Supporting Minority Students at Mesa Community College
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Mesa Community College
Context
The diversity of the student body at Mesa Community College is illustrated by these selected statistics: 56% female; 49% non-Anglo; 41% non-traditional; 31.5% non-traditional.
Keys to Success
- MCC does not have a formal plan for attracting new students specifically to the geosciences.
- Support is primarily anecdotal support from faculty/adjunct faculty.
- Preparing students for careers also consists primarily of anecdotal advice from faculty.
Attracting New Students
To be honest, our department only has a small number of students who choose to pursue geosciences. We maintain our program primarily through students who need to satisfy lab science requirements. Our student geology and astronomy clubs are probably the most visible proponents of our discipline.
Supporting Our Majors
MCC's Physical Sciences department has a handful of modest scholarships available to physical science students in general, but none specifically for geosciences. MCC offers many scholarships to the general student body;some of these scholarships are targeted toward underrepresented groups.The science clubs at MCC sometimes have alumni who have earned bachelors and graduate degrees speak to the students about going on beyond the two-year degree. The strongest incentive toward degree completion in our department may in reality stem from the accessibility and encouragement of the teaching staff.
Preparing Students for Careers
Most of our students are taking only one or two of our geoscience classes. They are completing distribution requirements to transfer to four-year programs, or to complete the two-year degree alone. Those who are pursuing geosciences almost all continue to four-year schools.