The department’s new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee formed in spring 2021. The committee aims to coordinate, expand, amplify, and support efforts to broaden justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) within our community. The committee includes faculty, staff, post doc, graduate student, and undergraduate student representation, and serves as a resource and sounding board for the department
Committee members include: Liz Hajek associate head for DEI, Sridhar Anandakrishnan professor, Chris Boxe, associate research professor, Chelsie Bowman, postdoctoral scholar, Cameron Brown, undergraduate student, Fai Chanchai, graduate student, Maureen Feineman, associate research professor, Kim Lau, assistant professor, Angelina Santamaria, undergraduate student, Nicole Stocks, alumni relations and industry recruiting coordinator, and Jasmine Walker, graduate student.
Realizing our departmental vision of building a truly inclusive and supportive environment requires both cultural change and broader representation within our community. To these ends, the DEI committee aims to engage in activities such as: supporting undergraduate and graduate admissions and recruitment efforts; developing, reviewing, and revising departmental policies and practices for recruiting, hiring, and mentoring; supporting efforts to secure external funding for DEI-related programs including research opportunities for undergraduates (REUs); facilitating relationship-building and scientific partnerships with faculty and students at minority serving institutions and the Penn State Commonwealth campuses; improving awareness and knowledge of JEDI-related issues among department community; help with literacy and skill building for individuals; and organizing activities and events to build community and increase feelings of appreciation and inclusion of all members of the department.
Nationally, the urgency of prioritizing JEDI progress in geosciences was elevated by the NSF-funded Unlearning Racism in Geosciences (URGE) initiative in early 2021. URGE had approximately 4,500 participants in more than 300 groups or “pods” spanning a wide range of geoscience departments, organizations, and companies. This program included scholarly readings, personal accounts, interviews with experts, and practical tips organized around important themes of how racism impacts geoscience.
The curriculum was designed to prepare groups to take actionable steps to dismantle systems that perpetuate the exclusion of Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC individuals) in geoscience communities. Penn State geosciences participated with an active pod of more than twenty-five members spanning all ranks of the department.
In addition to producing draft deliverables (view online at: https://urgeoscience.org/pods/penn-state-geosciences/), this experience provided community building opportunities by allowing different groups of students, faculty, and post docs to engage and get to know one another.
During the year, the DEI committee will be facilitating expanded engagement with the URGE program for the department as a platform for continued education, discussion, community engagement, and policy change.