10.2
Educating the Aspiring Broadcast Meteorologist at the Undergraduate Level
Chad M. Kauffman, California Univ. of Pennsylvania, California, PA
Students who enroll in undergraduate meteorology programs for the simple goal of attaining a position as a television meteorologist present a unique conundrum for most traditional programs in meteorology education. The situation involves a number of issues, most notably the lack of cross-listed courses with communications department to provide necessary on-camera skills. It is often difficult to acquire both communicative and meteorological skills within the same department. Administrators and faculty wrestle with the philosophical options of deciding who is best suited to educate students on the communicative level. Funding for proper communications facilities is another difficult resource for which students and faculty must vie. Finally, decisions of which courses are “most critical” for those students who only want the “essential” meteorology courses, when time spent is on other curricula, can be most difficult. The presented paper will discuss one unique approach being utilized at California University of Pennsylvania, a smaller, successful undergraduate program with dual concentrations for both operational and broadcast meteorologists majors. The paper will provide a discussion of the philosophical approach to combining the science and art of broadcast meteorology, while holding to many of the traditional approaches to meteorological education. Also, a perspective on how California University is continuing to maintain both a broadcast facility and an operational laboratory, with external funding, will be provided.
Session 10, Educating Ourselves and the Public
Monday, 11 August 2003, 2:00 PM-2:45 PM
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