Posted: 1/24/2025
Gosselin retires as professor, moves to team consultant
By Ronica Stromberg
David Gosselin will retire as an Earth science professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln February 7 after almost 36 years in the School of Natural Resources. He stated plans before his retirement reception in Hardin Hall on January 23 to continue work as a coach and consultant building effective teams.
"If you look at the business of teaching, the business of coaching and the business of leading, it's all about the same thing," he said. "It's about helping people get from where they are now to someplace new."
Besides earning recognition for his university work teaching and leading teams, Gosselin has won several awards for coaching local soccer teams for 27 years. He has received accolades for enhancing teams' culture and said he plans to continue such work with soccer teams and others.
In one of his many university achievements, he spearheaded the redesign of the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and in the College of Arts and Sciences. When he took over as the director 16 years ago, he led a team in expanding the curriculum offerings and taking a student-centered approach in classes.
"We created a curriculum that brings the students in and helps them develop into people that can get jobs and go to graduate schools," he said. "You know, people ask me, 'Well, what can you do with this degree?' My answer anymore is, 'What can't you do with this degree?'"
He pointed out that students with a bachelor's degree in environmental and sustainability studies now go on to positions in fields as varied as public policy, medicine, state government, renewable energy and private industry. From sites like LinkedIn and surveys of the 400-or-so students completing the program since its overhaul, Gosselin said the university knows where the vast majority of these students are.
"What I'm really proud of is the quality of our students, and where they are and that we've got some real difference makers out in the community that are making significant contributions to the field, which is very broad," he said.
Gosselin also helped develop the Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network with Earth science teachers across Nebraska in 1993. The network received grants from NASA and the Toyota Foundation and paid for internet connections to seven schools in 1995-1996, when the internet was still new to many. The network developed online programming and teachers' workshops. Evolving from this work also was Science for Educators, a specialization in the master’s of applied science.
Gosselin had come to the network already an accomplished Earth scientist. He started at the university in 1989 in the Conservation Survey Division at Norfolk as a hydrogeologist looking at nitrates in groundwater. From this work and later research into arsenic and uranium in public water supplies, he came to understand the complexity of groundwater systems and the importance of where a well stood in the system and the unique traits of that well and surrounding area. There was not, he said, a one-size-fits-all solution.
"What came out of it is a personal thing, and that again evolved into other stuff, is the importance of looking at the whole system," he said. "It's not just looking at one piece of it. It's how does it all fit into this broader scope of things?"
He brought that further understanding to the network of Earth science teachers.
"Notice the key word there was Earth science," he said. "We actually changed it to Earth systems, because that's what you have to deal with."
The Nebraska Association of Teachers of Science honored him in 1999 with a Catalyst Award recognizing his contributions to science in the state.
"That, to me, was a huge honor because they considered me to be one of them," he said.
Although he was still an Earth scientist, Gosselin said he had started to evolve into something else with his knowledge and expertise on interdisciplinary team development. While university teams typically formed based on people's disciplinary expertise, he saw the importance of including people’s dispositions, their behavioral characteristics and motivations. All of those characteristics influenced how people would interact with others on a team, he said.
He began work with the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors on helping people cross boundaries, such as disciplines, and form better teams. He worked with TTI Success Insights and Ron Bonnstetter, a former professor in the College of Education and Human Sciences, on their instruments. The company recognized him as their Research Partner of the Year in 2018 for uncovering new insights into human behavior and motivation.
Gosselin went on to direct the university's Sustainability Initiative and co-chair the Chancellor's Environment, Sustainability and Resilience Commission. He led a 68-member team to create a master plan for the university in environmental resilience and sustainability. They released that plan in 2020, and it continues to guide the university.
He thanked the university for providing him a “pathway to these whole different worlds” professionally.
"One of the things that I've really benefited from being at UNL is the opportunity to work in all of these different realms and move from being a research person to a person that does research with regard to how human beings function in working with others," he said.
Larkin Powell, the director of the School of Natural Resources, said Gosselin was a student-centered faculty who accomplished much inside and outside his field.
"Beyond his scholarly contributions to Earth sciences, Dave designed teacher training programs, provided leadership as associate director for the School of Natural Resources, and has left a legacy as the director of the Environmental and Sustainability Studies program," Powell said. "Few professors seek out ways to contribute at the personal, degree program, departmental, and university level, and we are indebted to his energy and contributions."
Gosselin said he plans to continue helping people in the context of teams. He is set to work this spring with soccer teams at Lincoln Southwest High School, Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha and Seward High School. In the fall, he will work with the women’s soccer team at Doane University. He developed and uses activities to build player connections that can help lead to success.
Although his two daughters initially drew him to coaching soccer and building player connections, he sees how all the roles he has held have connected to build his career.
"All of these things have this commonality of helping individuals and organizations go from where they are now to, hopefully, someplace new,” he said.
