Advertise Your Program, on Campus and Beyond
Written by Carol Ormand, based on ideas compiled from the 2005 workshop on Developing Pathways to Strong Departments of the Future and the 2007 workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors.

Approach Your Top Students Directly
One of the recommendations from the October 2007 workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors was to use the direct approach in recruiting top students from you introductory classes.
For example, in one participant's department, all of the faculty invite students who are earning grades in the A-B range to an informational meeting about the major/minor. As an added incentive, they provide food at the meeting (pizza and sodas).
Sing Your Own Praises
Nobody knows what you do best better than you do. Tell the world about it!
×Stanford University
Anne Egger describes her multi-faceted approach as her department's staff person in charge of recruitment in her presentation, Getting Involved Early, (Acrobat (PDF) 5.2MB Oct27 07) from the 2007 workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors. She recommends being an advisor to first-year students, participating in events at your institution (such as new student orientation and majors fairs), and creating opportunities for students via courses and research.

North Dakota State University
Bernhardt Saini-Eidukat describes how his department is often featured in the local newspaper, both for their research activities and for numerous community service activities. His presentation, Raising Community Awareness, (Acrobat (PDF) 2.4MB Oct28 07) is from the 2007 workshop on Strategies for Successful Recruitment of Geoscience Majors. He recommends writing press releases about department activities, engaging K-12 students in geoscience-related activities, developing public service websites on geoscience topics, and providing geoscience advice to the community.