An NSF-Funded Curriculum Initiative Designed to Attract Minority Students to Geology

Abstract

Women and minorities remain underrepresented in many scientific and technical fields and professions (Culotta, 1993). This situation is especially acute in the geosciences, where undergraduate enrollments of ethnic minorities hover around five percent, and little change has occurred in recent years (Suiter, 1991). In response to this situation, the Geology Department at Colgate University designed a curriculum initiative to attract students of color to the discipline and retain them as concentrators (majors). The plan was submitted to the National Science Foundation and funds were awarded for teaching two of the courses described in the proposal: 1) “Science Outdoors,” an intensive five-week, hands-on summer field course for pre-first-year students; and 2) “Geology Outdoors,” a field-based, first-year seminar offered in the fall term. The Field-Oriented Geological Curriculum Initiative is embedded in, and supported by the Office of Undergraduate Studies (an established university-wide program at Colgate t...