Teaming University TRIO Upward Bound with Geosciences

TRIO programs are funded through the U.S. Department of Education under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Congress established such programs to help low-income Americans overcome class, social, and cultural barriers to higher education in order to enter college, graduate, and become active participants in the American economy and society. Across the nation, TRIO programs serve nearly 866,000 Americans. TRIO programs contribute to the University of Arkansas' commitment to ensure the availability of postsecondary education to all persons. Currently, the University hosts 8 TRIO programs, three of which are Upward Bound (UB) tracks. UB helps students in grades 9-12 prepare for higher education by providing an academic year program and a six-week residential summer component.

Students in these programs come to campus to participate in a wide variety of academic and cultural enrichment courses that have been created both to prepare them for the courses that they will take in school, as well as spark their interests in various subjects to which they may not typically be exposed. This is a unique opportunity for faculty to collaborate with TRIO programs to increase access to the geosciences while actively preparing a more diverse future workforce. For our 2007 – 2008 school year, up to forty students were introduced to the integrated-nature of the geosciences during Saturday sessions facilitated using an environmental science context. During summer 2008, 15 rising high school juniors conducted research on local watershed issues with a geosciences faculty member. At the University of Arkansas, we are actively working to increase our collaboration between the TRIO programs and faculty. We are excited about the opportunity to expose ethnically, economically, and socially diverse groups of pre-college students to a wide variety of STEM fields such as the geosciences.