Supporting Minority Students at University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez
Jump Down To: Context | Keys to Success | Attracting New Students | Supporting Our Majors | Preparing Students for Careers | Additional Information
Dep. of Geology-RUM Outreach Program University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez
Context
The Department of Geology at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez
Keys to Success
- Very good in attracting minorities.
- Good, since the cost to attend school is not expensive.
- Our students are well prepare to start careers after school.
Attracting New Students
The outreach of our Geology program together with outreach of the Puerto Rico Seismic Network attracts students from grade schools that learn about our existence in that form. In the past we received complains from students already in another program that did not realize that geology was taught in Puerto Rico. We still hear that complain but a lot less thanks to the exposure of our program. Our exposure includes the participation of professors and students in local TV programs related with nature.
Supporting Our Majors
Over a decade ago the Department became more aggressive in keeping track of our students and give talks on the importance of keeping a good GPA. During freshman week, before classes start, we give them an orientation emphasizing rules, curriculum, benefits of good GPA, field trips, seminars and extracurricular activities.
Preparing Students for Careers
Our graduate program started about 15 years ago. In this program students can work under the supervision of a professor in his field of experience. Many of our student go to work with federal agencies and in the past 10 years several of our graduates has been hire by oil companies. This is in part by the integration of sequence stratigraphy in our classes. Many of our students are accepted into graduate programs in the states. Their participation in these programs are limited by the availability of internships money.
Also our program require research (an undergraduate thesis called undergraduate topics) with the preparation of proposal the final report and presentation of the research in front of the faculty for questioning. This better prepared the student for both work and graduate school. Feedback from our alumni point to this as the better part of their preparation for the world after school.