COSM Diversity & Inclusion News
August 2020
Welcome to Fall 2020!
We are excited to present the first Diversity & Inclusion newsletter for Georgia Southern’s College of Science and Mathematics! Each newsletter will include the monthly quote and facts to get you thinking, regular spotlights on COSM individuals who exemplify D&I at Georgia Southern, and information on D&I news, events, grants, and scholarships. Additionally, each newsletter will focus on a particular theme of Diversity & Inclusion that is directly related to your roles as COSM faculty and staff at Georgia Southern University.
This Month’s Theme: Why is it important for departments to work on diversity & inclusion?
Diversity Quote of the Month
"If you aren't aware of how biases operate, if you aren't collecting data and taking a little time to produce evidence-based processes, you will continue to blindly perpetuate old injustices."
- Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
Fact Fuel for Data-driven Conversations
9% of COSM’s students are latinx, yet only 2% of our faculty are.
COSM Community D&I Spotlight
Marerro, Lunsford, and more speak out against death of George Floyd - The George-Anne
We asked, you responded - Part 1: Responses to the deaths of George Floyd & Ahmaud Arbery - George-Anne
Georgia Southern coaches protest alongside their players - The George-Anne
Hundreds of protestors gathered on-campus for the “Justice for Us” march - The George-Anne
TaJuan Wilson, Georgia Southern’s new AVP of Inclusive Excellence and Chief Diversity Officer held community listening sessions for students, staff, and faculty in June
George Floyd 1973-2020
Responses The George-Anne received
Protestors make signs - wearing masks
D&I Campus Connections and Opportunities
Upcoming Webinars
Addressing Anti-Blackness on Campus: Implications for Educators and Institution
Black Minds Matter: Free webinar series for fall 2020
University Opportunities
Center for Teaching Excellence: Workshop Calendar
S-STEM Grant (contact SGremillion@GeorgiaSouthern.edu)
NSF ADVANCE Grant (contact Tan@GeorgiaSouthern.edu)
SEAChange with the AAAS is a program with significant interest at the college & university level (contact SHessinger@GeorgiaSouthern.edu)
External Opportunities
Diversity in STEM Opportunities: Pathways to Science
Try This! - Teaching Tips
“You may wonder: Is the role of a college instructor to help students feel included and ready to thrive? Is that something I should be doing? As champions of inclusive teaching, we say — emphatically — yes.” The Chronicle of Higher Education highlights two main areas in which you can be more inclusive in your teaching — classroom interactions and course design - and gives quick, practical, suggestions for interacting more inclusively with students.
Consider the value of connecting with your students personally (even with name tents, for the name-blind such as myself!), sharing personal pronouns to model inclusion for LGBTQIA students, and acknowledging hard times that may be affecting you or your students. These personal touches are not arbitrary or a waste of time - they set the tone for your interactions with students throughout the entire course. Read the full article for more details.
Ever wanted to make a lightboard video for a particularly dynamic lecture topic?
The Center for Teaching and Learning has the tools and expertise for you to do so in their studio on campus. Lightboard videos combine many of the benefits of other video styles, such as a picture-in-picture lecture, working on the whiteboard, and interaction with your students.
This Month's Theme: Why is it important for departments to work on diversity & inclusion?
Humans do the work and keep things going
Today’s world is a shifting tapestry of new technology, social unrest, and changing expectations, but one thing will never change: We are humans. Whether you are teaching online, at the gym, in a classroom, or half-submerged in marsh mud, your ability to communicate with people in all their great diversity remains key to a healthy, functional workplace. The ability to adapt and empathize will never truly be deemed “non-essential.” Stressed, unhappy people are always less productive in the long run.
“Human imagination and ingenuity will be the source of human work ad infinitum.”
The World Economic Forum emphasizes the importance of technology for us and the students we serve, while calling out several “soft” skills that remain important. These are skills that we can cultivate in ourselves and our students while learning to value and support others who have skill sets different from our own. Our ability to adapt and communicate (social skills) will allow us to explore the technologies emerging throughout our world, and choosing those that will serve many people, not just the elite few. Education, safety, and health are the rights of all people, and it is our responsibility to expand upon this truth here at Georgia Southern.
Are you proud of the place where you work? Do our students feel confident that we support them, both as people and as budding scientists? Why do your colleagues in underrepresented minorities leave?
These are questions that the COSM D&I committee and many of you consider on a regular basis, but we don’t always discuss the issues openly. They’re questions Georgia Southern considers when events at the university start appearing in the news. The answers are what we - the people of Georgia Southern - can work to change.
Whether the differences based on race, gender, sexual orientation, personality, or campus, “discriminatory practices, racism, macro-invalidation and inequity are repeated reasons why marginalized faculty and staff leave their departments” (Inside HigherEd). The truth is that people often feel that they are only conditionally accepted in their workplace. They feel that they lack allies among their more privileged (privileged for whatever reason) colleagues. They feel that their institutions don’t support them.
Underrepresented minorities have become the proverbial canary in the coal mine.
Students looking for schools (and future jobs) want to know that they - with all of their associated identifiers - can be successful. They tell us again and again that constantly being shown experts who don’t look and sound like them is discouraging and makes them less likely to reach out, speak up, and thrive. When 28% and 9% of COSM’s students are black and latinx, yet only 5% and 2% of our faculty identify as the same races, respectively, what does this show our students?
With each student who says “none of my professors look like me,” each faculty member who says “I left because the environment is hostile,” each staff member who says “no one here cares about me,” universities, businesses, and politicians are finally taking notice of all of the ‘dead canaries’ on the doorstep, destroying their reputations.
Each one of us can contribute to improving the perception - and actual conditions - of Georgia Southern University by recognizing bias within ourselves, supporting our colleagues, and holding our leaders accountable for their decisions. Reading this newsletter is an excellent first step. Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Reflective Moment
Can you step back and empathize with a student caring for an elderly relative while working and enrolled full time?
Does your community at work facilitate communication between coworkers with varied backgrounds, lifestyles, and experiences?
Consider these questions as you watch the colorful (but pointed) Pixar short "Purl" about the effect of an office lacking in diversity and empathy.
Something you'd like to see? We'd love to hear from you.
COSM Diversity & Inclusion Committee Co-Leaders
Arpita Saha - Chemistry & Biochemistry
Brandon Quillian - Chemistry & Biochemistry
Karelle Aiken - Chemistry & Biochemistry
Sabrina Hessinger - Mathematics
Administration
Amanda Klingel
Brian Koehler
Issac Taylor
Biology
Brigette Brinton
Geneva DeMars
Jennifer Brofft-Bailey
Johanne Lewis
Justin Montemarano
Marylou Machingura
Sara Gremillion
Sue Ellen Dechenne-Peters
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Arpita Saha
Brandon Quillian
Brent Feske
Debanjana Ghosh
Karelle Aiken
Ryan Groom
Shainaz Landge
Geology & Geography
Jim Reichard
Kathlyn Smith
Mathematics
Duc Van Huynh
Eryn Stehr
Jim Brawner
Kyle Bradford
Sabrina Hessinger
Stephanie Wiggins
Tuyin An
Physics & Astronomy
Hua-Jian Jason Liu