Our department offers a variety of courses, both for geology majors and for non-major students completing "general education" requirements. In this latter category, we offer lower division (freshman) and upper division (junior) courses. In a move to strengthen our upper division GE offerings, it was proposed that we offer planetary geology and Dave Kimbrough ran a proposal through channels, got it approved and instituted the course. After Dave taught the course for a couple semesters, he went on sabbatical leave and I inherited the assignment in the Fall of 1994.

            I generally don't look forward to teaching new courses, but what an opportunity this one proved to be! Now I would be able to devote a major portion of my time and thought to the subject which interested me most. Almost immediately, I began assembling materials gathered from a wide variety of sources. Fortunately, I had already been collecting slides for 15 years and the large collection of literature from the Summer Institute in Planetary Geology proved to be immensely helpful. Getting the course from zero to an acceptable level took two semesters of an all-out effort. Since that time the course has gradually fleshed out on a piecemeal basis and is continuing to do so. ( Click here for an extended statement regarding my teaching.  Click here for a variety of student comments regarding my Planetary Geology course. For a few cartoons depicting my efforts in another course,  click here. )

            As a part of assembling the Geological Sciences 304 course, I began offering public lectures in the area of Planetary Geology to anyone who would listen. I lined up graduate seminars, adult education groups, rock and mineral clubs, our department's Wednesday Lecture Series, our department's annual banquet and San Diego Mensa. I even managed to get invited to speak at Loma Linda University and CSU Fullerton. If anyone was willing to listen, I was willing to show up and do the best possible job. The external speaking greatly aided in the preparation for my teaching assignment.

            I greatly enjoyed the public speaking, but finding appropriate venues was a formidable task. I suppose publishing a big important book or some other accomplishment along this line is what gets someone on the speaker circuit. It makes sense. But I had no such credentials.

            Everyone said they enjoyed my talks, but finding places to speak was an exercise in frustration. Somehow I needed to get the word out. After thinking about the problem for an extended period, I decided to open a web site and offer my services as a speaker. Within a couple months, I posted a primitive version of "The Independent Planetologist." I coined that name because I was a solitary individual, unsupported by any research funding or planetary research organization and beholden to no one. My total facilities consist of a 100-square-feet office and a Mac computer. If you wonder where I got the inspiration, look to Matt Drudge.