Paleontology Certificate Program




The Paleontology Certificate Program is a new program in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering is (actually, it is so new, we are still looking for our first participant). The University of North Dakota desires to recognize students that have completed a concentration in a selected discipline. The purpose of such "certification" is to provide a formal means for others to acknowledged scholastic achievement or additional training.

The Paleontology Certificate Program represents a student taking four courses related to paleontology. These include Earth Through Time (G102), Introduction to Paleontology (G415), Paleontological Museum Methods (G303/G491/G591), and Paleontology Field School (G303) (see Undergraduate curriculum information for additional information on each course).





Another PTRM exhibit presents information on southwestern North Dakota's dinosaur fauna, shown here with Dean Pearson and Field School participants Kathleen and Kelly Higgins (Grand Rapids, Michigan)(Hartman Photo C9693)
The PTRM Field School provides classroom instruction before each field outing. This photo shows Dean Pearson and Antoine Bercovici (Paris) in the Paleontology Laboratory with this years work book and handout prior to binding (Hartman photo C9687).




Earth Through Time (Fall and Spring) and Introduction to Paleontology (Fall) are regularly taught courses. Paleontological Museum Methods will be taught on demand. Paleontological Field School is a course of study taught in collaboration with Dean Pearson and others at the Pioneer Trails Regional Museum (PTRM), Bowman, North Dakota. Students may sign up for one or two weeks of classroom instruction, paleo laboratory activities, and paleo field digs in southwestern North Dakota, concerning vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant fossils from primarily nonmarine strata of the uppermost Cretaceous Hell Creek and Paleocene Ludlow Formations.

Contact Joseph Hartman at (701) 777-5055 or joseph_hartman@und.nodak.edu for additional information on this certificate program.



PTRM maintains a Web site (see Interesting Links) and databases for various data collected as a result of staff activities. Blaine Schaeffer, a Bowman volunteer, is shown working at one of the PTRM computers (Hartman photo C9690).

PTRM maintains extensive collections from its own field projects and those of others collected under PTRM permits and landowner access. Stephanie Bowman, an annual volunteer from Franklin, Tennessee, is show here with fossil cabinets containing plants, her particular favorite fossil type (Hartman photo C9699).

PTRM maintains a number of exhibits on local paleontological projects. One exhibit refers to the T. rex dig, shown here with Sara Uthus, a North Dakota Statue University student field assistant (Hartman photo C9692a).