ED14B-06
Addressing Issues of Broadening Participation Highlighted in the Report on the Future of Undergraduate Geoscience Education

Monday, 14 December 2015: 17:20
303 (Moscone South)
John Robert McDaris1, Cathryn Allen Manduca1, Heather Macdonald2 and Ellen A R Iverson3, (1)Carleton College, Northfield, MN, United States, (2)College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, United States, (3)Carleton College, SERC, Northfield, MN, United States
Abstract:
The final report for the Summit on the Future of Geoscience Education lays out a consensus on issues that must be tackled by the geoscience community collectively if there are to be enough qualified people to fill the large number of expected geoscience job vacancies over the coming decade. Focus areas cited in the report include:
  • Strengthening the connections between two-year colleges and four-year institutions
  • Sharing and making use of successful recruitment and retention practices for students from underrepresented groups
  • Making students aware of high-quality job prospects in the geosciences as well as its societal relevance

The InTeGrate STEP Center for the Geosciences, the Supporting and Advancing Geoscience Education at Two-Year Colleges (SAGE 2YC) program, and the Building Strong Geoscience Departments (BSGD) project together have developed a suite of web resources to help faculty and program leaders begin to address these and other issues. These resources address practices that support the whole student, both in the classroom and as a part of the co-curriculum as well as information on geoscience careers, guidance for developing coherent degree programs, practical advice for mentoring and advising, and many others.

In addition to developing web resources, InTeGrate has also undertaken an effort to profile successful program practices at a variety of institutions. An analysis of these data shows several common themes (e.g. proactive marketing, community building, research experiences) that align well with the existing literature on what works to support student success. But there are also indications of different approaches and emphases between Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Primarily White Institutions (PWIs) as well as between different kinds of MSIs. Highlighting the different strategies in use can point both MSIs and PWIs to possible alternate solutions to the challenges their students face.

InTeGrate - http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/programs/diversity/index.html
SAGE 2YC - http://serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/index.html
BSGD - http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/departments/degree_programs/index.html

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