GEOPATHS-IMPACT: Growing Geoscience Enrolment Through Academic Partnership with NC Community Colleges (GGETAP with NCCC)

GEOPATHS-IMPACT：通过与北卡罗来纳州社区学院的学术合作（GGETAP 与 NCCC）增加地球科学入学人数

• 批准号: 1911558
• 负责人: Gordana Vlahovic
• 金额: $ 31.69万
• 依托单位: North Carolina Central University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1911558&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GEOPATHS; IMPACT; Growing; Geoscience; Enrolment

Part 1: Funding from GEOPATHS-IMPACT award will help North Carolina Central University (NCCU), the oldest publicly funded Historically Black College/University (HBCU) located in Durham, North Carolina create sustainable and lasting partnerships with two North Carolina community colleges, Carteret Community College (CCC) and Alamance Community College (ACC). Both institutions were selected because of their proximity, the population they serve (rural students in case of CCC and urban, minority students in case of ACC), and most importantly the interest in developing the associate geoscience program at CCC and increasing geoscience related course offerings at ACC. The project will address dual challenges that are being confronted by all STEM disciplines including geosciences that are the least diverse of all STEM careers: pending workforce shortage due to increasing demand, low enrollments and planned record retirement of the "baby boomer" generation, and workforce demographics that look nothing like the US general population. HBCUs make up less than 5% of the US higher education institutions yet award 37% of all B.S. degrees in physical sciences earned by African American students. As NCCU is a top producer of minority geosciences graduates, strengthening the quality of geoscience education at North Carolina Central University and creating long lasting partnership with community colleges will have a significant impact on the future of the geosciences workforce in North Carolina and the United States.Part 2: NCCU will lead a collaborative effort involving two local community colleges by: 1) Creating an online version of the existing 4-year Geoscience Concentration for B.S. in the Environmental and Geographic Sciences degree, thus allowing transfer students from partner community colleges flexibility of completing a 4-year degree without leaving their communities; 2) Providing online transfer students "critical positive experiences" that research has identified as creating a sense of belonging to the geoscience profession and influencing career choices; 3) Ensuring sustainability of the program by formalizing partnerships by negotiating memorandums of understanding with ACC and CCC and by reaching out to other potential community college partners. The state of North Carolina has one of the most developed community college systems in the nation consisting of 58 community colleges, and this network will be used to spread geospatial programs across the state. NCCU is uniquely positioned to lead this work as it one of a few HBCUs that has both undergraduate and graduate degrees in geosciences and has a long history of graduating African American students in STEM fields. This project will address critical needs for each partner institution while increasing recruitment and retention of students traditionally underrepresented in geosciences by providing seamless pathways from associate degrees to a 4-year B.S. in Geosciences and Master?s degrees in Earth Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

第 1 部分：GEOPATHS-IMPACT 奖的资金将帮助北卡罗来纳中央大学 (NCCU)，这是位于北卡罗来纳州达勒姆最古老的公立历史黑人学院/大学 (HBCU)，与两所北卡罗来纳社区学院 Carteret 建立可持续和持久的合作伙伴关系社区学院 (CCC) 和阿拉曼斯社区学院 (ACC)。选择这两个机构的原因是它们距离较近、所服务的人口（CCC 为农村学生，ACC 为城市学生，ACC 为少数民族学生），最重要的是对 CCC 发展副地球科学项目和增加地球科学相关课程的兴趣在ACC。该项目将解决所有 STEM 学科（包括所有 STEM 职业中最不多样化的地球科学）所面临的双重挑战：由于需求增加而导致的劳动力短缺、入学率低和“婴儿潮一代”计划创纪录的退休，以及劳动力人口统计数据与美国总人口完全不同。 HBCU 在美国高等教育机构中所占比例不到 5%，但却授予了 37% 的学士学位。非裔美国学生获得的物理科学学位。由于 NCCU 是少数族裔地球科学毕业生的顶尖培养者，因此加强北卡罗莱纳中央大学的地球科学教育质量并与社区大学建立长期持久的合作伙伴关系将对北卡罗莱纳州和美国地球科学劳动力的未来产生重大影响。第 2 部分：NCCU 将领导两所当地社区大学的合作：1）创建现有 4 年制地球科学学士学位课程的在线版本。环境与地理科学学位，从而使合作社区学院的转学生可以灵活地在不离开社区的情况下完成四年制学位； 2）为在线转学生提供“重要的积极经历”，研究表明这些经历可以创造对地球科学职业的归属感并影响职业选择； 3) 通过与 ACC 和 CCC 谈判谅解备忘录以及接触其他潜在的社区大学合作伙伴，正式建立合作伙伴关系，确保项目的可持续性。北卡罗来纳州拥有全国最发达的社区学院系统之一，由 58 所社区学院组成，该网络将用于在全州推广地理空间项目。 NCCU 在领导这项工作方面拥有得天独厚的优势，因为它是少数拥有地球科学本科和研究生学位的 HBCU 之一，并且在 STEM 领域培养非裔美国学生方面拥有悠久的历史。该项目将满足每个合作机构的关键需求，同时通过提供从副学士学位到四年制学士学位的无缝途径，增加传统上在地球科学领域代表性不足的学生的招募和保留。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。