CREATING A COMMUNITY OF SCIENCE LEARNERS AT A TWO-YEAR CAMPUS

Students who begin their science studies at two-year colleges have a different and unique learning environment. Resources are limited, and department seminars or clubs do not exist as a social focus to bring majors together. Pennsylvania State University Delaware County (PSUDE) is primarily a two-year campus in the PSU system. Students at our campus complete the first two years of entrance to majors courses and general education requirements before transferring to the main campus to complete their degrees. The advantage to beginning at PSUDE is the small size of the introductory-level math and science courses, the opportunity to get to know faculty, and the chance do research in their freshmen and sophomore years. However, the students feel a sense of isolation from one another and the Penn State science community as a whole.

To address the isolation problem, we are establishing a campus community for the science students. We host career seminars, bringing in speakers to discuss their research at a basic level and to provide valuable career information. We have a career website (www.de.psu.edu/psu2de/) and distribute a monthly science advising/career mentoring newsletter, which has reviews of current scientific research and literature, career profiles, and information about campus activities. We have started a first-year seminar called “Careers in Science,” so that the science students get to know each other from day one.

We are also organizing some “fun” events to bring the entire campus community together and promote science. For example, during National Week of the Ocean, guest speakers were brought to campus. During the week, the students in the oceanography class held a poster session open to the campus to discuss marine science topics. Although this community-building effort is difficult to assess, we feel that the science students are coming together more often and are visible on the campus.