The Department of Geosciences has been growing since its inception. The first courses in geology at URI were offered in 1890 by Homer J. Wheeler, a chemist and professor of geology in what was then called the Rhode Island Agricultural School. Throughout the first half of the 20th century a variety of mineralogy and geology courses were offered by a staff of one or two faculty. Geology during this period was used mainly to complement programs in chemistry, engineering, biology, and agriculture.
Geology at URI began to come into its own as an independent field of study when Clarence E. Miller (B.S. and M.S., University of North Carolina) was appointed in 1949 as Chair of the Department of Geology and Geography (he retired in 1966). A growing enrollment necessitated an increase in the teaching staff and space. In 1956, the Department moved from East Hall into Ranger Hall. The curriculum expanded in the late 1950's with the addition of James S. Kahn and Eugene J. Tynan to the staff, and included courses in Invertebrate Paleontology, Sedimentation, Stratigraphy, Crystallography, Field Geology, Structural Geology, and Animal & Plant Micro-paleontology. Kahn was co-author of the first geological statistics book, later he moved to Lawrence Livermore Laboratories and was replaced by David Vosburg. In 1960, Geology was established as a separate department, and the first majors in geology were graduated: Marie E. Robinson, Wilfred L. Savard, and Richard Fisher.

A Master of Science program was approved in 1965, and was initiated with three graduate students: R.A. Christopher, W.C. Cornell, and R.E. Whitehead. That year also marks the date when the department moved to Green Hall and quadrupled available space. Several new faculty were acquired in the mid- to late-1960's. John J. Fisher established a program in Geomorphology and Coastal Studies in 1964, William F. MacLean replaced Vosburg in the area of sedimentology, J. Allan Cain was appointed Chairman in 1967 (and served as Chair for more than 20 years) upon the retirement of Clarence Miller in 1966 (Tynan served as Acting Chair for the first year). O. Don Hermes was hired in 1968 to provide strength in the areas of mineralogy and petrology. Monty Hampton replaced Bill MacLean in 1970, but left in 1975 to take a position in Marine Geology with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, CA. Although retired, Bill MacLean continued to teach most of the department's extension and summer school courses until 1997. The Department further expanded to a faculty of six with the addition of Reinhard K. Frohlich in 1973, who provided expertise in geophysics. Jon Boothroyd became our new sedimentologist upon Monty's departure in 1975, and established research programs in Coastal Geology and Quaternary Studies. Several important staff changes occurred throughout the 1980's. The hiring of Daniel P. Murray in 1983 increased the faculty to seven, and provided welcome expertise in the areas of New England Geology, Structural Geology, Tectonics, and Metamorphic Petrology. David E. Fastovsky replaced the retired Gene Tynan in 1986, and established an integrated program of paleontology and sedimentology. J.A. Cain retired as Chair in 1987, and J.C. Boothroyd became the Chair, which he took until 1989, when O.D. Hermes became Chair. That same year, Anne I. Veeger joined the staff upon the death of John Fisher, and provides expertise in hydrogeology and low temperature geochemistry. An innovative addition to our curriculum was made in 1991, when we began to offer a B.S. in Geology and Geological Oceanography. This cooperative effort with our colleagues at the Graduate School of Oceanography is exceptionally popular, and presently includes slightly more than half of our undergraduate majors.

The Department now has entered a new phase. In 1998, Geosciences joined the new, broad-based, applied College of the Environment and Life Sciences (CELS). In recognition of the broader role that geology occupies in the natural sciences, we changed the name of the Department to the Department of Geosciences. Finally, to complement and enrich the hydrogeology program, organic hydrogeochemist Thomas Boving joined the Department in 1999. D.E. Fastovsky took the Chair later that year, and the new millennium brings with it new, improved quarters in the form of an upgraded Woodward Hall.  The most recent administrative change occurred in the Fall of 2002, when D.P. Murray was appointed Chair of the Department upon the resignation of David Fastovsky as Chairperson.