Teaching For Diversity
REC Center Medium Ice Overlook Room
Thursday, July 16, 2015, 2:00 PM
Earth Educators’ Rendezvous – Boulder, CO
Research Opportunities for 2YC
Geoscience Students Through a
Partnership with a 4YC
Gretchen L. Miller and Adrianne A. Leinbach
Natural Sciences Department
glmiller@waketech.edu
aaleinbach@waketech.edu
About Wake Tech
• Largest community college in North Carolina
– Over 28,000 curriculum students
– Approximately 49% are minorities
• Introductory Geology at Wake Tech
– 8 full-time, 3 adjunct faculty
– ~700 students per semester
– Approximately 31% minorities over last 3 years
Partnership with NC State University
• National Science Foundation (NSF) Opportunities
for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences
(OEDG) grant: Diversity in the Geosciences,
Making a Pathway to Success
– Wake Tech students participate in paid summer
research internships at NC State
– Students present their research projects at a poster
session at the end of the summer
– Program has been very successful in first 4 years
This work partially supported by the National Science Foundation award GEO-1107916. Any
opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of
the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Recruiting and Supporting Majors
at Wake Tech
• All Wake Tech faculty actively involved
– Identifying students in introductory geoscience
courses with interest and aptitude
– Individual mentoring of interested students
• Maintain email list
– Scholarships and internships
– Career information & training opportunities
– Speakers & field trips
Support with Transfer Process
• Most Wake Tech geoscience majors transfer to
NC State University due to proximity
• Many students start taking geoscience classes
at NC State while still completing A.S. degree
at Wake Tech
Research Applicants
2012
2013
2014
2015
Number of Applicants
12
15
27
18
Students Matched to Research Project
9
10
13
10
Students Completing Research Project
8
8
12
In progress
Diverse Applicant Pool:
•
•
•
•
•
Racial/Ethnic Minority
Female
First Generation
Military Veteran
Non-Traditional
Success Stories
• Students from first summer starting to
graduate from 4YCs with geoscience degree
• One student from first summer has been
mentoring new students each year
– Just accepted to graduate program at NC State
and overseeing some aspects of this program
• 6 students from summer 2014 working on
projects again this summer
– Many mentoring the new students
Students Taking Ownership
• Program successful because of students
• Students want to display posters at other
venues & share experiences
• Community developing among students
– Especially took off with students from summer
2014 research projects
First Elected Officers of the Association of
Environmental and Engineering Geologists
(AEG) Wake Tech Student Chapter*
*The first AEG student
chapter at a 2YC!