Fall 2009
Geos 220: Environmental History of the Southwest
Class times: TTH 11:00-12:15
Location: ILC 120

Professor and TA
Dr. Paul Sheppard Lab. of Tree-Ring Research West Stadium 105c-1 1-520-621-6474 sheppard @ ltrr.arizona.edu office hours: MF 11:00-12:00 or by appointment	Ms. Elizabeth May Lab. of Tree-Ring Research Haury 125 1-520-621-8455 emmay @ email.arizona.edu office hours: T/Th 12:30-1:30 or by appointment

Course Objectives and Summary

• UA On-line catalog description for Geos. 220: Environmental and cultural history of the Southwest emphasizing discovery of the past using historical science techniques of tree-ring and packrat midden analyses and repeat photography.
  
• This course will cover several paleoenvironmental tools that have been involved extensively in reconstructing the natural and cultural history of the Southwest (as well as for other regions, too). They include:
• Tree rings
  
• Packrat middens
  
• Alluvial stratigraphy
  
• Repeat photography
  
• Historical documents
  
• Whereas the overall scope of this course encompasses broad time scales, its focus increases in detail as it moves from the distant to the recent past.
  
• Spatially, the greater Southwest includes most of Arizona and New Mexico as well as southeastern Utah, southwestern Colorado, and northern Mexico.
  
• This course has been described in detail in an article published in 2008 in the Journal of Geoscience Education. Click here to see it.
  

Prerequisites

Please be sure that you have fulfilled the stated course prerequisites: two courses from Tier One, Natural Sciences (NATS 101, 102, 104).

UA General Education

• Geos. 220 is a General Education course. The UA on-line catalog states that General Education provides "foundational facts, processes, theories, and habits of mind to meet the challenges of the 21st century across a variety of disciplines," and it "encourages students to develop a critical and inquiring attitude, an appreciation of complexity and ambiguity, a tolerance for and empathy with persons of different backgrounds or values and a deepened sense of self." Geos. 220 is designed to fulfill these mandates.
  
• More specifically, Geos. 220 is a Tier Two general education course, which means it includes a "more in-depth examination of particular disciplines." Please accept that content of this course will be covered in more detail than might have occurred in Tier One courses.
  
• There are varying opinions about the usefulness of General Education. For example, see this "con" argument against the current gen-ed system at the UA. To be fair and balanced, see this "pro" argument extolling the virtues of general education at the college level. By the way, gen-ed at the UA is not intended to help undeclared students find a major for themselves (see again the two points above).

Lecture Attendance

Attendance will not be monitored directly, but students are expected to attend lectures according to UA policy. In the past, students who have attended lectures regularly have done well in this course, and vice versa. Students who have attended attentively have done especially well. Click here for a Daily Wildcat cartoon on classroom attention, and click here for a Daily Wildcat op-ed piece about attending class.

If you become ill with the flu, do not come to class until you have had no fever for 24 hours. You are responsible for contacting the instructor via email or phone as soon as you can to inform that you are ill. You are also responsible for any work missed while you are ill including assignments and exams.

Readings

• There is no textbook for the course, simply because no single book covers all of the varied content of this course while not including other, non-pertinent topics.
  
• Instead of a single textbook, specific short readings will be available through this course web page. The reading assignments will be updated as needed.
  
• For some readings you will need the Adobe Reader application loaded onto your computer; that is pretty common these days and most university computers already have Adobe Reader installed. If you need it for your own computer, it's a free download from here: Adobe.
  
• For some readings you will need to know a password, which will be divulged in class. If you forget the password, contact the instructors.
  
• If you have problems with computer access to any readings or assignments, contact the instructors.
  

Course Web Page

• The url for the course web page is http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/geos220/.
  
• This page contains the course syllabus plus links to notes for each lecture, homework assignments, quiz and exam dates, professor and TA contact information, and other important sites of interest.
  
• Students who access the web syllabus regularly during the semester do well in this course.
  
