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Mesalands' paleontology program and dinosaur museum provide hands-on research and local tourism revenue
Summary
The college's paleontology AA option and on-site dinosaur museum support student research and draw about 11,000 visitors a year, generating roughly $90,000 annually in admissions and merchandise, program head Axel Hangerbulen told lawmakers.
Mesalands Community College presented its paleontology program and onsite Dinosaur Museum to state lawmakers as an education-and-tourism asset that blends research, fieldwork and public display.
Axel Hangerbulen, head of the paleontology program and curator of the museum, said the program's AA in natural sciences (paleontology option) integrates classroom work with laboratory prep, collections management and field excavations. “The dinosaur museum and the paleontology program are intertwined,” Hangerbulen said, describing how student research, cataloging and display work feed both teaching and public exhibitions.
Hangerbulen said the museum averages about 11,000 visitors annually and reported roughly $90,000 a year in admissions and merchandise revenue that supports the college. He described four ongoing Upper Triassic field sites used for summer field courses and a publicly open set of field classes that bring high-schoolers, retirees and college students into hands-on excavation and lab work.
The program leader said student labor is central to collections work and museum operations, and that the museum doubles as a teaching lab. Lawmakers asked logistical questions about hours and fieldwork; Hangerbulen said the museum is generally open Tuesday through Saturday and that summer field classes run Monday–Friday with an age minimum for college credit.
Committee members praised the program's uniqueness and tourism value; no formal action was taken.
