Building a Pipeline to Increase American Indian Access to the Geosciences

美国国家科学基金会部落学院和大学项目（TCUP）的使命是支持加强美国本土大学在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）方面的教育和研究能力。这个名为“建立管道，增加美国印第安人接触地球科学的机会”的项目与TCUP的使命直接一致，其目标是：1)在梅诺米尼民族学院（CMN）获得地球科学副学士学位，2)设计一条途径，使CMN的地球科学毕业生能够无缝转移到威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校（UWM）完成地球科学学士学位。该项目将CMN和UWM的科学和本土研究教师与STEM专业人士和梅诺米尼文化专家合作，设计学位和途径。为了进一步实现其目标，该项目侧重于制定学生推广、招生和支持战略，以吸引和留住学生，并提高他们成功完成地球科学学位的潜力。在建设CMN的STEM教育能力方面，该项目采用创新策略，在CMN设计新的两年制地球科学学位，使毕业生做好准备，可以过渡到UWM的四年制学位，并创建一个定制的途径，支持CMN学生准备好过渡到该机构。来自CMN， UWM和部落社区的主要利益相关者之间的合作有助于发展一个强大的和文化上合适的AS学位。与梅诺米尼民族相关的基于地点的环境正义问题是AS课程的基本框架，有助于将学习情境化并提高学生的参与度。实质性的领域和研究经验，威斯康星大学地球科学课程的标志，是新开发的学位不可或缺的一部分。一个全面的学生支持策略计划，特别是针对学生学术旅程的关键转折点，如教师指导，是该项目的一个组成部分。衔接协议的建立确保了CMN学分转移到威斯康星大学27个校区中的任何一个，为学生完成四年制学位迈出了重要一步。通过在学院建立地球科学实验室和聘请地球科学讲师，CMN的教学能力得到进一步加强。梅诺米尼国家的自然资源管理优先事项为地球科学毕业生提供潜在的就业机会。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The mission of the NSF Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to support efforts to strengthen education and research capacity in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in the nation's Native-serving colleges and universities. The project titled "Building a Pipeline to Increase American Indian Access to the Geosciences" aligns directly with the mission of the TCUP through its goals to 1) develop an Associate of Science (AS) degree in geoscience at the College of the Menominee Nation (CMN), and 2) design a pathway that enables the seamless transfer of CMN's geoscience graduates to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) to complete a geoscience baccalaureate. The project partners science and Native Studies faculty members from CMN and UWM with STEM professionals and Menominee cultural experts in the design of the degree and pathway. To further its goals, the project focuses on generating student outreach, recruitment and support strategies to attract and retain students, and to enhance their potential for successfully completing their geoscience degrees.In building CMN's STEM education capacity, this project utilizes innovative strategies in the design of a new two-year geoscience degree at CMN that graduates students well prepared to transition to a four-year degree at UWM, and to create a customized pathway that supports CMN students' ready transition to that institution. The collaboration between key stakeholders from CMN, UWM and tribal communities assists the development of a robust and culturally appropriate AS degree. Place-based environmental justice issues relevant to the Menominee nation are essential frames for the AS curriculum, serving to contextualize learning and improving student engagement. Substantive field and research experiences, hallmarks of UWM's geoscience curriculum, are integral to the newly developed degree. A comprehensive program of student support strategies particularly targeted at critical transition point on students' academic journeys, such as faculty mentoring, are integral aspects of the project. The establishment of an articulation agreement ensures the transfer of CMN credits to any of the 27 University of Wisconsin campuses, giving students a major step toward their four-year degree completion. CMN's instructional capacity is further strengthened by the establishment of a geoscience laboratory at the college and the hiring of a geoscience instructor. The natural resource management priorities of the Menominee Nation provide potential employment for the geoscience graduates.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.