Welcome back students, faculty and staff! The DEI committee has been hard at work over the past month. We provided syllabus statements for increasing inclusivity in the classroom, offered a workshop on Counter-storytelling for graduate students, and worked with the various other committees across the department to discuss and implement changes that increase our inclusive practices. Faculty also engaged in trainings regarding holistic admissions practices. We have two subcommittees: the Student Taskforce which is led by Katelyn Greene and Hana Chan to work on student-centric activities and initiatives and the Student Success Committee led by Prof. Miguel Perez which works on activities and events that can help to “de-mystify” higher education and give insight into graduate school applications, job interviews, and the various milestones throughout academic life. It was also great to see many of you at the recent AIMBE/BMES Equity and Anti-Racism national event and the Virginia Tech Advancing Diversity Gathering. Please look out for emails for specific events from our committee throughout the Spring Semester in addition to those listed below. There are lots of great things going on across campus surrounding Black History Month, which was started by a Dr. Carter G. Woodson, from Virginia. Read more about him and the origins of Black History Month here.
Events and Happenings
Department
Community Breakfast Clubs: Next Event: February 22, 2021; 9:00-10:00 AM “Allyship” Join us for a discussion led by Robin Queen, PhD. Email beamdiversity@vt.edu for zoom link.
Faculty only training event: February 19, 2021: Inclusive Mentorship Presented by Shernita Lee, PhD, Director of Recruitment, Diversity, and Inclusion, Graduate School, Virginia Tech.
If you’d like to attend the Faculty Women of Color in the Academy Conference (April 10, 2021), please fill out this form here: https://forms.gle/EuDhMWyynKWX9hw57 before February 10, 2021.
University
The Black Student Alliance has daily events during February for Black History Month. Check out the schedule here: https://ccc.vt.edu/calendar/bhm-2021.html
Professional Development activities from Technology Enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS): https://profdev.tlos.vt.edu/: Inclusive Practices Subset of courses including: “Reducing implicit bias in the classroom”; “Handling difficult conversations”; “Captioning fundamentals” etc.
Inclusive VT has a lot of resources and goings-on available: https://www.inclusive.vt.edu/
Cultural Community Centers across campus offer lots of events
WF Professional Development Center has a list of Diversity and Inclusion events: https://pdc.wfu.edu/diversity-inclusion/
WF Office of Diversity and Inclusion has a nice compiled list of upcoming events: https://diversity.wfu.edu/odi-program-offerings/
D.E.A.C. Allies (Workshop 1): Lgbtq+ 101. Wednesday, February 10th, 2021 (9:00am - 10:30am) Link to register: https://pdc.wfu.edu/event/p15359Vl4925/
National
The Gladstone Institutes presents “Critical Conversations” seminar series: https://gladstone.org/events?series=299 Archived sessions available for viewing as well
Other resources (through VT, HokieHealth, etc.)
Survey findings offer valuable feedback for caregiving support during pandemic: Click here to learn more.
Caregiver Connections are back this semester. These sessions are an opportunity for VT employees who are caregivers of children, teens, aging parents and/or family members to connect with one another around managing the demands of working and caregiving during these times of COVID-19 disruption. These are intended to be open discussions to share current information and resources, as well as to support one another. Check this link and click on Caregiver Check-Ins for dates, times and zoom links. Please direct questions to Christine Dennis Smith with the Women’s Center.
Readings and recent publications
“Fund black scientists” Perspective in Cell written by many female BME professors across the country discusses inequities in grant funding for black scientists.
“The pandemic strengthened my relationship with my supervisor-and prepared us to talk about race” Science 2020 by Sasha McDowell
“Biden’s plan to help International Students stay after graduation could help recruit them in the first place” Chronicle of Higher Education Jan. 2021
If you’re looking for more reading, please check out this google folder with lots of great articles about DEI compiled by our committee and updated frequently.
Coming next month: Resources page for diversity, equity, and inclusion including many of the discussion points and information generated in our department discussions.
Make your voice heard!
If you want to give us feedback, suggest ideas, or just chat about issues, please feel free to email: beamdiversity@vt.edu
Or attend one of our monthly listening sessions on the Third Monday of each month. Check emails for zoom link. These are open to all students, faculty, and staff within BEAM (including SBES, EM, ESM, BMES).
If you have comments or suggestions you would like to submit anonymously, please use our anonymous comment box found here in your email. But know that these comments may be shared with the DEI committee and department leadership as needed to resolve issues or implement programmatic changes.
Do you have something you’d like us to share via this newsletter? Idea for something cool to feature? Please email beamdiversity@vt.edu.