Diversity Efforts: University of California, Berkeley, and Other

Chapter 8

Downloaded by NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV on December 30, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): October 26, 2017 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2017-1256.ch008

Diversity Efforts: University of California, Berkeley, and Other William A. Lester, Jr. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-1460, United States *E-mail: [email protected]

The College of Chemistry Scholars Program (COCSP) was established at the University of California, Berkely, in 1991 to promote and advance the educational and career opportunities of students from underrepresented groups in the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering. It also seeks to address industry’s needs for a diverse pool of individuals qualified for employment as well as the societal need to understand the chemical and technical processes that shape our lives. This article provides a brief history and the accomplishments of the program and also summarizes some of the author’s activities relating to diversity.

Introduction In response to an invitation from the ACS Committee on Minority Affairs, I was invited to speak at a symposium on “How to Foster Diversrsity in the Chemical Sciences: Lessons Learned & Taught from the Stories of Recipients of the Stanley C. Israel Award.” I was an awardee in 2008. This paper summarizes some of the activities I was engaged in leading up to the Award. I joined the faculty of the department of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1981. With my appointment as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs in the College of Chemistry, University of California (UC), Berkeley, I established a program patterned after the campus’s Professional Development Program (PDP) in mathematics. The PDP had achieved significant success in assisting students of color through the barrier courses in mathematics. As a member of the advisory committee to PDP, the Special Scholarships © 2017 American Chemical Society Nelson and Cheng; Diversity in the Scientific Community Volume 2: Perspectives and Exemplary Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Committee, I was afforded an excellent opportunity to appreciate the workings of PDP.


PDP Background In 1974, the PDP was created to support students from the most marginalized and underpriviledged groups, and to help them achieve success in STEM majors. Under the leadership of Professor Leon Henkin of the Department of Mathematics, the program saw nearly every student who fit the profile of interest. The core mission of PDP was to create a learning community of undergraduate minority math and science students. The workshop model of enrichment was developed by mathematics graduate student, Uri Treisman (1), of UC Berkeley’s science education program, SESAME. For his thesis research, Treisman followed a group of African-American undergraduate students and a group of Chinese immigrant students at the University of California to study their academic and social habits. Based on his observations, he surmised that despite their lower average grades, the African-American students were just as capable as the Chinese immigrant students. He found, however, important differences between the groups’ academic and social lives: Africa-American students separated their social and academic lives to a much greater extent than the Chinese immigrants. Specifically, the African-American students more likely studied alone. Consequently, Treisman evolved a model that, in addition to stressing high academic goals, identified cooperative and small group learning as a key element of success. Treisman hypothesized (2) that this academic isolation was the main factor separating the two groups in academic performance, and he developed a series of workshops to change this pattern. His workshops brought together students from the target group in a social setting to work collaboratively on challenging academic problems. A former PDP director, Steven Chin, pointed out that this was a major departure from the norm at the time, when many support programs for African-American students were either social or academic, and were also often remedial. The Treisman model for academic socialization is the basis upon which the College of Chemistry effort was built.

College of Chemistry Scholars Program (CoCSP) The establishment of the CoCSP (3) was one of my first acts as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs, CoC, UC Berkeley. Similar to PDP, the goal of CoCSP was to promote and advance educational and career opportunities of students from groups historically underrepresented in chemistry and chemical engineering. The target groups included African Americans, Native American, and Latino students. The program consisted of an outreach/recruitment component for K-12 students and a retention component for students admitted to the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry. 92 Nelson and Cheng; Diversity in the Scientific Community Volume 2: Perspectives and Exemplary Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


The CoCSP outreach (K-12) efforts included elementary and high school demonstration programs, two Saturday events (one for ninth graders and another for tenth grade students. These programs met for ten weeks during Spring semesters). There were also two 6-week summer courses for ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students. Program participants carried out laboratory experiments and attended selected lectures by UC Berkeley faculty in addition to ongoing instruction by high school teachers. Further guidance was provided by advanced undergraduate and graduate students specially selected and trained for the program. Important elements of the pre-college program were the development of a precollege teacher network to work with CoC faculty to pilot improved curricula. An additional component involved the expansion of community college interactions to facilitate matriculation of targeted students. The CoC’s retention program, modeled after the successful PDP pioneered by Treisman sought to provide a rich intellectual community life that affirmed both their diversity and their intellectual interests and professional goals. The lower division efforts were focused on intensive workshops for general chemistry and organic chemistry. In addition to intensive workshops, students were provided opportunities to meet faculty and to learn about their research projects, take lab tours, and to become informed about research, internships, and scholarship opportunities. The College designated a room for CoCSP to which all participants had exclusive access. The room was supplied with information on research internships, scholarships, study guides, and copies of worksheets and solution sets. It served as a resource and study center, and the site for additional tutoring. The retention program efforts and activities were designed to foster a sense of community and mutual support among CoCSP students and to promote identification with the College, faculty, CoCSP staff, and upper-division students. The outreach component served over ninety percent of targeted group members. Initial success of the workshop was reflected in a full grade improvement in Chemistry 1A of those students who participated in the Program. Also, while I was Dean, students in the workshop scored above the class mean on all midterm examinations, and averaged almost a full grade point above the historical average of students from the target groups.

Other Other activities pertinent to diversity and the Israel Award in which I was involved include the following: Gordon Research Conferences: Chair, Blue Ribbon Panel on Diversity, 2006-7. Invited Speaker, Staff Training in Extramural Programs Committee Forum, “Minority Programs Under Fire: Recent Court Decisions,” National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, March 20, 1997. 93 Nelson and Cheng; Diversity in the Scientific Community Volume 2: Perspectives and Exemplary Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Invited Discussant and Organizing Committee Member, “Human Resource Challenges for the 21st Century” workshop. Component of the meeting, “Reorganizing Research and Development for the 21st Century,” funded by the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, Washington, D. C. April 24-26, 1997.


Invited Discussant, “Recruitment of Underrepresented Students into Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Research Training Programs,” National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, May 15, 1997. AAAS: National Co-Chair, Science Linkages in the Community, 199397. Advisory Board, Atlanta University Center Science Research Institute; Advisory Board, Model Institutions of Excellence Program, Spelman College; Board, Museum of African American Technology (MAAT), Oakland, CA; External Board, Howard University CREST Center: Nanomaterials Science Characterization and Processing Technology; External Board, Jackson State University CREST Center: Computation for Molecular Structure and Interaction; External Advisory Committee, Jackson State University, Science and Technology Access to Research and Graduate Education (STARGE). Board of Directors, Chabot Observatory and Science Center, Oakland, California, 1991-95; 1997-2001. Advisor, Science Programs, Upward Bound, University of California, Berkeley, 1991, and later years.

References 1.

2. 3.

Treisman, P. U. A Study of the Performance of Black Students at the University of California, Berkeley. Ph.D. Thesis; University of California, Berkeley, 1985. Treisman, P. U. Department of Mathematics, University of Texas, private communication. College of Chemistry Scholars Program (COCSP) website. http:// chemistry.berkeley.edu/ugrad/current-students/scholars-program.

94 Nelson and Cheng; Diversity in the Scientific Community Volume 2: Perspectives and Exemplary Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Diversity Efforts: University of California, Berkeley, and Other

Recommend Documents