• Details of the writing assignments, quizzes, and/or outside activities are posted only on the web page and will not be distributed in class.
  
• A hardcopy printout of this syllabus is available for copying at the main office of the Tree-Ring Laboratory, West Stadium 105B.
  

Writing Assignments

• There is one 1000-word writing assignment in this course. This is intended to provide a chance for in-depth research on a complex topic, to foster critical thinking, and to allow practice for writing.
  
• Each writing assignment will be broken into two parts:
  
  
  1. A topic-sentence outline, complete with cited references, the more references the better, with a good mix of kinds of references (50% of grade)
     
  2. The written essay, again with cited references (50% of grade)
     
• The grading of these written assignments will be rigorous, based primarily on the effective use of research material and the overall quality of the writing. In general, the more reference material cited the better, and having just one topic in each paragraph, including an identifiable topic sentence, would be good. To improve writing quality, check out the free UA Writing Skills Improvement Program, which includes presentations on essay organization and paragraph structure, two areas of consistent difficulty in this course.
  
• More specific guidelines for the essays and grading criteria will be provided.
  

Grading Guidelines

• Grading will be based on:
• 4 in-class quizzes (quick)
  
• 2 outside activities (easy and fun)
  
• 1 writing assignment (difficult)
  
• 3 exams (two midterms and a unit final exam with a comprehensive section)
  
• The distribution of credit and grading will be as follows:
  

	Points
Quizzes =	100	(25 pts. each x 4 quizzes)
Outside activities =	50	(25 pts. each x 2 activities)
Writing Assignment =	200	(100 pts. each for outline and essay)
Midterm Exams =	400	(200 pts. each x 2 exams)
Final Exam =	250	(200-pt. unit exam + 50-pt. comp.)
Total Points =	1000

• Letter grades for the course will be determined from the percentage of earned points relative to the total, as follows:
  

900-1000 points (90 to 100%) =	A
800-899 points (80 to 89%) =	B
700-799 points (70 to 79%) =	C
600-699 points (60 to 69%) =	D
below 600 points (60%) =	E
INCOMPLETES WILL BE CONSIDERED ONLY UNDER DIRE MEDICAL EVENTS.

Exams and Other Graded Assignments

• Students can arrange with the instructors to take exams or quizzes in advance of scheduled dates if a valid reason for missing the scheduled dates is offered, such as: personal or family emergency, medical reasons, or UA Athletic obligations. If an exam or quiz is missed for unforeseen reasons (e.g., car accidents, sickness, emergencies, etc.), a make-up may be arranged within three days of the scheduled exam so long as proof of the necessity of the absence is provided (e.g., a written statement from a medical doctor, etc.).
  
• According to UA policy, the Final Exam MUST be taken during the scheduled time, unless you're unfortunate enough to have two at the same time or four on the same day, in which case please see the instructors.
  
• Completely missing exams or failing to do other graded essays and activities makes it difficult to succeed in any course. For example, if nothing is turned in for an assignment, a score of 0 will be entered for that grade.
  
• Students who are late on a graded assignment and don't have an acceptable excuse may turn in that assignment late for up to one week past the due date.
  
• However, the maximum score for late work will drop 10% after the due date.
  
• In short, it's best to turn in assignments on time, but if an assignment is late, it's still worth turning it in. After one week late, the door closes on assignments.
  

Extra Credit

Extra credit is offered to all students, as follows:

• "Extra" credit does not mean "instead of" credit. That is, an extra credit score can be added to the final point total only by students who have turned in everything else.
  
• Only one extra credit assignment per student may be turned in.
  
• The extra credit project is to be a self-directed field trip to some pertinent prehistoric cultural site in the Southwest. The exact details of extra credit assignments can vary between students, and many possibilities exist near Tucson and throughout the Southwest:
  
  • Near Tucson: Murray Springs mammoth site, Casa Grande, Tumacácori, Besh Ba Gowah, Tonto, Pueblo Grande.
    
