INCREASED RECRUITMENT OF STUDENTS FROM UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS IN STEM FIELDS USING A COMBINATION OF GEOSCIENCE CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT AND SUMMER BRIDGE PROGRAM

Weber State University (WSU) is a comprehensive university focused on undergraduate education serving students mostly in northern Utah. Although the proportion of Hispanic students starting at WSU has grown from 5% of all entering students in 2007 to 12% in 2012, less than 10% of students currently enrolled in the College of Science at WSU are Hispanic, and an even smaller fraction are majors in Geosciences. Additionally, only 4% of female students at WSU are currently enrolled in STEM majors. Given that the growing demand for well qualified people to enter STEM fields, and that greater gender and ethnic diversity enhances productivity, a key priority is to increase recruitment, retention, and graduation of students from diverse backgrounds within STEM fields.

To attract students from underrepresented groups to STEM fields, professors from the department of Geosciences at WSU worked closely with the faculty from Weber Innovation High School to add a lab and field trip component to the Physical Geology Concurrent Enrollment (CE) course as part of a grant funded by the Utah System of Higher Education. We also offered a newly developed summer bridge course to juniors and graduating seniors in high school. The summer bridge program gave students the opportunity to take a class on the WSU campus, participate in a 3-day field trip to Bryce Canyon National Park, and a 4-day field trip to Yellowstone National Park. Students were provided with a stipend to attend the course and tuition was covered, so students who work full time in the summer were not excluded. Our goal was to create a student cohort that moved though the CE and the summer bridge program together. They became comfortable on the WSU campus, knowledgeable of degree paths, and have the opportunity to become future leaders in the department and in their communities. Following the program multiple students have reached out to the WSU faculty with the intention of becoming geoscience majors.