Diversity Action Plan Goal 5

Communicate accomplishments reflecting our commitments to inclusion and mutual respect of all members while enhancing visibility of minoritized communities.

Two students walking on OSU Corvallis campus.

How to read what follows

We set out an ambitious agenda for embedding equity, access, and inclusion in all that we do in the College of Science. Recognizing that actions must be prioritized, we indicate those actions that will be taken first with a double asterisk **. We note that we will follow an adaptive implementation strategy in executing this DAP in which our prioritized actions marked by ** may adaptively evolve in an evidence-based approach. In what follows, “unit” refers to a department, center, or research facility in the college. In addition, for these purposes, the dean’s office is also a unit.

Goal 5, we propose actions that provide effective communication, transparency and visibility in the implementation of the DAP. We will identify gaps in access to determine strategies for the visibility of our EAI work. Actions here involve organizing events and collecting data to amplify the success of underrepresented and minoritized faculty, students and staff, providing access to EAI literature to our community on systemic issues faced by underrepresented members and collecting feedback from the college community.

Minoritized communities face systemic barriers that have been put in place that exclude them from all metrics of success in science. For example, numerous studies show that women’s scientific contributions are devalued as compared to men, resulting in underrepresentation in prestigious academic appointments such as distinguished professorships or named chairs. We need actions that alleviate inequities affecting the progress of minoritized communities by raising awareness of issues and paving the way for changing structures and practices that produce unequal outcomes.

The actions under this goal aim to contribute to the sense of inclusion for minoritized communities in science. The actions here inform and support efforts to adopt inclusive practices across multiple aspects of our work, elevating intellectual vibrancy and enhancing internal and external visibility, thereby strengthening and diversifying candidate pools of prospective faculty, staff and students

Proposed actions

5.1. Create a transparent implementation process of the DAP.** The EAI Council will collaborate with the college marketing and communications team to update its diversity website that includes:

Providing visibility for the DAP** by providing public access to this DAP, a description of the strategic diversity process and a tracking tool, summarizing the current status of implementation of the goals and actions in the DAP, and metrics and benchmarks for success.
Creating a feedback collection tool** on COS’s diversity website to allow community members to provide continuous feedback to the college on EAI related matters.
Providing access to EAI resources** on the diversity website providing information on evidence-based research informing the college's EAI actions for improving outcomes for underrepresented faculty, students and staff.

5.2. Communicate progress and challenges.** The council and EDCC will assess the impact of communicating its accomplishments, progress and challenges regarding EAI externally and internally through modalities like IMPACT magazine, department newsletters, aligned websites, the dean’s monthly newsletter and social media. The college will work with University Relations and Marketing to establish effective mechanisms for reporting faculty, staff and student work and accomplishments on EAI.

5.3. Create opportunities to promote diversity in science.** To amplify the contributions of scientists from minoritized communities and to enhance public understanding of systemic issues in Science, the EAI Council will engage in the following activities:

Host events focused on EAI.** The EAI Council and the GEC will partner with university and external organizations and the OSU Foundation to promote events focused on Equity, Access and Inclusion in science that relate to improving outcomes for communities underrepresented in science, especially Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other communities of color. Unit EAI committees will host smaller scale events at the unit level. An example event recently hosted by the college is the 2021 event Women in leadership – Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world. The EDCC will track and report on how many faculty and students are involved in participating and organizing EAI events in science.
Establish dean’s annual lecture for enhanced visibility of minoritized communities.** The EAI Council and GEC will organize a dean’s annual lecture honoring the significant research or educational contributions of a scientist from a minoritized community.

5.4. Broaden the scope of recognition and acknowledgment.** The EAI Council and unit EAI committees will continuously engage in identifying faculty, staff and students of color to promote for awards and recognition internally at the unit, college, university level and for state, national and international awards. The GEC will serve an analogous role for college members with marginalized gender identities. The council will develop holistic rubrics for selection criteria that are available on the college website. The EDCC will track nominations and awards and publish awardee names.