  • Farther away: Homolovi, Montezuma Castle and Well, Flagstaff Sinagua sites (Wupatki, Sunset Crater, and Walnut Canyon), Canyon de Chelly, Navajo Tsegi Canyon, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Pecos, Salinas Pueblo, and Kuaua.
    
• No extra credit adventure need last more than a day, and many could be a mere stop-in while traveling for other reasons. Spend at least a couple hours at the site learning about its prehistoric human-environment interactions.
  
• Three things will be required to earn extra credit points from a field trip:
  
  
  1. You must consult with Dr. Sheppard—in person, not just by email, and preferably during office hours—before your trip to be sure that your proposed site is acceptable and to help prepare yourself to maximize your visit. For example, you will get recommended reference material to take with you. If you're already traveling and see some place appropriate to spend time at, do it and come see me after.
     
  2. Turn in a 2-page, (typed, double-spaced) essay describing what you saw and explicitly linking it to lecture topics of the course, the more the better. Discuss dates, how dating was done, where and how food and water were obtained, and when and why the people left. Include at least TWO citations, one of material obtained at the site AND one of a published or web-based reference related to your site.
     
  3. Your report must include a picture of you at the site. Make it obvious that you were at the site.
• Small groups of two or three students may travel together, but each student must do the consultation and essay independently.
  
• The total possible points available for extra credit is 50.
  
• Extra credit essays may be turned in at any time up until November 17, 2009.
  

Code of Conduct

It is important that we all—professors, TAs, and students alike—observe rules of common courtesy, such as:

• Adhere to the ABOR code of conduct and the UA Code of Academic Integrity. 
  
• If you must arrive late or leave early (something not encouraged), please do so quietly. 
  
• If you have a cell phone, please turn it off during class. If you must talk with or text message someone during lecture, please do that outside of class. 
  
• If you must read the newspaper, tackle the Wildcat crossword and sudoku puzzles, study for some other course, sleep, surf the web, update Facebook, shop Ebay, play online poker, or do anything else not related to this course during our lecture time, please do it elsewhere, not in class. These activities are officially considered disruptive. See here for a UA student opinion about surfing the web in class. 
  
• Click here to see research saying people who multitask really aren't good at multitasking.
  
• There will be no racism, sexism, or violence tolerated in the classroom.
  
• It's acceptable—even encouraged—to study together, of course. However, cheating will not be tolerated, including but not limited to:
  • Copying work of others during exams or quizzes.
    
  • Turning in work of others as your own, including work of students from past semesters.
    
  • Plagiarism on papers. Click here for a definition of plagiarism.
• Special note on plagiarism: Some definitions of plagiarism imply that all that is necessary to avoid it is to put someone else's text in quotes and then cite the original source. While technically this may be true and acceptable in some academic settings, copying someone else's text (put in quotes or otherwise) is hereby NOT acceptable in this course. This includes text from fellow students or students from past semesters, published articles or newspapers, and web sites. In short: Citing yes, quoting no.
  
• Another note on plagiarism: If you'd like a fictional account of plagiarism, try Stephen King's, "Secret Window, Secret Garden," definitely a horror story. The movie, "Secret Window" with Johnny Depp and John Turturro, wasn't bad either.
  
• Students found cheating on any assigned work will receive a score of 0 for that assignment.

Special Provisions

• In compliance with Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act (1990), students who require special assistance will be suitably accommodated. Students must be registered with the University and a minimum of 5 days notice for such accommodations is requested.
  
• If the schedule outlined below conflicts with major religious observances, please let the professor know.
  
• If English is not your native language and you feel that you must use a translation dictionary during exams, please contact the professor.
  
• Students requiring accommodation in testing or note taking: Please notify the professor and provide the Disability Resource Center letter within the first few days of the course.
  
• Student athletes and others who need signatures periodically: Please notify the professor that you'll be needing signatures generally, and please alert the professor before a particular signing period is due so that your most up-to-date grade can be calculated.
• Honors College students: An Honors Contract is allowable. See the instructor to arrange those details.

