Team Activities
Individual Accomplishments
Jessica Barone
I have:
- Developed a Scientist Spotlight assignment
- Redesigned Mineral Resources chapter to include societally-relevant data from the City of Rochester
- Recognized the difficulty of discussing societally-relevant data in the classroom
Next steps: Participating in departmental cohort regarding equity-minded teaching
Amanda Colosimo
I have:
- Developed a Scientist Spotlight assignment
- Redesigned groundwater chapter to include societally- relevant data from Love Canal
- Am developing a Google Earth assignment based around environmental justice and Brownfields sites in Rochester, NY
Next steps: Participating in departmental cohort regarding equity-minded teaching
Team Accomplishments
Strengthening our Department/Program
Accomplishments/Action Plan:
- designed curriculum to incorporate societally-relevant data and environmental justice
- implemented scientist spotlights
- participated in college orientation events
- developed informational workshop series to retain majors
- enlisted to participate in a career spotlight series in spring 2021
- several goals were long-term and cannot be assessed yet
Next Steps: assess new data at the end of the semester!
Developing our Campus Community
Engaging our Colleagues:
Ran 3 workshops with colleagues across STEM disciplines and a discussion board. Workshop series was advertised to faculty and supported by divisional dean.
We had 10-12 participants each workshop. Several followed up with us on what they've incorporated into courses. We will be presenting in-house on Scientist Spotlights with a participant.
Next Steps: Present at MCC Winter Teaching Institute and Summer Teaching Institute
Team Members
Jessica Barone
Jessica co-developed a field studies course for students at a two-year college that travels out west to study geology of locations including Yellowstone and the Colorado Plateau. She is the chairperson for the Chemistry and Geosciences Department and also is on a SUNY Transfer Path Review Team to discuss and determine appropriate pathways/coursework for geology students transferring from two-year to four-year colleges.
Courses
Jessica teaches Physical Geology, Dangerous Earth, Environmental Geology, and Field Studies in the Geosciences
Amanda Colosimo
Amanda helped to develop the only 2-year A.S. degree in Geology in the SUNY System. She redesigned her Physical Geology course a few years ago to include more active learning. As a result, there was a statistically significant improvement in retention, especially among females. Amanda regularly co-teaches a short field course for on field techniques in the geosciences, which she wrote about in her essay Strategic Advisement for Career and Transfer Success for a 2012 SAGE 2YC workshop.
Courses
Amanda teaches Physical Geology, Historical Geology, Geology of the National Parks, Field Studies in the Geosciences, and Great Mysteries of the Earth.
Institution
Monroe Community College serves over 25,000 students per year from 2 campuses in the Rochester, New York area. It is part of SUNY. Eight percent of students are formally registered as students with disabilities. Twenty percent are African American and 10% are Hispanic/Latino. Over 60% of full-time first-time students were awarded Pell grants.
Program/Department
Program/Department Name - Chemistry and Geosciences
Geology is part the Department of Chemistry and Geosciences which is part of the the School of STEM. The departmental faculty consists of 3 geologists, 3 geographers, 7 chemists, and approximately 30 adjuncts, one full-time lab technician, and one part-time technician. These faculty teach courses in Astronomy, Atmospheric Science, Chemistry, Environmental Policy/Studies, Human Geography, Physical Geography, Geology, GIS, and Oceanography.
Students in Program - The majority of students take geology courses to fulfill their natural science general education requirements. Geology has approximately 30 majors who plan to complete the A.S. in Geology prior to transferring to four-year institutions. In general, MCC Geology students are white and between the ages of 18-24, though not all students fall into this category. Collectively, approximately 1100 students take geology courses per academic year.
Institutional demographic data is from IPEDS the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, U.S. Department of Education, typically for the 2018-19 year as available.