BROADENING AND IMPROVING TRANSFER PATHWAYS FOR GEOSCIENCE MAJORS AT A LARGE COMPREHENSIVE UNIVERSITY

The mismatch between the high demand for geoscience-trained employees and projections for geoscience graduates over the next decade is well documented. The focus of the NSF GP-EXTRA grant TU GEO Careers (Towson University Geoscience Educational Opportunities for Careers) is to meet this demand for geoscience while conducting research on the effectiveness of recruiting and retention methods.

The Geosciences program at TU is a small program (6 full-time faculty) in a large comprehensive university that offers 2 degrees: Geology and Earth-Space Science (for secondary education) and strongly supports the Geology track of Environmental Science. Two-thirds of current majors and of recent Geology graduates transferred to TU, mostly from community colleges in Maryland. One major emphasis of TU GEO Careers is to broaden and improve transfer pathways through development of articulation agreements and building strong connections with 2YC faculty. Results of these efforts will be reported along with survey data about student motivations and stumbling blocks for degree completion. Where possible, similarities and differences between 'native' students and transfer students will be explored. Initial results indicate that personal interest, cost of attendance, and media/books were the most important motivating factors for becoming a geosciences major. Continuing majors identified course content, interaction with other students, and faculty support and advising as important to continuing their degree progress while the most commonly identified stumbling block was course availability.