Re: Paleo21 - Avocational paleontologists

From
Date
>In response to Jere Lipps' comments:
>
>Nomenclature is *very* important. ...

>I had my butt handed to me via E-mail, by a professional in a major
>institution some time ago when I referred to myself as an amateur
>paleontologist.  His interpretation of  the term "amateur"  was
>particularly perjorative, which is not consistent with the etymology of the
>word, but what the hey.  Since that time, I've used the more awkward term
>avocational.
>
>If we can somehow establish guidelines for the minimum requirements for a
>certification program, then the future could include trained, competent
>"amateurs" who could augment the professional presence in the field, in the
>lab, in print, and maybe even the movies someday.  I have a copy of the
>Denver Program, and still need to get in touch with Dave Gillette on the
>Utah program and Deb Boaz on the Mesa, AZ one as well.  There are at least
>these three programs that serve to establish some formal credentials for
>non-funded 'paleontologists'.  Each one depends on extensive committment of
>time by professional staff, and an equally demanding committment by the
>participants.  Again, I believe the SVP Outreach folks are following those
>programs.
>
>There are some alternate paradigms to the university/institution concept
>for the collection, curation and display of fossils.  Two excellent
>examples are the Princeton Museum in Princeton, B.C., and the Stonerose
>Interpretive Center in Republic, WA.  Both are actively supported by
>avocational paleontologists and both are repositories of record for various
>type specimens.  Both receive and give benefit to their respective communites.

Hello there,
            as an amateur paleontologist, i'm very interested to this
thread. I would like to know if there's a web page or an E-mail address
where I could get more infos about these courses from the places mentioned
in the last paragraph: Denver program, Utah program, Princeton. I'm starting
a geology correspondence course in september and want to follow with a
paleontology course.

Thanks for the help.
>From Denis Bombardier (:)>
Amateur Paleontologist
Que.Can. SMILEY@virtuel.qc.ca