Broadening Access to the Earth and Environmental Sciences

In conjunction with the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting
Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - 1-5 PM
Location: TBA

Workshop Description

Geoscience has the lowest ethnic diversity in its graduating student population of any STEM discipline. This workshop will discuss three strategies departments and programs are using to recruit and retain a more diverse student population: 1) providing courses that are rich in societal context; 2) developing an inclusive culture within the department; and 3) more fully incorporating opportunities to learn about and prepare for professional careers in the geosciences. In addition to supporting participation of underrepresented minorities in the geosciences these strategies are foundational to improved learning and career preparation for all geoscience students.

Agenda

Homework: Demographics at university and enrollments in intro and upper level courses, if information is available (if available, gender/ethnic info for different course levels). Demographics of graduates in different majors.

1:00-2:00 - Diagnosing the challenges: What barriers to diversity are we facing and what are some possible solutions to address them?

2:00-2:10 - Break

• Increase the Diversity of your Graduates: This resource from the InTeGrate project was developed in conjunction with the 2014 workshop on Broadening Access to the Earth and Environmental Sciences help at Arizona State University.

2:10-3:10 - Group Work 1: Participants will work in groups to make a general flow chart of how a student moves through their programs and the points where the barriers may occur. Consideration of the "whole student" approach will guide the analysis.

3:10-4:15 - Group Work 2: Participant groups will develop action plans for removing or mitigating the barriers within their programs.

4:15-4:25 - Break

4:25-4:45 - Resources to help move forward on action plans

4:45-5:00 - Workshop Evaluation