247 Balancing Tradition and Innovation: Evolving Geoscience Curricula for a Changing World, Part I
This session examines geoscience curricula balancing traditional foundations and innovative, interdisciplinary approaches. We invite abstracts exploring how programs address evolving societal challenges while preparing students for licensure exams and diverse career pathways.
Wednesday, 22 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 301B
Geosciences at Two-Year Colleges: Innovating Around the Curriculum to Address Modern Workforce Needs.
Paper number: 247-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:20 AM – 8:35 AM
Authors
Abstract
Community colleges occupy a vital space. As open-access institutions, we serve a diverse student population that more often faces academic, work, and family challenges. Many are also limited to specific course or program credit maximums, and institutional agreements make it more difficult to adapt curriculum quickly to meet a changing world.
Recruiting our students into the geosciences isn’t easy. Widely considered “found majors,” students often discover geosciences later, typically during their second year, making early recruitment particularly challenging. Despite these obstacles, two programs at Suffolk Community College have shown promise in attracting and retaining geoscience majors while also providing students innovative experiences:
NSF S-STEM: Improved Support for Undergraduates in Community College Engaged in STEM Studies (I-SUCCESS)I-SUCCESS provides scholarships for economically disadvantaged STEM students. Beyond financial aid, it offers monthly academic and social meetings, seminars with leading scientists, and interdisciplinary career-development workshops, fostering a needed sense of academic belonging and community. NSF FRES: Integrating Fluorspar Ages and Geophysical Models to Constrain the Timing and Mechanisms of the Collapse of the Cordillera in SW North America (FRES), the college’s first externally funded geoscience research award, is a collaborative effort involving Suffolk County Community College, Stony Brook University, Columbia University, SUNY Oswego, and Kingsborough Community College. In addition to advancing its core research mission, the program provides stipends for student peer mentors, hands-on geologic field workshops, and internships for students interested in geophysical modeling and geochronology.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6
doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-414319
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