantic (Sarah Hall) and University of San Francisco (Calla Schmidt, John Paul.)  

In addition to teaching, I have been involved with a variety of projects focusing on geoscience education, curriculum development, and career preparation. Some current and previous projects include:

• PI, Inspiring Innovation: 2YC Geoscience Faculty as Agents of Change workshop (NSF DUE 2311369), 2023: I am working with Heather Macdonald (College of William and Mary, Emerita), Karen Layou (Reynolds Community College), and Eric Baer (Highline College) to design and implement a virtual workshop for two-year college (2YC) geoscience faculty to advance knowledge about improving 2YC student success and becoming a faculty change agent.
• Co-author of Supporting students' career development: a call to action (Walker, Bair, and Macdonald, 2022): I had the privilege of participating in a writing workshop with other 2YC STEM faculty in 2021. What came out of this writing workshop was a volume in the journal New Directions in Community Colleges entitled Catalyzing Change: STEM Faculty as Change Agents. The best part is that most of the chapters in the volume are now open access, thanks to NSF-DUE award 2311369.
• Co-PI, GETSI (GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues) (NSF-TUES and NSF-IUSE), 2013-2022: GETSI is a project that creates classroom materials featuring geodetic data applied to critical societal issues. I co-authored the Eyes on the Hydrosphere, Surface Process Hazards, and Ice Mass and Sea Level Change modules and co-lead professional development workshops for faculty. 
• Co-PI, E-STEM (NSF-GEOPATHS), 2015-2020: E-STEM (Environmental Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) was a field and career preparation program for students from Mt. SAC, College of the Atlantic, and University of San Francisco. E-STEM students completed geology, geomorphology, hydrology, and ecology field projects in the Sierra Nevadas and Owens Valley and interacted with local environmental professionals.
• Peer Leader, SAGE2YC, 2016-2021: I've been involved with the SAGE2YC (Supporting and Advancing Geoscience Education at 2-Year Colleges) program since 2016. From 2016-2019, I was a Faculty Change Agent for Southern California and co-led professional development workshops for 2-year college faculty on student transfer and career preparation. From 2019-2021, I was a peer leader and co-led online workshops for the new Change Agents.
• Southern California Foothills Consortium for Study Abroad instructor, spring 2019: I had the privilege of living and teaching in Seville, Spain in spring 2019 for over 70 2-year college students from Southern California. I taught Physical Geology, Physical Oceanography, and Natural Disasters, took students on a field trip to Cabo de Gata in the Almeria province, attended Semana Santa and Feria, traveled within and outside of Spain, ate a lot of bacalao, and saw some fantastic geology.
• Co-director of the Mt. SAC Geotechnician Certificate Program: Dave Mrofka and I worked to develop a Geotech Certificate program at Mt. SAC. The program went live this fall, and we are very excited for Mt. SAC students who complete the certificate to be competitive for jobs in the geotech, petroleum tech, and environmental tech sectors.
• InTeGrate Climate of Change Module co-author (NSF-STEP), 2012-2014: the InTeGrate program aims to build a workforce that can tackle societal issues using geoscience knowledge. 
• Project lead, Faculty Inquiry Network (Hewlett Foundation), 2009-2011: project to improve critical thinking and self-directed learning on introductory-level geology field trips.