January 8, 2004

Dear SLU Geology Alum,

As the new year begins, I am taking time to make a special appeal to Geology Alumni who were involved in research projects or independent projects of varying sorts while here at St.Lawrence. In some instances you will have undertaken a Senior Thesis, while in others you may have done some other form of research that involved close mentoring with faculty and support from the department. This type of learning environment is now being sought after by most undergraduate institutions of quality, yet it is one that the Geology Department at St. Lawrence began half a century ago and has really cultivated for its strength of reasoning and independence of thought since the 1970's or so. We have done it well in a personal, professional and meaningful manner.

Jim Street was an enthusiastic practitioner of research relationships with students, and when he died, his family and friends wisely endowed the James S. Street Student Geology Fund from which the income is designed to defray costs of student geological research, costs for attending professional geological meetings, and costs for publishing students' research. Students are encouraged to apply for modest funding by offering a brief proposal explaining needs and plans. Many students have benefited from Street Fund grants, which are frequently matched by funds from the Dean's Office. Their record of accomplishment is very impressive and stands St. Lawrence's Geology majors high among the student scholars at this institution as well as at others!

Some notable activities have included:

•  1996 --Four senior majors and an alumnus presented their thesis research before a meeting of the N.D. Academyof Science, April, 1996, with expenses shared by grants from Street Fund and Dean's Office;

•  1997 -Defrayed costs of photography and slide preparation for presentation of thesis research at ND Academy of Science and Northeastern GSA;

•  1998 -Covered partial costs of isotope analyses for senior thesis;

•  1999 -Defrayed costs of modeling fossil bryozoan colony for flume studies of current flow in Ordovician Bryozoa;

•  2000 -Covered costs of supplies and presenting oribatid mite research at the 2nd Smith Symposium;

•  2001 -Supported two AMS radiocarbon dates on peat samples from core being studied for oribatid mite paleoclimate proxies, as well as partial costs of presenting results at International Acarology Congress, Mexico;

•  2002 -Assisted with cost for student independent research project presented at GSA Boston and published in Journal of Paleontology naming a new trace fossil after St. Lawrence;

•  2003 -Assisted with cost of field work and lab work on Cretaceous plants from North Dakota as well as with costs for attending GSA Denver where paper was presented;

•  2003 -Assisted with costs for thesis preparation and for presenting a study of Adirondack migmatites at Northeastern GSA Meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I have read many of these theses and research projects, heard most of the student presentations at national and international conferences that resulted, and I am pleased to say that these students represented well the goals that were in mind when the Street Fund was established.

Recently, the Geology faculty has been working to identify ways to raise added funds for student research. Our students have been successful in competing for Baker Summer Fellowships which support the students' food costs and provide an important stipend that removes the burden caused by lack of summer  employment during field research, but now that Dr. Robinson has joined the department, it seems that we have many more students interested in research projects in northern climes like Alaska and the Northwest Territories. These require more travel funding than is now generated by the Street Fund. We do not rely on the Street Fund alone for student support, but it provides an extremely important source of discretionary grant funding for which students may apply with very few restrictions of use, whether for gas, food, camping costs, lab work, computer or other supplies, meeting registration fees, etc., etc. Funds administered through university programs are often, more restricted. Most importantly it is income that we know we can count on as professors and students try to plan field or lab work that will take place 6 months to a year out. Students often need to commit to a project immediately yet they may be reluctant to do so if funding is an uncertainty. The Street Fund allows us to be certain that funding is at hand and planning may proceed.

Presently, the Jim Street Fund generated about $3750 this year when the market value of the Fund was at March 2003 levels. Currently, as of November 30 the Fund endowment stood at roughly $61,000, which promises a greater yield for 2004. However, the projects that are emerging will have greater costs than we can now support, and yet we wish to encourage as many students as possible to think creatively during their geologic educations. The faculty, therefore, are resolved to ask your support to at least DOUBLE the existing endowment of the Street Fund, thereby at least doubling the income available each year. This letter comes to those of you who have benefited from presence of the fund directly and also to those who had the good fortune to work with Jim Street, and other Geology and Geography faculty, when you were undergraduates. If you wish to make a gift to the fund, please do so directly to me at the Geology Department or through the Development Office of the University. In either case, please be certain that SLU-James S. Street Student Geology Fund (or Jim Street Memorial Fund for short) appears on your check.

Many thanks for reading this far and for thinking of us. We are doing some really exciting research with students at present and we hope to expand that yet further with the help, whether modest or great, of many of you this year. Thank you for your meaningful support and please have a great 2004.

Warmest regards,

J. Mark Erickson, 
Chapin Professor of Geology and Mineralogy