Tentative Lecture Schedule

Part I - Southwest Background
Date	Topic	Reading	Class Events	BOD = book of the day, not required or even expected for now, just encouraged for later
Tue Aug 25	Course introduction: Defining the Southwest Lecture notes		Getting started
Thu Aug 27	Geology: General and SW Lecture notes	Required: US Geological Survey: The Great Ice Age	Begin studying for in-class Quiz 1: Geological Time	Roadside Geology series Upheaval from the Abyss, Dave Lawrence
Tue Sep 1	Climate: General Circulation Lecture notes
Thu Sep 3	Climate: SW features Lecture notes	Required: Gutzler: SW monsoon (password protected pdf file) Optional: NOAA web pages on El Niño	Take in-class Quiz 1: Geological Time	Glen Canyon, A Novel, Steven Hannon
Tue Sep 8	Dating Techniques Lecture notes	Required: Emil Haury: Recollections of Dramatic Moment in Southwestern Archaeology (password protected pdf file) Optional: Try the video version: In the Field of Time (Main E57.H3I5 1995) Optional: National Geographic Magazine, Sept. 2001, How old Is It?	Begin Activity 1: Crossdating Tree Rings	Tree Rings and Telescopes: The Scientific Career of A.E. Douglass, George E. Webb
Thu Sep 10	Paleo-Ecology and Climate Techniques Lecture notes	Optional: Diamond: Packrat Historians		Changing Mile, Steven Hannon
Tue Sep 15	SW Ecosystems: Deserts Lecture notes		Turn in Activity 1: Crossdating Tree Rings Begin studying for in-class Quiz 2: SWRivers	A Sense of Place, Janice Bowers The Desert Year, Joseph Krutch Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey
Thu Sep 17	SW Ecosystems: Mountains Lecture notes			The Mountains Next Door, Janice Bowers
Tue Sep 22	In-class review Part I: Southwest Background Click here for study guide to Exam I		Take in-class Quiz 2: SW Rivers
Wed Sep 23	Extra review session: Southwest Background	LTRR classroom, Math East basement, see map above	3:15 PM	led by TBD
Thu Sep 24	Exam I: Southwest Background
Part II - Prehistoric Environmental Issues
Date	Topic	Reading	Class Events	BOD
Tue Sep 29	Early Humans: Pleistocene Overkill Lecture notes	Required: Martin & Burney: Bring Back the Elephants Optional: A graceful gazelle becomes a pest: an example of how exotic species introductions might go awry Optional: La Brea Tarpits Optional: Bering Land Bridge animation Optional: Gomphothere-human site		Silent Sky, Allan Eckert
Thu Oct 1	Deep-time history: Vegetation and climate history Lecture notes	Optional: Land Use History of North America Optional: Story of Tucson's Past in Sediment. A Requiem for Arroyos.
Tue Oct 6	Anasazi: Chaco lecture notes	Optional: Provenance study of Chaco timbers		New Light on Chaco Canyon, SAR Series Collapse, Jared Diamond
Thu Oct 8	Anasazi: Mesa Verde and Kayenta lecture notes
Tue Oct 13	Hohokam Lecture notes	Required: Where do the salts go? A 4-page, sobering description of soil salinization in Arizona Required: Looking at Hohokam may help us live today: A rationale for studying past cultures. Optional: Pueblo Grande Hohokam		The Hohokam: Ancient People of the Desert, SAR Series
Thu Oct 15	Sinagua and Mogollon Lecture notes
Tue Oct 20	14th & 15th Century Transition Lecture notes		Prepare for Quiz 3: SW Cultural Geography
Thu Oct 22	Spanish-Mexican Lecture notes			Majestic Journey, Stewart Udall Pueblo Revolt, David Roberts Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond
Tue Oct 27	Navajo-Apache Lecture notes		Take in-class Quiz #3: SW Human Geography	Navajo Long Walk, Joseph Bruchac Sing Down the Moon, Scott O'Dell
Thu Oct 29	In-class review Part II - Prehistoric Environmental Issues Click here for a study guide to Exam II
Mon Nov 2	Extra review session - Prehistoric Environmental Issues	LTRR classroom, Math East basement, see map above	3:00 PM	led by TBD
Tue Nov 3	Exam II - Prehistoric Environmental Issues
