Eric Hetherington, a geology professor who has had years of adventures and passion towards his teaching, was brought to the College of the Sequoias in 1997.Hetherington first majored in biology at Franklin & Marshall college but by taking a geology class his career path changed and finished grad school at the University of Minnesota.

His career has led him to various new adventures and experiences, one in which he taught in Japan for six months. He also taught in the colleges of Minnesota, Utah, and his next stop was COS! Hetherington learned about his position on an Ad and jokingly stated “ I feel like I gradually starting working west, I’ll eventually work somewhere on the ocean”.

During his time here he has gone deeper into geology and always learns something new which he always loves to explain to his students. Hetherington enjoys having conversations with students about ideas and seeing their knowledge on geology evolving which is one the big reasons he wanted to come to face-to-face teaching as fast as possible.

Professor Hetherington values quality teaching and believes that seeing the materials being taught in class across a landscape is an effective way of learning this subject.

“The best way to teach geology is by being there”

By far his best rewarding moments are seeing his students’ reactions in finally understanding what the material is about in these interactive teachings in which students see the land differently.