Udden Geology Club traditions don't bow to COVID

In its 87th year, the Udden Geology Club is one of the oldest organizations at Augustana College and meets every Friday afternoon of the academic year. 

Like other campus groups, the Udden Geology Club has continued to gather virtually for presentations during the past six weeks of the COVID pandemic. 

Presentations have ranged from culminating Senior Inquiry research talks to a talk by Camie Jensen '90 Knollenberg, chief of Regional Plan Formulation Branch for the Army Corps of Engineers.

There were Earth Day celebrations complete with morale-boosting group sing-a-longs of "Lean on Me" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with accompaniment by geology's Dr. Kelsey Arkle on the ukulele and geology major Joel Padgett '21 on the keyboard. 

Geology alumni have been invited to tune in each week and share with current students what their geology career paths look like. Attendance has been in the forties, with as many as a dozen alumni each week from the '70s, '80s, '90s and 2000s joining from as far away as Vermont, California and Sweden. 

Dr. Mark Johnson '76 stayed awake until after midnight to join in from Gothenburg, Sweden. The mother and sister of geology senior Shah Ali mustered the energy to stay awake until 3:30 a.m. to join from Pakistan and Germany to be able to hear Ali give his Senior Inquiry presentation. 

Dr. Eileen Anderson '77 Herrstrom joined the club's Earth Day gathering and told the group that the 50th anniversary of Earth Day would have marked her father's 90th birthday. Her dad was beloved Augustana geology professor Dr. Richard Anderson, who died in 2009.

The Udden Geology Club was founded in 1933 in honor of J.A. Udden, who taught science at Augustana from 1888-1911.