Part III - Modern Environmental Issues
Date	Topic	Reading	Class Events	BOD
Thu Nov 5	SW Forest Fire History Lecture notes		Begin Fire Outline: Southwest Forest Fire Management
Tue Nov 10	SW Forest Health Lecture notes	Optional: Healthy Forest Initiative
Thu Nov 12	Anglo-American arrival to SW Lecture notes	Optional: The Arroyo Problem in the Southwestern United States Optional: A Java simulation on grazing (kind of fun)	Turn in fire outline Begin Activity #2: Arizona State Museum	Legacy of Change, Conrad Bahre View From Bald Hill, Bock and Bock Kill the Cowboy, Sharman Apt Russell
Tue Nov 17	SW Flooding Lecture notes	Optional: Floods and Debris Flows in Sabino Canyon Required: Floods and Debris Flows in Sabino Canyon	Extra credit reports are due
Thu Nov 19	SW Drought Lecture notes	Optional: Understanding and Defining Drought. From the National Drought Mitigation Center	Turn in Activity #2 Turn back fire outline Start fire essay
Tue Nov 24	Global Change and the SW	Required: Southwest may see warmer, wetter climate in the future Optional: Climate Change Effects on Southwest Water resources Optional: Assessment of Potential Future Vegetation Changes in the Southwestern United States Optional: Ecosystem Services: Benefits Supplied to Human Societies by Natural Ecosystems. A very readable "white" paper, 13 pages of text with pictures. Optional: Glacier Retreat. A USGS report on retreating glaciers, perhaps evidence of "global warming." Optional: Drought and Climate Change. From the National Drought Mitigation Center Optional: UA College of Science Lecture Series on Global Change. Our very own College of Science putting a weekly lecture on global change." Optional: Drought and Climate Change. From the National Drought Mitigation Center. Optional: Study predicts dust-bowl Southwest. Are we headed for serious environmental changes? Optional: Op-ed on sustainability in the SW. Especially good for Business majors. Optional: Forest carbon budgets. A 5-minute Discovery Channel video.		The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery
Thu Nov 26	Thanksgiving Day, no classes	Click here for latest Daily Wildcat opinion about holding classes during this week.
Tue Dec 1	SW Water Issues	Required: ADWR: Arizona's Water Supplies and Water Demand Required: ADWR: Tucson Active Management Area New 12/3/03: The ADWR has removed these two web sites without replacing them. Their most important point was that agriculture uses ~80% of the state's water budget, which we know from lecture. Required: AZ Daily Star: Pumping of groundwater spurs surge in earth fissures Optional: Irrigate and die Optional: Agriculture in AZ Optional: AP report on water use in AZ	Turn in Fire essay Begin reviewing for Quiz 4: SW Cultural Chronology	Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner
Thur Dec 3	In-class review Part III - Modern Environmental Issues	Optional: Julio Betancourt talk on campus, 12/4	Student course evaluations
Tue Dec 8	Final Course Review	Optional: A summary of this course	In-class Quiz #4: SW Cultural Chronology
Final Exam Official Review Sessions
Date	Instructor	Time	Place
Mon Dec 14	TBD	TBD	LTRR Classroom Math East Annex Room 20
Wed Dec 16	TBD	TBD	LTRR Classroom Math East Annex Room 20
Thu Dec 17	Final Exam: Part III plus a comprehensive section	11:00 - 1:00	ILC 120

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Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, The University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
Comments to Paul Sheppard: sheppard @ ltrr.arizona.edu

Copyright © 2000-2009, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Univ. of Arizona
Revised — August 2009
URL: http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/geos220/syllabus.html