Broadening Access to the Earth and Environmental Sciences: Increasing the Diversity of Undergraduate Students Learning About the Earth

Arizona State University
February 23-25, 2014

Note: This workshop has already taken place. Read the workshop synthesis for a summary of key ideas and the workshop outcomes for materials developed in association with the workshop. Workshop presentations and summaries of discussions are available on the program page; participants' profile, degree program, and essay contributions are available via the participants page.

Successfully meeting global environmental and resource challenges requires geoscience students from diverse backgrounds who are prepared for jobs ranging from petroleum geologist to sustainability business consultant. To educate this workforce requires that we attract diverse students into the geosciences, support them fully in our programs, and assist them as they transition into the workforce. Geoscience has the lowest ethnic and racial diversity of any STEM discipline and is often viewed as a difficult choice for students with physical disabilities.

This workshop focused on strategies for increasing the diversity of students graduating from all types of programs with a substantial geoscience component and supporting their successful entry into the workforce. Participants showcased successful strategies employed by their own programs including traditional departmental programming, inter-institutional programming, community-based approaches, and opportunities made possible through technology. We had participation from 2 and 4 year programs from across the geosciences, environmental science, geography and other allied fields.

Read the workshop overview for details about the workshop goals, schedule, expectations for participants, and how to apply.

Workshop Conveners

Diane Doser, University of Texas at El Paso
Cathryn Manduca, Science Education Resource Center, Carleton College
Steve Semken and Jim Tyburczy, Arizona State University
Dallas Rhodes, Georgia Southern University
Joshua Villalobos, El Paso Community College

Join the Discussion

Read the email list discussion, join the email list or unsubscribe using the Broadening Access to the Earth and Environmental Sciences email list.


NSF logo This workshop is part of the InTeGrate project for interdisciplinary teaching of geoscience for a sustainable future. InTeGrate is a 5-year, National Science Foundation (NSF) STEP Center grant, running from 2012 through 2016. This work is supported by a NSF collaboration between the Directorates for Education and Human Resources (EHR) and Geociences (GEO) under grant DUE - 1125331. Learn more about this project.


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