The Geoscience Workforce Development Initiative at UNAVCO supports attracting, training, and professionally developing students, educators, and professionals in the geosciences. For the past 12 years, UNAVCO has managed the highly successful Research Experiences in Solid Earth Science for Students (RESESS) program, with the goal of increasing the diversity of students prepared to enter careers in the geosciences. In 2015, UNAVCO added Geo-Launchpad (GLP), a summer research preparation internship for Colorado community college students. The goal of GLP is to prepare students for independent research opportunities, facilitate career exploration in the geosciences, and provide community college faculty with professional development to facilitate effective mentoring of their students.

One core element of the Geo-Launchpad program is UNAVCO support for GLP faculty mentors. Each intern applies to the program with a faculty representative (mentor) from his or her home institution. This faculty mentor is engaged with the student throughout the summer through a suite of communication tools. At the end of the summer, UNAVCO hosts the GLP faculty mentors in Boulder for two days of professional development focused on intentional mentoring of students. Discussions focus on the distinction between mentoring and advising and the array of career and professional opportunities available to students. Faculty mentors also meet with the external evaluator during the mentor training and provide feedback on both their observations of their intern as well as the impact on their own professional experience. Initial outcomes include re-energizing the faculty mentors' commitment to teaching, as well as the opportunity for valuable networking activities. This presentation will focus on the ongoing efforts and outcomes of the novel faculty mentor professional development activities, and the impact of these activities on community college student engagement in the geosciences.