Unlearning Racism in Geoscience at 2YCs: Curricular Resources, Policies, and More from the 2YC URGE Pod

Eleven community college (2YC) geoscience faculty across the U.S. and the project manager for SAGE 2YC (Supporting and Advancing Geoscience Education at Two-Year Colleges) formed the 2YC URGE pod to participate in the Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) program. Our work is motivated by the fact that more than 50% of students attending 2YC are from a minoritized population (AACC, 2021) and almost 45% of undergraduate students attend 2YCs. Therefore, 2YCs are one key pathway to improve student and faculty representation and persistence in the geosciences. Our pod members connected to explore antiracist learning activities, strategies, and policies that improve the environment for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) geoscience students and colleagues in higher education. The pod applied the bi-monthly learning and discussions from the program to develop a resource document that includes suggestions and examples for faculty to apply in classrooms as well as information to share with departmental and institutional administrators. In the section of the document focusing on students, topics range from impacting admissions to embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) concepts in a syllabus, during the first day of class, and throughout the curriculum, with examples of how pod members address each of these. The section that focuses on faculty and administration includes examples of mentoring and advising strategies, institution DEI resolutions and statements, sample complaints and reporting policies, and mitigating racial biases during the faculty hiring process. We are disseminating our 30+ page resource document, Guidelines to be Actively Anti-Racist in the Geosciences at Two Year Colleges, via newsletters, blog posts, a manuscript, and conference presentations. The reaction has been very positive with a strong interest for additional resources on what antiracism work looks like in the introductory-level geoscience classroom. The 2YC URGE pod will continue our work to advance anti-racist strategies and policies with intention, accountability, and inclusivity, focusing our efforts in the 2021-2022 academic year on designing, implementing, and collating existing classroom materials. Our pods resource document will continue to develop and can be accessed at: http://bit.ly/2YCURGE