Pasadena City College Professor Chosen for National Science Foundation Program

Dr. Elizabeth Nagy-Shadman, associate professor of Geology at Pasadena City College, has been chosen to participate in the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Faculty as Change Agents: Transforming Geoscience Education in Two-year Colleges project.

The four-year project, part of NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education portfolio, will provide a series of professional development activities designed to help community college geoscience faculty improve the success of their students.

Nagy-Shadman will work with faculty at Mt. San Antonio College and other geoscience faculty in the Southern California region to support student success and transfer, improve active teaching techniques, and enhance student pathways into geoscience careers.

In addition to the faculty at PCC and Mt. San Antonio College, the project will support teams of community college faculty in nine other regions of the United States. The project will advance knowledge and understanding of effective professional development for faculty that promotes a cycle of innovation, where faculty learn from the research base and the work of others, make changes in their own practice, and share their results.

Nationwide, the project will impact more than 250,000 students, helping to meet the nation’s demands for a well-trained geoscience and STEM workforce as well as supporting the scientific literacy needs of our country.

“Teaching science, particularly Earth Science, in the community college is challenging. The diversity of backgrounds and motivations of student is huge. However, addressing the great challenges of our society requires solid understanding of the planet we live on” said Dr. Eric Baer of Highline College who is part of the project. “This program will address that critical need and is important not just for our region, but as a model for others across the country.”

Nagy-Shadman agrees that earth literacy is crucial for today’s students to make informed decisions as responsible world citizens. “Current and upcoming generations will increasingly face societal issues that are fundamentally connected to the earth, such as diminishing mineral and energy resources, supporting a rapidly expanding population, facing geologic hazards in urban areas, and addressing the rapid increase of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.”

“Community colleges students represent 46% of all U.S. undergraduates and 41% of all first-time Freshman,” says Nagy-Shadman, “This four-year project will focus on professional development activities, based on what education research tells us about how students learn, for geoscience faculty who interact daily with this significant college student population.”

For more information, contact Elizabeth Nagy-Shadman, eanagy-shadman@pasadena.edu.