Description:

Two year colleges (2YC) play a unique role in the higher education landscape, serving students from urban and rural demographics, from high poverty neighborhoods, and communities with higher proportions of people of color. Therefore, transfer of students from 2YCs into atmospheric sciences or meteorology programs at four year colleges (4YCs) is a critical ingredient to insuring higher education in our field is inclusive and equitable. To meet the goal of successful recruitment and transfer of 2YC students to 4YC programs requires commitment, meaningful involvement, and relationship building from both 2YC and 4YC faculty and administrators. This session invites abstracts that address successes, opportunities, and challenges in the 2YC to 4YC landscape in the atmospheric sciences and meteorology landscape. We aim to delve into the conversation of where our field is already working to building relationships between 2YCs and 4YCs, blueprints for how other colleges can delve into this work, and best practices for addressing the roadblocks that we may face as we work to change the environment of 2YC to 4YC transfer to ensure it is just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive of all students.