Christine M. Rodrigue Professor and Chair Department of Geography California State University

1. Christine M. Rodrigue Professor and Chair Department of Geography California State University Long Beach, CA 90840-1101 http://www.csulb.edu/geography/ Geography Diversity Initiatives at California State University, Long Beach: The Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program

2. Geography Major Enrollments in the California State Universities • Geography in the CSU slid 30% from 1,184 in F/92 to 829 in F/02 • Geography major enrollments in the CSU have eased back up 10% from F/02 to 910 in F/05

3. Geography at CSULB Compared with AllCalifornia State Universities • Geography @ The Beach dropped from 9% of all CSU geography majors in F/92 to 7% in F/00 • CSULB relative enrollments have shot up to 13% of the whole in F/05 • CSULB accounts for fully 64% of the total system growth in geography from F/02 to F/05!

4. Geography Initiatives at CSULB to Increase the Diversity and the Number of Majors • Geography has tried to find out where our majors come from and then worked on cultivating those sources: • Community college transfers • General education advising by Academic Advising and other offices advising the undeclared major • Geography has developed friendly relationships with other programs in similar circumstances and there are a number of win-win collaborations • The one I’ll focus on today is the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Project (GDEP)

5. Relative Size of Geography & Cognate Majors at CSULB as a Function of Diversity • Geography, Geology, Anthropology, and Environmental Science & Policy enrollments as a percentage of their maximum enrollments F/97-F/05 by the percentage of their majors who are non-Hispanic white • As diversity drops, so do enrollments!

6. GDEP: Interdisciplinary Partnerships To Improve Opportunities for Students • A 3 year teaming among CSULB faculty in Geological Sciences, Geography, and Anthropology • Committed to working across departments and colleges and with 5 community colleges (CC) and 5 LBUSD high schools -- to provide interdisciplinary earth system science research opportunities • Dedicated to closing the gap between community demographics and 4-year college geoscience student demographics (i.e., fewer underrepresented students in geosciences compared to their community populations) • Activities include • assessment of attitudes toward geosciences among CSULB, community college, and LBUSD students • intensive eight-week summer research institute involving 25-40 CSULB, LBUSD, CC students, and faculty)

7. Red= Low Income Areas 0 4 miles CSULB LBUSD HS CC GDEP Partners & Field Sites

8. GDEP Outcomes Extensive Summer Research Program: Student involvement: 29 students involved over 3 years (27 from underrepresented groups) Faculty involvement: >30 CSULB, community college, and high school faculty Observable Changes in Participant Attitudes: Students: greater self-confidence, higher educational aspirations, nearly all in the geosciences Community college and high school faculty: more hands-on class activities, more knowledge of geoscience career possibilities CSULB faculty : better understanding of challenges students face – particularly students from urban, lower income areas; more interest in community-based, interdisciplinary, earth systems science research projects Dissemination: Publications: 5 papers published or in press in geoscience and/or education oriented journals, 1 with student co-authors Abstracts of presentations: >30, about half with student co-authors Website: http://www.csulb.edu/geography/gdep/

9. GDEP Outcomes: Growth and Diversification

10. GDEP Outcomes: Growth and Diversification in Geography

11. GDEP and Gender: Geography Is Still Lagging

12. Conclusions • Enrollments in geography CAN grow • IF departments reach out to others with common interests, e.g., in the earth and environment, both on the same campus and at other institutions nearby • IF departments creatively explore advising channels on their campuses and among source campuses • IF departments implement structures and programs that reward working together, such as the GDEP research experience for undergraduates • Our appeal cannot be confined to a declining demographic • Success in recruiting increasingly demands catching the attention of underrepresented minority students, especially in California and other border states • It also requires appealing to the job-centric working class and poor student, particularly in comprehensive urban universities … and universities with rural service areas • Gender balance has improved but there are still expansion possibilities in recruiting women and girls

13. Acknowledgments and More Information • All of us who participated in GDEP would like to thank and acknowledge the National Science Foundation • We received $852,000 under NSF GEO 01-19891 • Geography, Geological Sciences, and Anthropology at CSULB • Long Beach City College, Cerritos College, El Camino College, Saddleback College, Orange Coast College, Irvine Valley College, Long Beach Unified School District high schools • Information about GDEP and Geography @ “The Beach” • http://www.csulb.edu/geography/gdep/ • http://www.csulb.edu/geography/ • http://www.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/research.html#education