BRIDGING THE GAPS BETWEEN 2YC AND 4YC: STRATEGIES IMPLEMENTED BY EL PASO COMMUNITY COLLEGE AND THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO (Invited Presentation)

As the role of community colleges/two-year colleges (2YC) continue to change in the academic pipeline of higher education new practices and ideas to engage and retain students in the geosciences at the 2YC level need to be explored. 2YC typically have a student body composed of non-traditional students ranging from second career students, single parents, students with disabilities, seniors, and minorities. Currently, 2YCs serve 44% of all undergraduate students and 45% of all of all first time freshmen in the US. These statistics show potential community colleges hold to encourage entering, or new, STEM majors. But the reality is the number of STEM degrees awarded at community colleges has not followed the same trends in enrollment. Over the past 8 years El Paso Community College (EPCC) in conjunction with The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) have implemented several initiatives in our effort to increase the number of Geological Science majors at EPCC who make the success transition to UTEP. These efforts are aimed to decrease attrition rates of science majors by; articulating degree plans between institutions, grant collaborations, introduce field-based research projects to allow hands on experience for students, develop a working relationship between students and university faculty, diversify geology courses offered at EPCC, and strengthening the educational-bridge between the geological science departments of EPCC and UTEP through the aid of federally funded programs.