Two-year colleges (TYC) enroll approximately 45% of all undergraduate students in the country and have a highly diverse student population. Given this diversity, TYCs provide a potentially rich conduit for broadening participation in the geosciences. They also play an important role in contributing to the geoscience workforce, teaching science to pre-service K-12 teachers, and producing earth-science literate citizens. However, TYC faculty face challenges including limited resources, isolation, lack of respect from four-year college colleagues, and limited opportunities for targeted geoscience professional development. The goals of this OEDG planning grant include identifying issues, challenges, and opportunities for geoscience faculty and students in TYC and making recommendations for next steps in strengthening this important component of the community. A planning workshop is being convened in the Summer of 2010 to strategize how to: 1) better support TYC geoscience programs, faculty, and students; 2) provide more professional support for geoscience faculty in TYC; 3) identify strategies to broaden participation in the geosciences in ways that involve TYC; 4) establish networks among TYC geoscience faculty; 5) build stronger collaborations and connections with four-year colleges and universities, in an effort to better support recruitment and retention of students moving through the geoscience pipeline; and, 6) consider how professional societies and organizations can support TYC faculty, students, and program. During this workshop ~25 two-year and four-year college and university faculty, as well as representatives from professional societies, will be brought together to develop a plan with prioritized recommendations. An associated website, hosted by the Science Education Resources Center (SERC) at Carleton College, is being developed to support the project. It will document the workshop and extend its reach, building resources from the workshop and from pre- and post-workshop contributions. It will also provide links to professional society sessions on TYC issues and serve as a foundation for information about geoscience in TYC more broadly.
Two-year colleges (2YC) have a highly diverse student population and thus provide a potentially rich conduit for broadening participation in the geosciences. They also play an important role in contributing to the geoscience workforce, teaching science to pre-service K-12 teachers, and producing earth-science literate citizens. We held a workshop on The Role of Two-Year Colleges in Geoscience Education and Broadening Participation in the Geosciences on June 24-27, 2010 at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale. The workshop was attended by 31 participants from two-year colleges, three from four-year colleges, and representatives from several geoscience organizations and societies. The workshop program included sessions on strategies for supporting students, broadening participation in the geosciences, recruiting and retaining students in the geosciences, workforce development and transfer, professional organizations and two-year colleges, strategies to address isolation and build community, and recommendations for next steps. Workshop participants emphasized three challenges for two-year college geoscience faculty: the range of student ability in the classroom, a sense of academic isolation, and a lack of institutional support on a variety of levels. The workshop program, workshop presentations, and essays contributed by workshop participants are available on the workshop website <http://serc.carleton.edu/geo2yc/workshop2010/index.html>. Recommendations made by workshop participants are given below along with some of the follow-up to those recommendations. Participants recommended establishing a formal organization for geoscience faculty in two-year colleges. As a direct outcome of this workshop, a new division (Geoscience in Two-year Colleges) within the National Association of Geoscience Teachers was formed. Recognizing the variety of geoscience programs and offerings in two-year colleges, participants recommended gathering more information about the current status of geoscience education at two-year colleges through a national survey. They discussed supporting student recruitment, retention, and learning through tutoring and peer mentoring programs, field work, and other strategies. Recognizing the role of two-year colleges in attracting diverse groups into the geosciences, participants identified the need to collect and disseminate more data on students in geoscience courses at two-year colleges and their progress along the geoscience pipeline to transfer, degrees, and careers in the geosciences as well as specific examples of strategies that have been successful in broadening participation. They recommended that a set of 'best practices' regarding geosciences programs in two-year colleges be developed; such a document could establish standards of excellence for two-year geoscience programs, help faculty develop new programs or improve their current programs, and be shared with administrators to strengthen programs. Participants recommended offering more early research experiences for two-year college students, providing more career resources tailored to two-year college students, and promoting and supporting involvement of two-year colleges in K-12 education with a specific emphasis on K-8 teacher preparation. They also recommended providing more opportunities for professional development for two-year college geoscience faculty, including contingent faculty. Following from this recommendation, workshops, field trips, and networking events for two-year colleges faculty have been held at professional geoscience meetings. They recommended integrating two-year colleges into all of the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) and providing opportunities for faculty and students from all areas of the US to increase their ocean literacy. Participants endorsed a vision statement regarding ocean science education and community colleges that was submitted to COSEE. Participants met with representatives of professional organization and societies; those involved in these discussions found them valuable and recommended promoting strategic partnerships with professional organizations and societies. One outcome of the workshop is the collaboration with the American Geosciences Institute to expand their database of faculty in two-year colleges. Participants also articulated the value of building two-year and four-year college/university partnerships and collaborations that could provide opportunities for students, for faculty, and for the geoscience programs involved. Finally, they recommended development of a web portal to serve as a "one-stop shopping" resource for items of interest. The Geoscience in Two-year Colleges website can serve as a such a resource for information about geoscience in two-year colleges.
