GP-IMPACT: GEODES - GEOsciences Diversity, Excellence, and Support Program

Part 1

GEOsciences Diversity, Excellence, and Support (GEODES) is a program designed to increase retention and success of under-represented students in the Earth and Planetary Science Department at UCSC, an ongoing challenge for the Earth sciences in the USA. The program provides sustained mentoring, networking, reliable and current information about career paths and opportunities, as well as and professional development. This program will improve retention of students entering the major, ensure a positive and productive experience of a more diverse group of students in the EPS department and help students make the transitions from undergraduate to graduate study and beyond. Ultimately, this program will reduce disparities in graduation rate, course success, and overall GPA among Earth and Planetary Science Department under-represented undergraduates and increase the preparation and transfer of our primarily Hispanic under-represented students to graduate school and/or the geoscience workforce.

Part 2

GEODES goals are to reduce disparities in UM outcomes in passing courses, overall GPA, graduate school admission, and to improve job placement for UM and non-UM majors. To accomplish this goal, we will focus on UM academic support and building a sense of belonging within the Earth science community. Specifically, GEODES will focus on three activities: (1) Create a cohort-based support program, targeted to UM students called GEOACE, modeled on UCSC's successful Academic Excellence (ACE) program which has significantly increased UM retention and GPA in introductory STEM courses. Students in GEOACE will receive extra academic support (skills workshops, EPS course-based problem-solving sessions and professional development advising). (2) Offer a paid summer internship to UM students to expose them to geoscience work options and develop skills and connections to help them get jobs or aid in admission to graduate school. (3) Foster a geoscience student community and near-peer support system via a GeoSlugs Lounge Program. Open to all EPS undergraduate students, the Lounge will be a welcoming space to gather, develop friendships and get tutoring and mentoring from graduate students (guided, course-related problem solving as well as general advice and support). GEOACE instructors and Lounge tutor/mentors will receive pedagogy training through ACE.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.