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The following article is from the Las Positas Express, September issue, Fall 1998. The article was written by Michelle Thompson who integrated information from R.L. Hanna's resume, R.L. Hanna's Geology Web Site and from a 3+hour interview to which Michelle came prepared with 3 pages of pre-planned questions.
Geology rocks! Or at least Las Positas professor Ruth Hanna thinks it does.
Hanna has been a full time geology teacher here since 1991. In 1996, she received the ASLPC Instructor of the Year Award. "My goal was to bring in an integrated package that would be put together in such a way that you would not be able to forget some of it," she said. Keenly aware most of her students are just fulfilling a science requirement, Hanna strives to present material in novel ways.
Born in Salinas, California, on Valentine's Day 1962, Hanna grew up in a small, but close knit family. She and her younger sister both attended public schools in Salinas. Each of the Hanna girls paid for their own college education. Love of science and the natural world must run in the family since Hanna's sister is now a marine biologist.
Hanna always did well in school, particularly in math and science. By the end of high school she had taken every math, physics, and chemistry class her school had to offer. "I saw math as a tool and wanted to know what to do with it," recalled Hanna.
Getting A Great First Impression
As a senior in high school Hanna had never even heard of geology. A counselor at her high school encouraged her to look through a college catalog. As Hanna turned the pages, considering majors alphabetically, her first pause was at geography. She realized she didn't have a clue where things were on the planet and that it would probably be good to know. While she decided not to pursue a degree in geography, she remembers thinking, "it would be so cool to understand the whole earth."
The next entry was geology and a descriptive sentence of that field. Geology is the application of physics, chemistry, and mathematics to understanding earth processes and the earth. " I read it over and over again," Hanna said. It was at that moment she knew geology would be the place she could put all her math, chemistry and physics to work.
Hanna attended Hartnell College in Salinas for three years after high school. There was only one geology course offered. It turned out to be great and the teacher presented it well. "Plate tectonics blew my mind," said Hanna. Now she really had a reason for calculus.
One of a Kind
Hanna was the only person majoring in geology at Hartnell. The geology professor recognized Hanna's enthusiasm, making her his lab technician for two and a half years. After 30 years of teaching, her junior college professor retired just as Hanna was transferring to UC Davis. While realizing he was ready for a rest, it made Hanna feel good when he told her, "You're not going to be here anymore, so I am leaving."
In fact, after Hanna accepted the position at Las Positas she returned home to visited her former professor. He gave her his old notes and books. They still keep in touch. It had been a scary time at Hartnell being a geology major with no geology classes to take. There was only one introductory class offered. During Hanna's junior year at Davis she was finally past all the math and science. She was getting the chance to become a geologist. Hanna's bachelor of science degree was awarded with highest honors and with the UC Davis Geology Department Citation.
When Hanna took the Graduate Records Examination for Geology in preparation for her masters program she scored 760, putting her in the 98th percentile. In 1988 Hanna earned her masters of science in geology with an emphasis in geophysics.
Time to Educate
Hanna has worked for the United States Geological Survey in Pasadena and for Unocal Oil Company as a Petroleum Exploration Geophysicist. She enjoyed the work and the respect she received as a professional geologist. While learning a great deal through these experiences she found there was just not enough people contact for her. "I was bored," said Hanna.
During her years at Hartnell, Hanna had done a great deal of tutoring, and was also a teaching assistant in geophysics at UC Davis. She had liked the challenge of finding ways to explain things to different types of people. "As a teacher or a tutor you have to be willing to learn how to do it 10 different ways, and I found I was liked the challenge of trying."
Hanna realized she wanted to try teaching. "Geology in particular, and I wanted to make it better than a traditional lecture." She remembered how much she had enjoyed the junior college environment as a student. The diversity in age groups as well as more teacher-student interaction appealed to her.
While junior college professors have many requirements for their jobs, including continuing education, they are able to make teaching their focus. Hanna was looking for an opportunity to teach rather than do research.
Warning for Students
At the four-year colleges professors often spend a lot of time trying to get published and get grants. Hanna feels students need to be warned by parents before they are sent off to four year schools. "They need to tell them, look, don't get mad at the people who are there. They are hired to conduct research, and to bring prestige and money to the college - so they are not going to be holding your hand." She thinks some students may prefer the transition a two year college has to offer.
While Hanna is pleased that some students have come through her classes and changed to a geology major, that is not her goal as an instructor. "I want people to have a really good college class. I want to create a class that is not a verbal text book. My goal is to present an integrated package that is put together in such a way that you will not be able to forget some of it. I strive to construct presentations that everyone will remember for the rest of their lives." As a consequence, Hanna spends a lot of time creating multimedia presentations for her students. She wants to be sure everyone comes away from her class with new understandings and perceptions.
The other geologist at LPC is part-time instructor Robert LaChappelle. Hanna hopes LPC will eventually add another full time geology instructor. It's not so much to add extra classes as it is to allow anyone interested in geology to get, as she said, "another flavor" of geology. Hanna deliberately teaches her environmental geology class in a way different from her other classes to help serve this purpose for students.
Hanna explained that when students leave LPC planning to major in geology, their exposure often has been to only one or two classes, and sometimes only with her as an instructor. Some former students have been surprised to find later classes were not what they expected.
What's Hot and What's Not
Currently one of the hottest fields for geologists is in environmental geology. Hanna said that almost everyone receiving their masters in geology when she did went into this field. While the new interest in extraterrestrial geology is exciting, Hanna says it is not currently a very marketable field. If someone wants to pursue Planetary Geology as a career, they have to be willing to go to the job and not to expect the job to come to them.
Since teaching at LPC, Hanna's favorite geology topics, geophysics and plate tectonics, have now been joined by extraterrestrial geology, and caves. Her hobbies, backpacking and diving, have played a roll in some of her favorite geologic field trips, like diving in caves in the Yucatan Peninsula and hiking into the Haleakela Crater in Maui.
For now, Hanna is at Las Positas teaching students about our larger home, our planet. She has a wonderful Geology Program web site at
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