The tragic events of spring quarter have emphasized the tremendous amount of work that still needs to be done to counteract the mistreatment and marginalization of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPoC) and create an environment that is more just, more equitable and more inclusive. Schools, programs, institutes and departments within the College of the Environment have been working hard to refine, rethink and deepen their work in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) space, often led by unit-level diversity committees. Groups within UW Environment have put in an immense amount of thought and care into building and rebuilding measures to carry this work into the future.
This work can not be reflective of the larger community without including said community in ongoing conversations about how DEI should look within College units. Groups within the College like the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences have set up forums for open discussion about topics within diversity, equity and inclusion, with the option of additional open forums available for deeper discussions with smaller groups.
Group DEI committees have also provided trainings for education on topics surrounding DEI. EarthLab staff engage in educational opportunities to support their collective capacity to support transdisciplinary and justice work, and in August the Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies held a microaggressions workshop facilitated by Elba Moise.
Many groups within the College of the Environment have utilized the summer break to reflect upon and refine preexisting DEI plans, like Washington Sea Grant’s multi-year DEI roadmap. Multiple groups have also implemented a diversity hiring tool to increase diversity among staff, faculty and postdoctoral researchers. This includes implicit bias training as well as broadening the pool of applicants to include groups that may not have been previously included.
“It’s really important for us to push DEI in all that we do, so we really challenged ourselves to see if we can take our passion for DEI principles and incorporate that into our programming so we can not only influence each other but also all of Washington and all of our constituents,” says Sea Grant Director Russell Callender. “I’ve been really gratified to see that what we’re doing here in Washington is influencing DEI efforts for Sea Grants around the nation.”
Groups including the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and the Program on the Environment have centered their lecture series around DEI topics and are featuring speakers from underrepresented groups.
“The Bevan lecture series looks both inward and outward in the sense that we will advertise this online and public seminar series very broadly, but it is also linked to an undergraduate and interactive graduate class,” says School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences Director Andre Punt. “The day after the public lecture, graduate students have the opportunity to meet with the speaker in class to discuss the lecture in depth and spend some time to have a conversation within a smaller group. The undergraduate class will discuss themes that emerge from the lecture series, and are given readings to explore the lecture in a deeper way.”
Many groups with graduate programs, like the Departments of Earth and Space Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences and the School of Oceanography have modified the application process to allow for a more holistic review of potential students. This includes the removal of the GRE, additional personal statements to allow for a deeper understanding of the applicant’s background and experiences and applications to the AGU Bridge program.
“The opportunity to apply for the AGU Bridge program came up last year, but as a diversity committee we were so new that we weren’t ready to apply but it provided a framework for our work. It was a motivator and a vehicle for moving forward, so we worked hard during fall and winter quarters to revamp graduate admissions to be more inclusive. We wrote a comprehensive report to faculty to justify these changes, which made it relatively easy to apply for the Bridge program and allow for a broader look at applicants,” says committee chair LuAnne Thompson. “It is important for our role in society to be representative of the society as a whole instead of just white scientists. We lose when we don’t have a difference of perspectives, and the science also loses.”
While much work remains to be done in the DEI space, we also want to recognize the amount of work and effort that has continually been put into racial equity at the group level. Recently, Friday Harbor Laboratories was awarded the 2020 Human Diversity Award from the Organization of Biological Field Stations for their continued engagement of underrepresented groups in field science.
“We enter Fall quarter with a momentum on DEI that I have never witnessed before. It seems like every day, I am learning about a new initiative or action that is coming from groups of faculty, postdocs, staff and students assessing what they can do right now to address systemic racism and social injustice,” says Dean Lisa Graumlich. “People are having difficult conversations and rolling up their sleeves to engage in the long-term work of making the College a place where everyone can thrive. I am excited to see us uncovering new ways to make sure that our research and teaching on the environment includes a social justice lens.”
Below are lists of some of our unit-level DEI efforts; more information is available on all unit websites or by contacting unit-level diversity committees.
Atmospheric Sciences
- Eliminate the requirement for the GRE exam for graduate students
- Host and co-host a number of seminars or trainings directed at DEI goals
- Conduct surveys for feedback on progress and suggestions for improvement
- Create seminar class on ‘Justice and Equity in Academia and Beyond’
- Applied to AGU Bridge Program
- Support student-led outreach programs that engage about 1,000 K-12 students to interest them in STEM science, many from economically disadvantaged or ethnically and racially diverse districts
Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
- Create a diversity and inclusion page with a slew of resources, tools and space for feedback, including an assessment rubric
- Create Diversity Hiring Tool
- Provide lactation room for nursing parents
- Provide feedback on a draft of a land acknowledgement guide
- Restructure 2021 Bevan Seminar Series to center around the role of aquatic science in fostering a more diverse, inclusive and equitable STEM community. All seminars are recorded and available on the SAFS YouTube.
