Report:

Conference Proceedings

Expanding Opportunities in Ocean Sciences

I. CONFERENCE PLANNING

This conference was planned to continue discussion initiated at a previous NOAA Equal Employment Office (EEO) conference held in Rockville, Maryland in 1993. The discussion centered around the concern that there are still not minorities available for hiring in large numbers in the field of Ocean Sciences and as such the NMFS is faced with the dilemma of increasing its diversity at the same time it is faced with low numbers from which to recruit.

Ambrose Jearld, Jr., Chief of Research Planning and Evaluation at the NOAA Fisheries in Woods Hole agreed to consider this dilemma, research the issue, and report the findings. His findings on the access and opportunities for minorities in the field of Oceanography included the following:

In 1990, only about 3% of enrolled graduate students enrolled in oceanography were African, Hispanic, Native, or Asian Americans.

The National Research Council, in 1992, reported that the percentage of underrepresented ethnic groups was low in both the population of employed oceanographers (7.7%) and the Joint Oceanographic Institutions Incorporated (JOI) student population (2.5%).

At the graduate level, oceanography was still dominated by white American males.

Since the 1980s, there has been a steady increase in women entering graduate training in all areas of oceanography, including physical and chemical oceanography.

His findings indicated that progress has been made by these ethnic and gender groups but it appears uneven within and among them.

In suggesting that the oceanographic community has the resources to act upon the lack of minorities in the Ocean Sciences, Dr. Jearld noted that "historically, the combined oceanographic community has enjoyed rather powerful and substantial supporters in the private and federal sectors" and that this community has shown remarkable ingenuity in developing mechanisms to coordinate multi-institutional resources. He also noted the challenge laid before the NOAA in 1992 by the National Research Council, quoting from that report: "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a wide range of responsibilities in ocean matters but is just beginning to develop significant research programs in many of its areas of responsibility. The future vitality of basic oceanographic research within academia may depend on its forging productive partnerships with NOAA. In general, the partnerships must extend beyond financial relationships to include the sharing of intellect, data, instrument development, facilities and labor."

Many of the JOI institutions achieved their current rank by virtue of strategic funding initiatives by the federal government intended to bolster the nation's capacity for ocean science research after World War II. The nation is now in a position to invest some of its resources to ensure a diverse workforce capable of ensuring the future economic and cultural sustainability of marine resources and communities. There are a number of HBMSCUs poised to make a quantum leap in this effort. In order to do so, however, there must be a fundamental change in the way the policy makers make funding available because it is clear that "special" one-time efforts may do more harm than good in terms of their sustained growth and productivity. In other words, unless the rules change, traditional efforts will produce traditional results and achieving a diverse workforce in Ocean Sciences will always be a goal rather than a reality.

While the NOAA Fisheries was deciding how to support the expansion of minorities in the Ocean Sciences, a critical conference was held in September 1994 jointly sponsored by the NOAA and a number of universities. The conference, The NOAA/University Partnership Conference, was held to improve the existing cooperation and constructive partnership between universities and NOAA. The participants addressed the major issues of concern in the NOAA-University relationship and proposed new and innovative mechanisms to resolve them. A specific plan of action and a timetable to accomplish the objectives of the conference was developed.

In the same month, the JOI produced a consortium, authorized for incorporation by Edward J. Freel, Secretary of State of Delaware, known as the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education, Inc. (CORE). The main purposes of this consortium are to advance knowledge in the science of oceanography and to disseminate such knowledge to the public and to the scientific community; to formulate policies and goals for educational and research programs and facilities in the marine sciences and related fields; to promote the exchange of information and knowledge, encouraging cooperative efforts among the members of the consortium; and to raise funds for the advancement of the study of the Ocean Sciences. While this consortium does not focus specifically on minority issues, it is concerned with meeting the same educational and research goals as the NOAA and its successful incorporation gave further impetus for a separate conference focusing on the NOAA's educational and outreach goals as they related to minorities and minority involvement in the Ocean Sciences.

Accordingly, on January 25, 1995, the NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) approved the proposal to sponsor a conference, Expanding Opportunities in Ocean Sciences designed to assess the status of minorities in Ocean Sciences and to identify ways to increase their access to education at Joint Oceanographic Institutions. Dr. Ambrose Jearld then solicited representatives from oceanographic institutions, including the JOI, to serve as a steering committee. A list of the steering committee members is found in the Appendices. As the conference was planned, five organizations became co-sponsors: the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC), the Southern Association of Marine Laboratories (SAML), the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), The Oceanographic Society (TOS), and The National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the main sponsor.

The steering committee met twice, on February 7, 1995 and on April 12, 1995. At the first meeting, the steering committee members identified the target participants and established the goals and mission statement of the conference as follows:

The purpose of the conference is to form a partnership among government science agencies, and academia to develop strategies and an action plan to increase minority student enrollment in and successful completion of degree programs leading to employment in ocean science.

At the second meeting, the members discussed the types of networking that allowed for the most effective recruitment into the Ocean Sciences. This discussion determined the structure of the conference and its inclusion of panel discussion groups and smaller, single issue, work groups. As Dr. Jearld said, emphasizing the importance of time to meet and interact with people, "Many people in the majority institutions think you can make paper talk. If you want to recruit and retain minority candidates you have to find ways, in your travels, to take the time to stop and visit these institutions and meet the person head-on." Finally, the group determined that the conference would emphasize recommendations for constructive action.

Thus the conference was designed and set for September 1995, the beginning of the academic year.

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