Here we present current demographic information, barriers to broad participation in our department, and goals to increase recruitment, retention, and advancement of URMs in our department.
URM = Underrepresented Minority, refers to groups that are historically marginalized and therefore underrepresented in the geosciences, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Consistent with UB, we also use the term URM to include LGBTQ and differently able persons, although there are little to no data available about participation by these groups in the geosciences.
Demographic data:
UB Geology degrees granted 2016 to 2020
● BS: 28% female; 13% URM (total degrees 7 to 27 per year)
● BA: 45% female; 5% URM (total degrees 1 to 8 per year)
US Geoscience departments awarded bachelor’s degrees to 40-45% female and 13-15% URM during same time period (AGI Geoscience current 10/19/20)
Significant barriers:
● Little knowledge of Geology as a viable career, family pressures to not study geology; stereotype bias of geology as a field for outdoorsy types, or as a ‘labor’ job that doesn’t require a college degree
● Lack of knowledge of the altruistic-based work (i.e., work that directly benefits/gives back to one’s people/culture/community) that one can do with a geology degree, yet altruistic values are more important to minority students than their white peers
● Field camp, a required & expensive summer capstone course
● Underpreparedness compared to white peers
● Lack of role models and lack of cohort
Goal:
We seek to increase the number of URM undergraduate students enrolled in our program through:
● Building on our existing collegial environment and curriculum to promote retention and advancement of all undergraduate students
● Normalizing excellent mentoring practices across the department and leaning more on the outstanding role models in our department and at UB
● Increasing visibility of geosciences as a degree that will launch students into successful, lucrative professions in service to their communities
Demographic data:
UB Geology degrees granted 2006 to 2020
● MS/MA: 34% female; 7% URM (total degrees 0 to 20 per year)
● PhD: 42% female; 6% URM (total degrees 0 to 6 per year)
US Geoscience depts. awarded master’s degrees to 40-45% female and 7-10% URM; PhD degrees to 40-45% female and 5-7% URM during same time period (AGI)
Significant barriers for underrepresented minority students:
● Little knowledge of Geology as a viable career, family pressures to not study geology; stereotype bias of geology as a field for outdoorsy types, or as a ‘labor’ job that doesn’t require a college degree
● Lack of knowledge of the altruistic-based work one can do with a geology degree, yet altruistic values are important to minority students
● Graduate application does not assess skills and attributes that we want in grad students, instead emphasizes numbers and past opportunities (e.g., a lengthy CV)
● Funding (or lack thereof)
● Lack of role models and lack of cohort
● Field camp: Currently required for MS and PhD students (not non-thesis MS)
Goal:
We seek to increase the number of URM graduate students enrolled in our program through:
● Building on our existing collegial environment and curriculum that supports all graduate students through to graduation on schedule, and advances them beyond their careers at UB
● Normalizing excellent mentoring practices across the department and leaning more on the outstanding role models in our department and at UB
● Increasing visibility of geosciences as a degree that will launch students into successful, lucrative professions in service to their communities
Demographic data:
Data for 1997 to 2020
● Roughly constant at 45% female since 2006
● Only 1 URM, starting in 2014 (~8%)
We are working to obtain data for faculty at US Geoscience departments.
Significant barriers:
● Lack of opportunities (funding, networking, speaking, etc.) in grad school and postdoc
● What proportion of previous applicants have been from URMs?
● Potential bias in teaching and service loads
Goal:
We seek to increase the number of URM faculty in our department through:
● Building on our existing collegial environment to retain and advance all faculty
● Recognizing the range of strengths and contributions that each faculty brings to the department and discipline
● Developing a rigorous process to recruit from the full pool of excellent candidates
References:
Baber, L.D., Pifer, M.J., Colbeck, C., Furman, T., 2010. Increasing Diversity in the Geosciences: Recruitment Programs and Student Self-Efficacy. null 58, 32–42. https://doi.org/10.5408/1.3544292
Stokes, P.J., Levine, R., Flessa, K.W., 2015. Choosing the Geoscience Major: Important Factors, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender. Journal of Geoscience Education 63, 250–263. https://doi.org/10.5408/14-038.1
Thoman, D.B., Brown, E.R., Mason, A.Z., Harmsen, A.G., Smith, J.L., 2015. The Role of Altruistic Values in Motivating Underrepresented Minority Students for Biomedicine. BioScience 65, 183–188. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biu199