Preparing students in two-year colleges for geoscience degrees and careers: Workshop results

Building a strong and diverse geoscience workforce is a critical national challenge. Two-year colleges (2YCs) play an important role in increasing both the number and diversity of geoscience graduates. A workshop on Preparing Students from Two-year Colleges for Geoscience Degrees and Careers was held in Tacoma, WA in July 2012 to discuss the successes and challenges of programs, strategies, and activities that support career preparation of 2YC students for geoscience careers, either as geotechnical graduates or as geoscience majors at four-year colleges and universities, and to make recommendations for future efforts. At the workshop several successful partnerships between employers and two-year colleges as well as between two-year colleges and four-year institutions were discussed as potential models that could be replicated with adaptations for local employment needs. Participants shared successful techniques for supporting 2YC students in their career path such as internships, early opportunities for participating in research, joint fieldtrips with transfer institutions, and supportive curriculum alignment between two and four-year institutions. Professional organizations have much to offer including information about career options, networking opportunities, and more. Participants discussed strategies for supporting geoscience workforce development at 2YCs such as making connections between 2YCs and local employers, identifying geoscience students at 2YCs who are planning to transfer and building relationships with 4YCs, establishing internship programs, supporting student geoscience clubs, and developing a repository of geoscience employment information targeted to 2YC students. Participants recognized significant barriers to incorporating career training and information into the geoscience curriculum at two-year colleges. These barriers include a predominance of non-geoscience students in classes, lack of support or rewards for improving or increasing the preparation of geoscience majors, and the range of quantitative skills of students in two-year colleges. The need of career resources at the local scale was emphasized by many throughout the meeting since geoscience workforce needs and expectations vary widely across the United States. In addition, local governance and curricular demands at individual TYCs may significantly impact the nature of any reforms or new initiatives. Therefore a diversity of resources and models for improving the training of future geoscientists at 2YCs is needed. The workshop was a first step in establishing a broad network to promote and support activities that prepare 2YC students as geotechnicians and geoscience majors to increase the number and diversity of geoscience professionals coming from two-year colleges.