Endowments

Our vision is bold, our goal simple – to become the preeminent geoscience institution in the nation.

• Undergraduate scholarships and fellowships



• Graduate scholarships and fellowships



• Faculty support



• Visiting Lecturers



• Women Geologists: Haertlein-Ferrin Fund



• Student Field Experiences Endowment

Undergraduate scholarship support

Undergraduates receive significant help from the Foundation.

Ten to fifteen majors receive major financial support in the form of Endowed Presidential Scholarships each year.

Approximately 25% of the majors in the Department receive some scholarship support during the school year.

Nearly all of the 25 to 35 students who participate in summer field camp (GEO 660) receive some scholarship support to defray the cost of tuition and fees. 

In 2007, a new endowment, the Friends of Student Field Experiences Endowment, was created was created to specifically address the growing cost and numbers of students participating in summer field camp.

Graduate scholarship and fellowship support

Attracting high quality graduate students is a priority for the JSG.

Each year, nearly half of the graduate students receive some scholarship support directly from the Foundation.

Each year, 20-30 students receive scholarships for field work directly from the Foundation.

Each year, 15-25 students receive scholarships to present the results of their UT work at professional meetings.

As many as 15 company fellowships are administered through the Foundation.

Faculty support

Faculty are supported through Endowed Teaching Fellowships, Professorships, and Chairs.

This support is used at the discretion of the holder of the endowed position, for purposes including salary supplements, student support, travel to meetings and field work, and the purchase of computers and other equipment.

Visiting Lecturers program

Endowed Lectureships support the visits of 20 to 30 invited scientists to the Department of Geological Sciences each year.

Each visitor enriches the teaching and research programs of the Department and, perhaps more importantly, leaves with a vastly better understanding of the status of our programs and the quality of our students. Lectureships include:

Women Geologists: Haertlein-Ferrin Junior Faculty Fund

The war had just ended and universities swelled with record enrollments as returning soldiers took advantage of the G.I. Bill.

When Jeanne Allen Ferrin (B.A., 1948) came to The University of Texas at Austin to study geology in the 1940s, she wasn’t the only woman. Her sister Rosamond (B.A., 1947) was already a student in the program. In the late ‘40s, 18 women graduated from the university with geology degrees.

There were a total of 140 geology graduates in that time. Still, women were increasingly pursuing careers requiring college level education.

Classes were held in the original geology building, now named the W.C. Hogg Building.

When Rosamond Haertlein went to work for Gulf Oil in Shreveport, she was the only woman geologist in the company and one of only four women in the local geological society. She said the men didn’t know quite what to make of her.

Although Ferrin enjoyed her geological studies, graduated, and went on to work in the oil and gas industry in Texas, she and the other women students faced challenges trying to make it in a male dominated field. They were barred from taking field-based courses with their male counterparts. They were instead required to take alternative courses to fulfill their graduation requirements. And they didn’t always get the credit they deserved.

“The men didn’t want us in their classes getting the A’s,” she said. “If you got a good grade, they claimed it was because you were a girl; but that’s not true, we worked hard.”

When Rosamond Haertlein went to work for Gulf Oil in Shreveport, she was the only woman geologist in the company and one of only four women in the local geological society. She said the men didn’t know quite what to make of her.

“I would come back from the field carrying a hammer and ride the elevator with the men and they’d say, ‘What are you going to do with that hammer?’,” she said.

Ferrin’s nephew Albert Haertlein (B.S., 1978), a geologist at SG Interests, an independent oil and gas company in Houston, wanted to make a gift to the Jackson School that would have a real impact. After brainstorming with the school’s development staff, he decided to establish the Rosamond Allen Haertlein and Jeanne Allen Ferrin Junior Faculty Fund in honor of his mother and aunt.

“They were early women in geology, not the first, but certainly at a challenging time,” said Haertlein. “So I thought it would be nice to make sure their names are associated with an effort to promote women in geology.”

According to the endowment charter: “Funds from the endowment shall be used to support untenured faculty members. When it is demonstrable that female faculty are under-represented in the Department of Geological Sciences and to the extent permissible under the law and the University policies, preference should be shown to female faculty members.”

Endowments such as this offer a way for alumni to shape the culture of the Jackson School. They are a way of imparting values and expanding the vision for what the school can achieve.

Out of 43 active faculty members in the Department of Geological Sciences, just five are women (2 more will join in 2009). According to a report by the Association for Women Geoscientists, one of three keys to increasing the number of women receiving doctoral degrees in geosciences is to provide more role models: “Female students look around to see if anybody on the faculty looks like them and has a lifestyle they want.”

“These funds will be very beneficial for young faculty just initiating their research and teaching programs, especially young women,” said Sharon Mosher, Dean of the Jackson School. “Seed funding and extra support makes a world of difference when you are starting an academic career.”

Student Field Experiences Endowment

Make a difference in the lives of students by ensuring a Jackson School tradition of outstanding student field experiences.

Many students struggle with the added expense of field trips, from the extremely popular 660 Summer Field Camp for undergraduates and its parallel track in hydrogeology to the range of field experiences pursued by graduate students.

The Field Experiences Endowment allows JSG to be competitive while some Geology programs across the country are cutting back on—or cutting out entirely—their annual field courses.

Here are some student reactions to the Endowment:

“The scholarship allowed me to go on 660 without moving further into debt paying for college. . . . The experience gained from being in the field like that is priceless. The scholarship really helped initially convince me that the course was worth it, and in retrospect, I am so glad I went. . . . I would really like to extend my sincere appreciation to the alumni that have established the Geology Foundation. You have made my college experience truly worthwhile. Thank you.” –

Christian Dohse, undergraduate in geology who participated in 660 Summer Field Camp in 2006

“I was very worried at the beginning, about taking on the responsibility of rent, bills and field camps while not having a job. As an undergraduate, I was always very busy, and my part-time job earned barely enough to cover my utilities and cable let alone rent and tuition! . . . At the time, I considered trying to switch majors within the department to avoid field camp and get a job - not something I wanted to do by any means, but felt was my only option. The scholarship I was awarded covered my tuition, leaving me with only the smaller bill of supplies.” –

Taylor Bartholomew, graduate student in geology who participated in 660 Summer Field Camp in 2006

Read more about the Student Field Experiences Endowment.