Page 4 - CEMS News Winter 2021

CEMS NEWS
CEMS diversity, equity, and inclusion
Taking action and driving change, new CEMS groups share a progress update.
In early June of this year, the CEMS faculty wrote to the community, “The horrific murder of George Floyd has starkly highlighted the systemic and overt racism experienced by black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities. The tragic and historic events
of the last two weeks have evoked in us feelings of outrage, sadness, fear, helplessness, and the need to drive change. It is a critical time for us to come together, to listen to, to learn from, and to support and advocate for our BIPOC communities. By acknowledging these feelings, re-examining our own circumstances, and confronting our status quo, we are presented with unique opportunities to promote positive and lasting change in CEMS, at the University of Minnesota, in our local communities, and beyond... The CEMS faculty pledge to renew and reshape our department culture
to be more welcoming, safe, and inclusive.” Since then, we have heard from many community members, citing both positive experiences and difficult ones. We seek to affirm the best of CEMS and to ensure positive, inclusive experiences for our entire community.
The CEMS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) working group was formed in the aftermath of this statement and has been meeting regularly since to draft a strategic plan for the department’s DEI efforts. A department-wide survey and set of listening sessions were conducted to gather impressions from all department members about what is going well and what can be improved in the department. Subgroups based around topics of graduate recruitment, graduate and postdoc experience, inclusive teaching, and outreach held in-depth conversations
over the last six months evaluating our role in a system that results in discrimination and bias, and how to work towards our goals of making everyone feel truly welcome in CEMS.
Simultaneously, CEMS graduate students formed Students Organized Against Racism (SOAR) to “battle racism within the CEMS department and surrounding community through three main objectives: Education & Evaluation, Outreach, and Recruitment & Retention.
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SOAR has been extremely active, creating a mentorship program for incoming graduate students, organizing department-wide diversity discussion events, and working to shape the culture of the students and postdocs into one that is truly inclusive.
As Dan Frisbie stated in his introduction of the working group, “It is important to note that formation of this working group is just the first step in a long-term process, and that the full CEMS community – all of us – must devote ourselves to learning, self-reflection, and meaningful action. This is a department-wide effort. We seek guidance and leadership from the DEI Working Group but we must all commit to listening, learning, and doing our part!” Through these organizations, we seek to affirm the best in CEMS and ensure that this community we value so highly is extended to all.
Elisah VandenBussche and Dave Morse, Working Group Co-Chairs; Amber Walton, SOAR Lead Coordinator; Pranati Mondkar, SOAR Recruitment and Retention Coordinator; John Dewey, SOAR Outreach Coordinator; Abbigael Harthorn, SOAR Education and Evaluation Coordinator
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