Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force

In 2021, Interim Dean Dennis Hartmann appointed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force to take stock of the College of the Environment’s current efforts, assess our progress and consider how the Dean’s office can best support efforts in DEI across the College. The DEI Task Force is composed of faculty, staff and students from within the College. The Task Force gathered and synthesized input from across College units and departments with the goal of providing recommendations to incoming Dean Tolstoy for how the Dean’s office can support, coordinate, and sustain ongoing and future DEI efforts. The primary work of the Task Force was completed in Winter Quarter 2022, and the final report can be viewed here in PDF format.

On April 8, task force co-chairs Russell Callender and LuAnne Thompson joined Maggie Walker Dean Maya Tolstoy and UW Vice President for Minority Affairs & Diversity Rickey Hall to present the report and take questions from the College community.

Task Force members

  • Ashlee Abrantes – Environmental and Forest Sciences graduate student
  • Tim Billo – Program on the Environment Lecturer
  • Russell Callender (co-chair) – Director of Washington Sea Grant
  • Mary Dwyer – EarthLab Administrator
  • Brian Harvey – Environmental and Forest Sciences Assistant Professor
  • Randall Jones – Atmospheric Sciences graduate student
  • Jenny Liou – School of Marine and Environmental Affairs graduate student
  • Jaqueline Padilla-Gamiño – Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences Associate Professor
  • John Meyer – Dean’s Office, Director of Science Communication
  • Fang-Zhen Teng – Earth and Space Sciences Professor
  • LuAnne Thompson (co-chair) – Oceanography Professor

Past Updates

The Task Force had its first meeting on October 29 and started the process to develop a series of questions for each unit/department to address regarding their ongoing efforts and strategic plans to address DEI, to describe the DEI efforts that are working, and where they see challenges and problems.

November 30 update

The DEI Task Force has developed a list of questions focused on assessing the current status of DEI activities at the Unit level. The questions are below and focus on plans, policies, and status of Unit DEI efforts; recruitment and retention; training, accountability, and external engagement; and Dean’s Office support for DEI. These questions were sent to Unit Heads on November 29. Unit heads were given flexibility in terms of how they respond including working with their DEI Committees or others. The Units were requested to respond back to the Task Force by December 21. Smaller units will be given the option of opting out or only answering part of the questions.  The list of units that will receive the questions, the test of the transmittal memorandum to Unit Heads, and the set of questions that were sent to the Units are available in PDF format for those who are interested.