HOT AND COLD: A COMPARISON OF TWO EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY COLLEGE GEOSCIENCE PROGRAMS (ARIZONA AND MINNESOTA)

What defines the strength of a community college (CC) geoscience program is a function of the fluctuating needs of the community it serves. Community College geoscience offerings vary from one to two courses to two-year programs for majors articulating directly to four-year degree conferring institutions. The nature of a CC geoscience focus is largely the result of a particular college’s mission, its administration and/or place in a larger system of higher education, student enrollment, and/or the number and interests of the geoscience faculty (and student interest). The primary role of geoscience in CC is to fulfill a general education requirement; our programs also serve other community needs.

We are both from urban regions (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, and Phoenix, AZ) with a number of different campuses (7 for MN, 10 for AZ) and three surrounding 4-year institutions into which our students can potentially transfer. Our programs offer considerable choice in topic, course format, scheduling, and proximity to home or work. Many of our students are place bound either due to cultural and/or monetary constraints.

Upon initial inspection, we find many surficial similarities between our institutions. Since we serve different communities, our differences greatly influence the direction of how we encourage geoscience majors, facilitate students in geoscience literacy, and how we build background for pre- and in-service teachers. Geosciences at North Hennepin CC (NHCC) offers field courses and paid opportunities to do original research and present findings at meetings, both of which serve to enhance geoscience literacy for non-majors and preparation for geology majors. The geoscience program at Mesa Community College (MCC) offers both strong field and service components beyond the general education requirements. These components serve to enhance the educational experience for both majors and pre and in-service teachers. In addition, MCC is actively involved in the training Earth Science content as professional development for in-service teachers. The articulation agreements between the CCs in AZ are based on state-mandated negotiations occurring yearly; MN CCs transfer on a course by course process to the state institutions. While our programs face challenges, their strength lies in meeting our community needs.