Chemical Education Today
ChemEd Bridges: Building Bridges between Two-Year College Chemistry Faculty and the National Chemical Education Community by Harry Ungar* Department of Chemistry, Cabrillo College, Aptos, California 95003 *
[email protected] by David R. Brown Department of Chemistry, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, California 91910
What Is ChemEd Bridges? ChemEd Bridges is an NSF-funded project that provides career and professional development opportunities for chemistry faculty members who teach at two-year colleges (2YCs). We broaden the interests and the horizons of the 2YC chemistry faculty by building bridges between them and the broader community of chemical educators. In particular, we strive to increase the involvement of 2YC faculty members in ACS national and regional activities, and we work to strengthen relations between the chemistry departments of 2YCs and four-year colleges and universities. The ultimate goal of ChemEd Bridges is to improve the quality of foundational chemical education in the United States. This report will provide an overview of the: • Makeup of the 2YC student body and the faculty serving 2YC students • Recent ACS recommendations regarding activities in which 2YC faculty should participate • Extent of 2YC faculty involvement in ACS activities • Resources and opportunities ChemEd Bridges offers to bridge 2YC faculty to the national chemical education community
Who Are the Students That Two-Year Colleges Serve? As President Obama said recently, 2YCs are an important yet undervalued asset of the American higher-education system (1). 2YCs serve more than 40% of all American college students. They also provide a substantial portion of the nation's undergraduate chemistry instruction, particularly for students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. The 2YC student body also includes large numbers of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and students who are the first in their families to go to college. According to 2006 enrollment figures provided by the NSF Division of Science Resource Statistics (2), of the nation's 15.4 million undergraduates, 6.4 million (nearly 42%) were enrolled in 2YCs for credit. In 2009 (3), the American Association of Community Colleges listed the following enrollment percentages at 2YCs: • All U.S. undergraduates: 46% • First-time, first-year students: 41%
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African-American undergraduates: 46% Hispanic undergraduates: 55% Native American undergraduates: 55% Asian or Pacific Islander undergraduates: 46%
With respect to Science and Engineering (S&E) instruction, a 2004 NSF InfoBrief (4) reported that more than 40% of recent S&E graduates attended a community college. The same document stated that 28% of recent S&E graduates earned an associate's degree at a 2YC prior to transferring to their baccalaureate institution. Finally, 2YCs are responsible for much of the science education of future K-12 teachers. Roughly 40% of K-12 teachers complete some of their mathematics and science instruction at 2YCs (5). After completing a substantial amount of their foundational course work, many 2YC students transfer to a four-year college or university. For this reason, the quality of the chemistry courses at 2YCs significantly affects chemical education at the baccalaureate and higher levels. Because 2YC enrollments have increased at a greater rate than enrollments at four-year institutions, all of the statistics cited above may understate the contributions that 2YCs make to the nation's current and future scientific and technical workforce. Moreover, the percentages cited above are based on all undergraduate enrollments in both 2YCs and four-year institutions. Given that 2YCs enroll students only at the first-year and second-year levels, the percentage of 2YC students at the first two levels must be even higher than those listed above. Who Are the Chemistry Faculty at Two-Year Colleges? Faculty members at 2YCs constitute a sizable portion of the higher-education workforce. Nationwide, 2YC chemistry educators comprise 19% of the higher education chemistry workforce. This translates to roughly 2600 full-time 2YC chemistry educators and at least that many adjunct faculty (6, 7).1 All 2YC chemistry teachers hold at least the master's degree in chemistry. An increasing number of 2YC faculty members have doctoral degrees. Most 2YC faculty members do not carry out chemical research. Instead, their time is spent almost entirely on teaching students. 2YC faculty members often teach remedial and first-year science courses. Because 2YCs do not have teaching
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Chemical Education Today