- Host ongoing Zoom discussions on racism with opportunities for separate meetings for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPoC) students, staff, postdocs and faculty
Earth and Space Sciences
- Continue Space Grant and MESSAGe programs
- Incorporate DEI topics into existing courses and creating new courses with an emphasis in DEI
- Suspend inclusion of GRE scores in the graduate application process for a year
- Increase access to field activities
- Create alternatives for our capstone field class
- Design a new field preparation course
- Institute instructor training on undergraduate field trip best practices
- Develop a field-access opportunity program for graduate students which aims to reduce barriers to participate in remote fieldwork
- Increase ability to support students through funding
- Improve funding decision-making process for transparency, inclusiveness and less bias
- Seek new funding sources that are directly oriented towards minoritized groups
Environmental and Forest Sciences
- Develop a new comprehensive DEI Plan
- Organize quarterly open meetings for the entire SEFS community
- Develop a space in SEFS devoted to supporting the diverse student community
- Establish lactation room
- Improve the photos throughout SEFS facilities to better reflect the community
Oceanography
- Eliminate the requirement for the GRE exam for graduate students
- Explain how to request a waiver of the application fee and give example of a resume for applicants to describe their past experience
- Create space for a second personal statement where applicants can explain any circumstances that may have affected their academic studies and provide insight into how their background will add to the community of the school
- Apply to AGU Bridge Program
- Hold training for faculty on avoiding microaggressions
- Plan training on graduate student mentoring
- Hold bi-weekly book/reading discussion on diversity related issues open to the entire school
- Conduct culture survey with participation from across the school and director’s office-led discussion of results
- Start conversations about how best to support our students, both graduate and undergrad as well as postdocs
- Evaluate procedures and practices and how they help or hinder progress in programs
- Focus on whether the procedures support individuals from all backgrounds during their time in Oceanography
- Revise website to highlight diversity, equity and inclusion efforts
- Highlight the work of a diverse set of early career scientists in our fall departmental seminar series
Program on the Environment
- Continue conversations with and receive feedback from students
- Host Open Spaces conversation events
- Enact significant changes in the curriculum no later than the end of the next academic year, including adding an environmental justice course requirement to major
- Thread environmental and social justice courses through curriculum
- Advocate for and help create environmental justice courses across College
- Create space on website with diversity statement and resources
- Include Coast Salish land acknowledgement on website
Marine and Environmental Affairs
- Form the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs’ Diversity Forum, comprised of students, postdocs and faculty
- Host Environmental Justice Speakers lecture series
- Create curriculum centered around diverse lived experiences
- Create curriculum to explore how marine and environmental policies may perpetuate inequality
- Develop interdisciplinary frameworks and methodologies
- Incorporate underrepresented ideas, experiences and perspectives, whether through coursework, community engagement or research
- Publish student-produced content in Currents blog featuring many posts about DEI
Washington Sea Grant
- Create DEI Roadmap, a multi-year plan outlining goals and action steps for accomplishing those goals as an organization
- Create internal subgroups that address specific topic areas (anti-racism training, tribal relations, employee and advisory, trainings and resources, onboarding, etc.)
- Hold DEI office hours – rotating staff host set times for anyone to stop in and talk about any topic
Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies
- Host microaggressions workshop facilitated by Elba Moise
- Host series of open meetings for all employees on DEI topics that cover the entire employee life cycle
- Create DEI working group hosted open meetings for all employees to gather feedback and ideas related to DEI initiative
- Rethink onboarding process
- Start a peer mentor program
Friday Harbor Laboratories
- Winner of the 2020 Human Diversity Award from the Organization of Biological Field Stations
- Diversity seminar series
- Participate in the NSF REU program, which supports active research participation by minority groups
- Increase diversity of academic and research staff
EarthLab
- Develop changes in operations such as hiring and grantmaking that address systemic issues of inequity and racism
- Facilitate lasting change by dismantling the structures within the environmental field and/or academia that are promoting inequity, racism and harm
- Develop program evaluation methodology that provides clarity of accountability, increased likelihood for taking action and clear line of sight to making progress
- Attend required educational opportunities that elevate our collective capacity to support transdisciplinary and justice work
- Develop an integrated set of activities that supports member organization and core staff (and ultimately UW) connections with community organizations in the region and increases awareness of tribal sovereignty and knowledge of what it means to work with Indigenous communities
- Listen to BIPoC leaders and actively participate in activities that help retain and support BIPoC colleagues at UW