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attend college. FG students and their par-
ents are more likely to be interested in
career opportunities (Engle et al., 2006).
The geosciences are well-positioned to
exploit this interest. The Bureau of Labor
Statistics (2015) predicts that geoscience
jobs will grow 10% from 2014 to 2024.
Advisers and department websites can pro-
vide career information for both students
and their parents.
Inviting URM geoscientists to speak
and to meet with students is another great
opportunity to provide role models. Any
seminar is an opportunity to engage URM
students. FG and URM students, in par-
ticular, need to know that URM faculty are
part of a learning community.
FACULTY AWARENESS
Faculty who understand different stu-
dents’ backgrounds can design a pathway
for success for all students. Multiple stud-
ies have identified barriers to URM and
FG students’ integration into college. They
are less likely to feel that they fit in, pos-
sibly not as academically well prepared
(ACT/COE, 2016), and less likely to seek
out a professor for help (Kuh et al., 2006).
This leads them to doubt their ability to
succeed in college, and especially in sci-
ence (e.g., MacPhee et al., 2013). We find
that professors need to initiate relation-
ships with these students.
Faculty can invite students from an
introductory class to lunch or coffee and
include an upper-level student. This is an
opportunity to begin to develop a relation-
ship and for students to find out about each
other, the major, and geoscience. In the
E&ES department, URM students are
offered part-time lab-research jobs and, if
possible, a summer research experience.
In a research lab, students interact with
and establish a relationship with faculty
and upper-level students, becoming com-
fortable in a research environment. Being
selected to work in a lab may also build
student confidence. URM and FG students
are likely to have friends with similar
backgrounds, providing more engagement
opportunities.
A barrier to reaching out to URM stu-
dents may be faculty’s implicit associa-
tions, preconceived ideas, and responses
about who is best-suited to a science career
(Banaji and Greenwald, 2013). Stereotype
threat impedes students’ success. This
occurs when people internalize the nega-
tive associations about their group and do
not perform up to their capabilities (Steele, REFERENCES CITED
2011). Stereotype threat increases as the
difficulty of academic work increases,
when the activity (e.g., test) is considered
evaluative of mental ability, and in larger
school settings, where anonymity exacer-
bates concerns about belonging. Several
stereotype threat interventions have been
identified (Walton and Cohen, 2011).
Imposter syndrome, the feeling of being a
fraud despite a record of high achievement,
can also impede students’ progress.
The following are some actions we
have taken that have helped diversify our
department:
1. Visit and give presentations about
geoscience to campus organizations
that have a high percentage of diverse
students.
2. Create a learning community in
your classroom with non-competitive
environments where students can
interact with peers. This helps to
counteract stereotype threat and
imposter syndrome.
3. Reach out to involve URM students.
Let them know you have absolute con-
fidence that they will succeed in your
class. Invite them to work in your lab.
4. Find research and experiential pro-
grams for URM students, both on and
off campus (e.g., GeoCorps™ America
and NSF research experiences for
undergraduates).
5. Connect URM students with organiza-
tions that focus on minorities in geosci-
ence, such as the National Association
of Black Geologists and Geophysicists,
Pathways to Science, and the Society
for Advancement of Chicanos/
Hispanics and Native Americans in
Science (SACNAS). Encourage them
to apply for On To the Future (OTF)
funds to attend a GSA Annual Meeting.
6. Include diverse speakers in your semi-
nar series, and encourage them to meet
with students.
7. Stay in touch with the students. Send
them information about jobs and grad-
uate school opportunities. Offer to
write letters of reference.
8. Find out what helped URM students
succeed at your institution and do
more of it.
9. Don’t get discouraged.
www.geosociety.org/gsatoday
ACT/COE (Council for Opportunity in Education),
2016, The Condition of College & Career
Readiness, First-Generation Students: ACT/
COE, 20 p., http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/
unsecured/documents/CCCR_National_2016.pdf
(last accessed 6 Dec. 2016).
Banaji, M., and Greenwald, A., 2013, Blind Spot:
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Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015, Occupational
Outlook Handbook, Geoscientists: U.S.
Department of Labor, http://www.bls.gov/ooh/
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(last accessed 29 Nov. 2016).
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Diverse Nation: Harvard University Press, 320 p.
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and Hayek, J.C., 2006, What Matters to Student
Success: A Review of the Literature: National
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MacPhee, D., Farro, S., and Canetto, S.S., 2013,
Academic self-efficacy and performance of
underrepresented STEM majors: Gender, ethnic,
and social class patterns: Analyses of Social
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10.1111/asap.12033.
National Science Foundation, 2015, Women,
Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in
STEM: Arlington, Virginia, National Science
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www.nsf.gov/statistics/2015/nsf15311/start.cfm
(last accessed 29 Nov. 2016).
Sherman-Morris, K., and McNeal, K.S., 2016,
Understanding perceptions of the geosciences
among minority and nonminority undergraduate
students: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 64,
p. 147–156, doi: 10.5408/15-112.1.
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MANUSCRIPT RECEIVED 10 FEB. 2016
REVISED MANUSCRIPT RECEIVED 30 AUG. 2016
MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED 22 SEPT. 2016
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