assistants in laboratories, instructors teach all these lab sections. Across all disciplines, 2YC faculty members spend an average of 18 h per week in direct contact with their students. This is compared to only 8 h per week for faculty members at public doctoral institutions (8, 9). In other words, 2YC faculty members have opportunities for daily, face-to-face interactions with students that educators at four-year institutions might lack. Such interactions may inspire and excite students about science and encourage them to pursue science majors as they advance in their educational career. What Are the ACS Recommendations for 2YC Chemistry Faculty? ACS makes several recommendations as to the scholarly activities the 2YC chemistry faculty should pursue and that 2YC institutions should support. According to the most recent version of the ACS Guidelines for Chemistry in Two-Year College Programs (10), colleges should provide opportunities and resources that support faculty in attending professional meetings, promoting scholarly growth, and carrying out faculty-mentored research. The Guidelines also discuss innovation in classroom and lab instruction, partnerships with four-year institutions and high schools, student research, and scholarly activities. Unfortunately, although the Guidelines present a picture of an ideal chemistry department, they do not discuss ways to achieve it. ChemEd Bridges believes that all these activities are important, and we promote them as much as possible through multiple initiatives. Financial support from NSF allows ChemEd Bridges to provide some of the opportunities and resources that colleges are unable to supply, particularly in this time of economic contraction. What Is the Participation of Two-Year College Faculty in ACS? So far, we have discussed the importance of 2YC faculty to undergraduate education. We have also described some ACS recommendations regarding the activities 2YC chemistry faculty should undertake. But despite the size of the faculty, the number of students served, and their great importance to undergraduate education in the United States, most 2YC chemistry educators do not participate in ACS activities. Consider these data: • 2YC faculty members constitute only 8% of the total higher education membership of ACS (11). • Only 16% of all 2YC chemistry educators are ACS members, and a far lower percentage attend national or regional ACS meetings.2 • The Two-Year College Chemistry Consortium (2YC3), a branch of the ACS, has about 300 members, less than 15% of the total full-time faculty at 2YCs. • From personal observations at many national ACS meetings over the last 10 years, the PIs of this project estimate that fewer than 200 2YC chemistry faculty are active participants in these meetings or in curricular reforms of NSF-supported chemistry education programs and projects.3
In sum, the low participation of 2YC chemistry faculty in ACS meetings and activities is striking, given their importance to undergraduate education in the United States. One goal of ChemEd Bridges is to increase the participation of these faculty members at national and regional events.
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What Are the Opportunities, Resources, and Effects of ChemEd Bridges? So, how does ChemEd bridges support the 2YC chemistry faculty community? We do so in several ways. ChemEd Bridges promotes faculty development through travel awards, presenting papers, hosting discussions, informal mentoring, and networking. We also host symposia and workshops at ACS national and regional meetings, at the Biennial Conference of Chemical Education (BCCE), and at 2YC3 conferences. During the first 18 months of its NSF grant, ChemEd Bridges sponsored three symposia, one workshop, and many presentations made by ChemEd Bridge members at ACS and 2YC3 meetings. Symposia topics have included undergraduate research, improved teaching methods, and collaborations between 2YCs and four-year institutions. At the 2009 ACS National Meeting in Salt Lake City, for example, ChemEd Bridges conducted a symposium with representatives from Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL), the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), and other projects. This symposium was attended mainly by a 2YC audience. At these events, 80-90% of attendees were from 2YCs, and about 20% of those attendees were partially supported by our travel awards. Our most recent symposium was at the Spring 2010 ACS National Meeting in San Francisco, CA, and was attended by over 80 people, with about equal numbers of 2YC and 4YC participants. Our next symposium will be at the Summer BCCE in Denton, TX, starting on August 1, 2010. Because of the programming and travel support of ChemEd Bridges, hundreds of 2YC faculty members have attended ACS meetings and learned about the ideas that circulate among educators in the national community. As more 2YC faculty members come in contact with the national community, they make professional connections, expand their knowledge of new developments in chemical education, and increase their collaborations with faculty members at four-year institutions. ChemEd Bridges encourages the development of authentic and respectful collaborations between educators at 2YCs and at fouryear institutions. We also help four-year institutions better understand the culture and values of community colleges, as well as the strengths and limitations of 2YCs. Evaluations from our sessions were very positive, with some good suggestions for improvements. The most common response from our BCCE workshop was the pleasure and satisfaction that participants got through meeting and working with those sharing like interests. The structure of the workshop was based on small groups reporting out to the whole room, a method of presentation that required all those present to interact with each other. The major improvement suggested was to bring in more participants from four-year institutions while still keeping the 2YC majority. Conclusion The purpose of ChemEd Bridges is to improve the quality of foundational chemical education by expanding the horizons and enriching the careers of 2YC chemistry faculty. By engaging with the national educational community, 2YC faculty will become better teachers and mentors, contribute more to national priorities, and achieve greater satisfaction in their work. We support increased communication, collaboration, and mutual respect among all levels of college chemistry faculty members. This, in turn, promotes student success through better instruction and
