Department of Geology

Eastern Washington University

Professor Linda B. McCollum - Home Page

Education: I completed my BS and MS at University of California at Davis in the early 1970's, and then worked for a year as an assistant geophysicist for the California Geological Survey in Sacramento. In 1980, received my PhD from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and I spent the 1979-1980 academic year teaching at Sul Ross State University in west Texas. For the next three years, I headed up the Cordilleran Geological Survey in Reno, Nevada, which was an affiliate of Gulf Oil and Exploration Company, Houston.

Teaching: I joined the geology faculty at EWU in September, 1983, primarily to teach upper division and graduate courses, plus supervise Masters theses. I taught the geology general education course twice a year, and petroleum geology, micropaleontology, paleoecology, clay mineralogy on an every other year basis, plus half of the spring field camp. In 1987, Ernie Gilmour went into the university administration for several years, so I took over his courses in invertebrate paleontology and historical geology, and later, when John Buchanan became heavily involved in the graduate program, I took over the stratigraphy course for several years. When Bill Steele retired, I retrained to take over his environmental geology course. Thus, I ended up almost exclusively with required undergraduate courses by the time I became departmental chair in September 1993.

In addition to the required courses in the geology and earth science disciplines, I developed an integrative studies course on the history of mining in the Pacific Northwest, and an international studies course on world resources and population. I am also teaching the Earth Science education methods course. During a couple of summers in the mid-1990’s, then-Provost Jim Hoffman and I teamed up to teach a field course on dinosaurs, in which we participated in digs on the Colorado Plateau and along the Rocky Mountain front in Montana. This course was aimed primarily at the K-12 teachers. I had to cut back a little on course offerings during my years as departmental chair from 1993-2000. If I had to summarize my tenure in the geology department at Eastern Washington University in a word, it would be adaptability. I have taught 23 different courses during my 25-year tenure here, which reflects the ever-changing nature of the geology profession, coupled with the program demands and faculty availability.

Research: My research interests have been primarily in Paleozoic faunas, stratigraphy, and tectonics. I have published peer-reviewed papers on Devonian biostratigraphy and paleoecology in New York State; Cambrian lithostratigraphy, describing ten new geologic formations in Utah and Nevada; and have described early Middle Cambrian trilobite faunas from Nevada and California. I have authored or coauthored over a dozen peer-reviewed scientific papers and presented over three dozen abstracts and talks or poster sessions.

I organized and co-chair the Lower-Middle Cambrian Boundary Working Group of the International Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy, and maintain the working group's web page. I have also organized and chaired three GSA symposia, including one on the paleogeography of the Great Basin, another on the Cambrian of the Cordillera, and one on the upper Paleozoic orogenies of western North America.

During the last few years, I have joined with my husband Mike in geologic mapping within eight 7.5-minute quadrangles, which cover about 400 square miles, westward from Cheney to Edwall and north to Long Lake on the Spokane River. I have received summer stipend from Northwest Institute grants for the Medical Lake and Deep Creek 7.5-minute quadrangles. I am in the process of locating all of the water wells in these quads and matching them up with existing DOE water well reports. Thus far, I have located and GPS’d approximately 700 wells, which is about 40% of the total I estimate to be in the study area.

Grants: I have received numerous Northwest Institute summer research grants and two NSF RUI grants, which were aimed at involving undergraduate students in my research in earliest extinction crises. The most recent three-year NSF grant was rated #1 in the country, and covered all expenses for formal annual courses on scientific research methods. These courses involved two weeks of summer field investigation in Nevada during early September, followed by classwork in the fall quarter. About half a dozen undergraduate students from the geology and earth science disciplines were selected from the Historical Geology class.

Other interests: I had taught at the equestrian center at UC Davis during my student years, and for recreation, I still enjoy horseback riding. I also do quite a bit of hiking and camping, some of which was necessary because of my past research in wilderness areas. Lately I've gotten the most enjoyment out of gardening and playing around with my three cats, Aurora, Hermione, and Luna.

Updated February 10, 2008