tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578322515370564452.post8546346831608059330..comments2023-09-05T13:36:07.191-06:00Comments on Dinochick Blogs: Guest Post: Michigan State University to close Geological Sciences DepartmentUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578322515370564452.post-20171815596609573832009-12-09T09:39:29.644-07:002009-12-09T09:39:29.644-07:00This is really sad. I spent some time in the MSU ...This is really sad. I spent some time in the MSU geology department while running some experiments as an undergraduate and thought they had a good program at the time, though this was several years ago. It's unfortunate that a major university such as this does not seem to recognize the importance and potential benefits that providing a geology program would have.Maureenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00667261745186561241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578322515370564452.post-63753250122786760172009-11-13T08:32:48.362-07:002009-11-13T08:32:48.362-07:00It seems to me this has been an increasing trend a...It seems to me this has been an increasing trend across the country, especially at public institutions. It seems to me that Chris may well be correct in that there are non-budgetary motives in closing this department, as the $50 million endowment is outrageously large. At only a 5% annual return that would make $2.5 million available per year. That's roughly comparable to VMNH's (reduced) budget, and with that we employee 34 people full-time (including 5 curators), another 15 or so part time, and operate an 89,000 sq ft building. Seems to me that MSU Geology would not actually need that much money to continue operations.Alton Dooleyhttp://www.paleolab.orgnoreply@blogger.com