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larger numbers of successful student transfers between 2YC and four-year institutions. Ultimately, our goal is to increase the quality and attraction of 2YC chemical education, the number of students that succeed in learning chemistry, and the general public's appreciation of the science of chemistry. At the 21st Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (August 1-5, 2010), we will host two symposia: ChemEd Bridges: A Retrospective On Its Impact, and Undergraduate Research That Engages Community College Students. For more information about this conference, go to http://www.bcce2010. org/home/home.php (accessed Mar 2010). We encourage 2YC faculty members to apply for funds that support travel expenses to these meetings; point your browser at http://www.chemedbridges.com/ (accessed Mar 2010). Acknowledgment The authors wish to express their sincere gratitude to fellow ChemEd Bridges team members: Mary K. Boyd, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences at the University of San Diego; and Thomas B. Higgins, Professor of Chemistry at Harold Washington College. Their contributions and commitment to the project have been invaluable. This work was supported through a grant from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. DUE 0737166). Notes 1. The 19% figure was calculated from data obtained in refs 6 and 7. Reference 6 estimates there are 4300 2YC chemistry faculty members nationwide, and ref 7 estimates there are 23,000 total higher education chemistry faculty members; thus, 4300/23,000 = 18.7%. 2. The 16% figure was calculated from data obtained in refs 2 and 3. Reference 2 estimates there are 4300 2YC chemistry faculty members nationwide, and ref 3 estimates there were 700 2YC chemistry faculty members who belonged to ACS in 2000; thus, 700/4300 = 16.3%. 3. Reliable statistics on this claim could not be found, but the PIs of the ChemEd Bridges project have collectively attended all but one ACS National Meeting since 2002. In all these meetings, they have met extremely few 2YC colleagues. Other colleagues have reported similar experiences.
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Literature Cited 1. Video recording from the Web site of the White House, Washington, DC. http://www.whitehouse.gov/video/President-Obama-AnnouncesAmerican-Graduation-Initiative (accessed Mar 2010). 2. National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2009; NSF: Arlington, VA, January 2009; NSF 09-305. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/ (accessed Mar 2010). 3. American Association of Community Colleges Fast Facts Web site. http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/Pages/fastfacts.aspx (accessed Mar 2010). 4. Tsapogas, J. The Role of Community Colleges in the Education of Recent Science and Engineering Graduates; National Science Foundation: Arlington, VA, April 2004; NSF 04-315. http:// www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf04315/ (accessed Mar 2010). 5. Shkodriani, G. Seamless Pipeline from Two-Year to Four-Year Institutions for Teacher Training. PT3 Policy Brief, Education Commission of the States, Denver, CO, 2004. 6. Ryan, M. A.; Neuschatz, M.; Wesemann, J.; Boese, J. A Snapshot of Chemistry Programs and Faculty at Two-Year Colleges. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 129–131. 7. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-2007 Edition: Teachers-Postsecondary. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos066.htm (accessed Mar 2010). 8. MLA Committee on Community Colleges, 2006: A Community College Teaching Career. http://www.mla.org/commcollege_ teachcar (accessed Mar 2010). 9. Cataldi, E. F.; Bradburn, E. M.; Fahimi, M. 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty ( NSOPF: 04): Background Characteristics, Work Activities, and Compensation of Instructional Faculty and Staff in Fall 2003. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics: Washibngton DC, May 2005. http://nces. ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2005172 (accessed Mar 2010). 10. ACS Guidelines for Chemistry in Two-Year College Programs. http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/education/policies/ twoyearcollege/WPCP_012239 (accessed Mar 2010). 11. American Chemical Society, Academic Chemists 2000—A Decade of Change: 1990-2000. http://portal.acs.org/portal/fileFetch/ C/CTP_006531/pdf/CTP_006531.pdf (accessed Mar 2010).
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