EAS Alumni Magazine 2023--Q&A with Ellen Kappel

When were you a student at Cornell and what was your major?

I was an undergraduate in Arts & Sciences, Class of 1980, with a major in geology. I came to Cornell as a biology major hoping to pursue my childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian, but quickly figured out that the biology department was too large and that I didn’t like lab work all that much. As a high school student, I had taken a college-level Earth science class one summer and found it very interesting, so toward the end of my second semester, I walked over to the geology department and chatted with Professor Bill Travers. I walked out his office a newly minted geology major and never looked back.

Who were some of your favorite professors?

The person who stands out most is Muawia Barazangi. He did not teach any class that I took but seemed to always be around as I did my tasks as a work-study student for Bryan Isacks and his grad student Rich Cardwell (also on the EAS Advisory Council).  Muawia, who passed away in March of last year, had a dry wit, which was always welcome as I strained my eyes picking p-wave first arrivals from WWSSN microfilms. I loved chatting with him, considered him a mentor, and after I graduated I would make a point of stopping by his office when I visited Cornell. In addition to Muawia, Bryan, Rich, and Bill Travers, others who opened doors for me and/or imparted a solid foundation of geological knowledge were Art Bloom, Dan Karig, and John Cisne.

What class was most memorable?

Hands down, the most memorable geology course I took at Cornell was the six-week Western Field Course that most majors took at the end of junior year. The two professors for the course were Suzanne Mahlburg Kay and Dan Karig, who took over on short notice that year (1979) after Bill Travers broke his leg not long before the trip began. Suzanne and Dan each taught part of the course and did not overlap. With 20-20 hindsight, I have a lot of sympathy for what those two professors endured. They surely had their hands full with our motley group of roughly a dozen students (see photo). It couldn’t have been easy to continually provide the geological context for all the places we visited and to get us to act like geologists by sketching outcrops and taking notes on what we saw. Our faculty leaders were also in charge of actually finding the specific outcrops for those teachable moments, which were mostly only accessible by dirt roads that didn’t appear on our maps. All too often, we were doing u-turns because we went down the wrong road, and sometimes we had to change plans because one of the vehicles got stuck in the mud or got a flat tire. This course kindled my love for the West. I’ve taken my kids (both Cornell grads, but sadly not geology majors) to several of the same wonderful places I first visited during the field course, and much to their dismay, they have endured many geology lectures from me.

What do you see as the role of the EAS Advisory Council?

As stated in its charter, the purpose of the EAS Advisory Council is to “give advice and assistance in support of the Department’s priorities and strategic goals.” We review the Department’s undergraduate and graduate curricula and suggest ways to ensure they fulfill the Department’s educational goals; serve as a synergistic network among faculty, staff, students, and alumni, including student internships and career connections; and advocate for the Department within the University and in the larger external Cornell community. The balance of what we discuss at meetings varies over time as the Department Chair’s priorities change and as the Council finds new ways in which we, as alums, can support the Department.

Not surprisingly, Council members support students by sharing our career experiences. Students at all levels are keen to learn more about careers outside of academia and the various career paths that alumni pursued. The Council holds in-person career panels at the end of its meeting session in October, but it would be valuable for current students to hear from an even wider group of alums—and from younger voices. At its fall meeting, the Council will discuss ways in which the Department might incorporate a wider swath of EAS alums in this important activity. As a start, I ask that EAS alums shoot me an email if you would be interested in this future activity. Please include your current position and organization.