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Diverse Students Can be Attracted to Geoscience

Suzanne O’Connell*, Martha Gilmore, Renee Johnson-Thornton, Tim Ku, Peter Patton, Phillip Resor, Dana Royer, Earth &
Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459, USA

Many challenges facing humanity Figure 1. Student diversity by graduation year. Only the number students who identified as being
require geoscience expertise, yet the geo- from one of the NSF-defined diversity groups are shown on the y axis. Numbers for students who
scientists addressing these challenges are identified as white, mixed race, Asian, or unknown are not included. Numbers on the x axis refer to
predominantly white. More diversity in the departmental changes: 1—hired Asian-American professor; 2—started senior seminar; 3—started
profession is needed so that people with sophomore seminar; 4—hired Hispanic professor. Tenure-track faculty composition, 2001–2002:
different ethnic and economic back- two women (1 white, 1 black) and four men (all white); 2015–2016: 2 women (1 white, 1 black) and 6.5
grounds may contribute to addressing geo- (half appointment in another dept.) men (4.5 white, 1 Asian, 1 Hispanic). Number of graduates varies
science challenges. Over the last 10 years, from 8 (2004) to 24 (2015). Nat. Am.—Native American; Alk. Nat.—Alaska Native.
the geosciences have made substantial
improvements in diversity (National
Science Foundation, 2015), but we are far
from parity with the U.S. population.
However, in our department at Wesleyan
University, visitors have commented on the
diversity of our student body and ask how
it was accomplished. Here we describe a
15-year process of changes we have made
that contribute to the increased diversity
(Fig. 1). During this time, we modified our
curriculum, increased our outreach to
underrepresented minority (URM) stu-
dents, hired new faculty, and increased
faculty awareness of specific issues faced
by URM students.

CURRICULUM During sophomore seminar, students and develop excellent oral and written
explore Connecticut’s geologic evolution. communication skills.
Many studies identify a college intro- This pass/fail seminar provides students
ductory course as an important factor in a with a common background and develops STUDENT OUTREACH
student’s decision to major in geoscience a sense of community—another contribu-
(e.g., Stokes et al., 2015). Our department tor to persistence in the major (Callahan et Geoscience suffers from a poor percep-
teaches a variety of introductory courses to al., 2015). tion among students interested in helping
capture student interests. To complete the the environment or society, finding a job,
Earth and Environmental Sciences Senior seminar lasts two semesters with and making money (e.g., Hoisch and Bowie,
(E&ES) major, a student then needs seven a January field trip. During the fall, seniors 2010; Sherman-Morris and McNeal, 2016).
major-specific courses, two required semi- read primary literature and collaboratively Therefore, our faculty try to serve as
nars, and a year of at least two other sci- develop field-based research projects. ambassadors for the discipline both in and
ence or math courses. They plan, write about, and present pro- out of the classroom.
posed fieldwork. In the spring, students
Our two required seminars are critical to analyze their samples and present their Student advising is important. Many
the success of the major. They incorporate work at a public symposium, which will be E&ES faculty ask to be advisers for
collaborative learning, peer-led team learn- compiled into a written report. Because of incoming URM students with an interest
ing, and real-world problem solving, all of this experience, we are confident that our in science, thus gaining an opportunity to
which have been shown to improve the graduates can comprehend original litera- inform them about geoscience’s positive
retention of URM students (Conrad and ture, define a problem, conduct research, aspects. Many URM students are also the
Gasman, 2015). first-generation (FG) of their family to

GSA Today, v. 27, doi: 10.1130/GSATG288GW.1
*soconnell@wesleyan.edu

76 GSA Today | May 2017