Developing a Complete Curriculum in Meteorology at a Two-Year College

The College of DuPage, a single campus community college in the western suburbs of Chicago, serves almost 30,000 students annually. Its size and location allow the college to develop programs that can serve a diverse population of students with innovative programs. The College of DuPage Meteorology program, known as NEXLAB, has 13 class offerings geared at lower division undergraduate students. These include first year and second year courses that prepare students for more rigorous junior level coursework with varying levels of mathematics, and the nation's oldest undergraduate field course in storm chasing. In addition to offering an Associates in Science degree, College of DuPage offers a certificate in “Weather Hazards and Preparedness” which is appropriate for meteorology majors and students in associated majors as well. A background of the program's history, course offerings, certificate program, transfer success and the use of field courses to attract new students and build the curriculum will be presented along with innovations in web presentations of data.