The University of Kansas (KU) has announced a $2 million gift in support of its Geology Field Camp at Cañon City, Colorado.

The gift from the Harrison Family Fund at the Douglas County Community Foundation will support the Harrison Family Geology Field Camp Operating Fund and help ensure the camp continues its mission of giving students hands-on field experience. To that end, the gift will fund five $5,000 scholarships each year to offset students’ costs to attend. Based at a facility on 35 acres north of Cañon City, students work in various project areas while taking a class in field geology, a course every KU geology major must complete to graduate. Field geology has been taught in the area since 1922 and recently celebrated its centennial.

“When the students attend the geology camp, they actually get to ‘do geology’ and see the actual metamorphosis of the rocks they have been studying,” said Beth Harrison, a former music educator whose father-in-law, Robert Harrison, graduated from KU in 1938 with a geology degree and asked that his estate support the program. “They speak about the rocks they have seen with the same passion that I speak about music.”

“For four to six weeks, we live there and go out and teach 10 hours a day, out with students, walking around. It’s a constant hands-on experience and a huge jumping-off point for students,” said Doug Walker, Union Pacific Resources Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geology. “There probably aren’t many other capstone courses that have as many contact hours with faculty as this course. We are so grateful to Beth for helping make this happen.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/BergmannD)