Spreading Roots: The Goals and Challenges of Establishing a Self-Sustaining Diversity Program in Southern Arizona

National statistics show that few students from underrepresented groups are earning undergraduate degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. In the geosciences, less than 6% of Bachelor's degrees are awarded to African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Native Pacific Islanders. This figure is punily disproportionate when compared to ratios of both underrepresented groups in colleges and of underrepresented groups in the general population. On a related but often overlooked issue, many public colleges and universities struggle to recruit local students from within their surrounding communities.

An ideal solution to this conceptually broad issue would incorporate elements from a range of previously funded National Science Foundation diversity programs. Such successful projects have typically included local consortiums of educators, a broad base of program participants, networks of support faculty and staff, unique outreach activities, research experiences for participants, and quantitative self-assessment. Southern Arizona's characteristic Hispanic and Native American groups would be the primary targets for these initiatives. In order to serve these groups for the long term, a model program would be organized to self-sustain beyond the lifetime of the initial grant. The challenges of designing such a program will be discussed and constructive feedback from fellow educators will be welcomed.