LBOS GEOBRIDGE: AN EXTRA-CURRICULAR PROGRAM BRIDGING GEOSCIENCE STUDENTS FROM LINN-BENTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Geoscience's workforce lacks the participation of under-represented groups because of significant challenges to entering the field. Two-year colleges (2YC) are the main entry point for individuals from underrepresented groups into the geoscience career pipeline. However, many of these students drop out of the pipeline as they transfer to 4-year universities (4YU) because they face several challenges early in their transition. Our prior efforts (Increasing Diversity in the Earth Sciences (IDES)) suggest that opportunity and access to mentored research experiences and cohort membership are important in normalizing disadvantage and result in performance on par with more privileged “traditional” peers. Bridge programs that develop partnerships between 2YC and 4YU are a way to implement this approach. Under the auspices of the NSF IUSE program we have developed an extra-curricular bridge program, LBOS-Geobridge, between Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) and Oregon State University (OSU). Desired outcomes of this project are a stronger pipeline from 2YC to 4YU in geology in Oregon, more students from 2YC entering the geoscience workforce, and an improved model for increasing success of community college students in geosciences.

Each year, six LBCC geology students (18 students during the 3-year funded period of the program) will enter this program to prepare them to navigate the academic, social, and institutional barriers OSU transfers face. Student recruitment is not GPA-based but focuses on non-traditional, at-risk transfers who meet the entrance requirements for OSU. During the summer term immediately prior to transfer, students participate as a cohort in activities designed to address transfer shock, build their cognate science knowledge and skills to lay the foundation for success in upper-level coursework, and to access a professional network of geoscientists. Central to the experience is a mentored, collaborative research project. Part of our research will be to assess if intervention at this critical juncture leads to an increase in the skills, knowledge, and disposition of students, as well as future success in upper-level geoscience coursework, degree completion, and employment in the geoscience workforce.