FORMATION OF THE DIVERSITY IN UNDERGRADUATE GEOSCIENCE (DUG) ALLIANCE BY SMALL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES

In July 2012, representative from thirteen small liberal arts colleges formed the Diversity in Undergraduate Geoscience (DUG) Alliance. These schools enroll diverse and academically well-prepared students. The mission of the Alliance is to have our Geoscience Departments reflect the schools diversity in our course enrollments and in the cohort of our majors. Member departments will focus on providing underrepresented minority students (as defined by NSF), and all students, with information, experiences, and opportunities in the Geosciences that will promote their choice of a major field of study based on fully-explored intellectual passions and personal goals. To do this departments seek to identify and eliminate barriers to entry or persistence in the Geosciences and to foster a supportive environment in which all students can thrive.

Specific strategies to meet these goals include, providing information about geoscience careers in introductory classes, engaging students in research and mentoring during their first year, and informing campus departments such as Admissions and Diversity Offices and minority students groups about geoscience opportunities. Geoscience department faculty will be educated about factors that impede first-generation, low-income and minority students academic performance and measures that can be taken to provide a positive atmosphere in which all students thrive.

Departments will work with Admissions and Institutional Research Offices to collect data about the composition of our classes and majors and chart our progress. We will use the American Geological Institute (AGI) exit survey to monitor the reasons students chose a geoscience major and identify additional measures that can be taken to diversify students who choose an undergraduate geoscience major. Because the participation of diverse students in the geosciences is so low, about 300 bachelor degrees per year, we think schools in the DUG Alliance will have a significant impact on increasing the diversity of geoscience workforce.