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MCC Daily Tribune

Research Article by Professors Amanda Colosimo, Jessica Barone, and Lisa Flick

Geology Professors Amanda Colosimo and Jessica Barone, following grant work focused on trends in success rates in STEM through SAGE2YC (Supporting and Advancing Geoscience Education at Two-Year Colleges), collaborated with Biology Professor Lisa Flick to produce "Better together: Using course outcome data and learning communities to foster institutional change".  Professor Colosimo spearheaded the writing of this article with Professor Barone and Professor Flick as co-authors.  Please see the abstract below and click on the title above for the complete article:

Inspired by the SAGE 2YC project, we, the authors, examined course outcome data by demographics, which led to engagement of faculty across campus. Although our introductory-level geology course had one of the highest “C or better” rates in the institution, when we examined course success by demographics, significant racial inequities emerged. As part of our mission to reduce inequities college-wide, we encouraged faculty across our institution to examine their own course success rates and adopt pedagogical techniques that have demonstrated results at minimizing or eliminating inequities in course outcomes. We engaged faculty in a departmental equity group, a panel of cross-college departmental equity groups, a workshop series for STEM instructors, and a college-wide workshop on syllabus revision. Interdisciplinary faculty learning communities can effectively create systemic, bottom-up change by engaging faculty across disciplines to identify inequities within their sphere of influence.

This research article has been published in the Wiley Online Library within New Directions in Community Colleges Journal Volume 2022, Issue 199 "Catalyzing Change:  STEM Faculty as Change Agents".

Please join me in congratulating Amanda, Jessica, and Lisa on looking closely at who succeeds in their courses, taking steps to reduce the inequalities they discovered, and sharing their approach with faculty at MCC and beyond.

Margaret Kaminsky
STEM and Health
07/27/2022