GP-IMPACT: Engagement of Students and Faculty at Community Colleges to Enhance Recruitment to 4-Year Geoscience Programs

该项目通过开发田纳西大学（UT）和三所社区学院之间的示范伙伴关系，以提高从2年制社区学院转入4年制地球科学课程和地球科学职业的学生的招聘和成功，解决了扩大和多样化美国地球科学劳动力的需要。 UT地球科学教师正在与Pelliptown State，Roane State和田纳西州东部和中部的志愿者州立社区学院的地球科学教师合作，提供丰富的活动，包括户外体验式学习和合作研究，这将提高人们对地球科学的兴趣作为一个专业和职业。 丰富活动包括来自这两种类型的机构的学生和教师，沿着最近从UT地球科学毕业生。 这些活动正在帮助社区大学的学生建立支持网络，以减少转学到大型州立大学时经常遇到的社会障碍。UT的教师导师正在为社区大学的学生提供转学课程的建议，并将他们与研究和实习机会联系起来。该项目预计将导致在UT的4年制地球科学课程的学生群体更大的多样性，因为在合作伙伴社区学院发现更多样化的学生群体。这些大学通常比UT有更高比例的第一代大学生，农村学生和非洲裔美国学生。该项目还可能导致更大的职业成功和经济利益的转学生，因为对专业地球科学家的强烈需求和这些职位提供相对较高的工资。 该项目预计将成为主要研究型大学和社区学院之间其他伙伴关系的典范;广泛分享经验教训，以鼓励和加强其他机构和其他科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学科的类似伙伴关系。 这种模式的合作伙伴关系的目标是：a）增加社区学院学生转到地球科学课程的人数（地质学和自然地理学）在UT; B）提高转学生在UT的成功率，让他们对地球科学教育和职业感到兴奋，并在他们转学前提供更高水平的大学指导;以及c）通过从参加地区社区学院的更多样化的学生中有效招募，增加UT 4年地球科学课程的多样性。UT的教师正在与他们的社区大学合作伙伴在大一期间从地质学入门课程中招收学生。每年夏天，大约15名社区学院学生和5名UT学生被邀请与合作机构的教师一起参加特雷蒙大烟山研究所为期5天的住宅实地地球科学讲习班。该研讨会包括地球科学主题的体验式学习活动，预计将与新生产生共鸣，包括水质，化石，山体滑坡，气象和气候变化。谁是从事夏季讲习班的学生被邀请参加额外的丰富活动在他们的大二。这些包括实地考察该地区的地质重要站点和访问UT，在那里社区学院的学生有机会结识同行，参观研究实验室，并被分配一个教师导师。 导师提供有关课程转让，奖学金和职业前景的信息，以及帮助安排在UT，社区学院或其他地点，如橡树岭国家实验室的研究或实习机会。通过这个项目，社区学院正在获得丰富的资金，并获得UT实验室和设备的合作学生研究。UT和社区学院的教师也与管理人员合作，以改善转移程序和跟踪社区学院转学生成功的方法。该项目与UT正在进行的努力相吻合，以改善转学生成功指标的机构数据。教师参与指导这一努力，以确保收集和提出的格式，可用于各部门在规划修订课程，并在开发更有效的辅导方法汇总机构数据。努力改善转学学生的程序，以及预期UT和社区学院教师之间发展的个人和专业联系，将确保该项目的影响超出资助期限，并导致持久的制度变革。评估活动将有助于建立证据基础，说明哪些做法对发展伙伴关系最有效，以改善社区学院学生的招聘，转学和4年地球科学课程的成功。

This project addresses the need to expand and diversify the geoscience workforce in the United States by developing a model partnership between the University of Tennessee (UT) and three community colleges to improve recruiting and success of students transferring from 2-year community colleges to 4-year geoscience programs and geoscience careers. UT geoscience faculty are partnering with geoscience faculty at Pellissippi State, Roane State, and Volunteer State Community Colleges in east and middle Tennessee to offer enrichment activities, including outdoor experiential learning and collaborative research that will boost interest in the geosciences as a major and a career. Enrichment activities include students and faculty from both types of institutions, along with recent geoscience graduates from UT. These activities are helping community college students develop support networks that can reduce the social barriers that are often encountered when transferring to a large state university. Faculty mentors at UT are advising community college students on transfer courses and connecting them with research and internship opportunities. This project is expected to lead to greater diversity in student populations in 4-year geoscience programs at UT because of the more diverse student body found at the partner community colleges. The colleges typically have higher percentages of first-generation college students, rural students, and African-American students than UT. The project may also lead to greater career success and economic benefits for transfer students, because of the strong demand for professional geoscientists and the relatively high salaries offered for these positions. The project is expected to serve as a model for other partnerships between major research universities and community colleges; lessons learned are being shared widely to encourage and strengthen similar partnerships at other institutions and in other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. The goals of this model partnership are to: a) increase the number of community college students transferring to geoscience programs (Geology and Physical Geography) at UT; b) improve the rate of success of transfer students at UT, by getting them excited about geoscience education and careers, and providing a higher level of university mentoring prior to their transfer; and c) increase diversity in the 4-year geoscience programs at UT, through effective recruiting from the more diverse pools of students that attend area community colleges. UT faculty are working with their community college partners to recruit students from introductory geology courses during their freshman year. Approximately 15 community college students and 5 UT students are invited to participate with faculty from the partner institutions in a 5-day residential field geoscience workshop at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont each summer. The workshop includes experiential learning activities on geoscience topics that are expected to resonate with freshman students, including water quality, fossils, landslides, meteorology, and climate change. Students who are engaged in the summer workshops are invited to participate in additional enrichment activities during their sophomore year. These include field trips to geologically significant sites in the region and visits to UT, where community college students have opportunities to meet peers, tour research labs, and be assigned a faculty mentor. Mentors provide information on course transfers, scholarships, and career prospects, as well as help arrange research or internship opportunities at UT, at the community colleges, or at other locations, such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Through this project, the community colleges are receiving enrichment funds and access to UT labs and equipment for collaborative student research. UT and community college faculty are also working with administrators to improve transfer procedures and methods of tracking success of community college transfer students. The project coincides with ongoing efforts at UT to improve institutional data on metrics of success for transfer students. Faculty participants are guiding this effort to ensure that aggregated institutional data are collected and presented in formats that can be used by departments in planning revisions of curricula and in developing more effective mentoring methods. The efforts to improve the procedures for transfer students, together with the personal and professional ties that are expected to develop between UT and community college faculty members, will ensure that the impact of the project extends beyond the duration of funding and leads to enduring institutional change. Evaluation activities will help build the evidence base regarding what practices are most effective for developing partnerships to improve community college student recruitment, transfer and success in 4-year geoscience programs.