Access and Engagement

The Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (EEPS) affirms its belief in and commitment to inclusion and will continue to develop and promote an inclusivity community. EEPS is dedicated to maintaining a welcoming working environment where differing ideas, abilities, backgrounds, and needs are fostered with opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and visitors from divergent experiences to participate in and contribute to the Department. EEPS recognizes that many perspectives are important and necessary in teaching, research, and service. Therefore, EEPS will strive to ensure that every departmental activity is open to all students, faculty, staff, and visitors regardless of race, sex, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or disability.

Access and Engagement Committee

The Access and Engagement Committee (AEC) strives to assist the Department in becoming a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive working environment where all individuals feel welcomed and encouraged regardless of individual differences and where they can pursue their educational and research goals without the interference of systemic barriers to success.

Definitions: Access means a Department’s commitment to foster attitudes, behaviors, and procedures that promote equity and diversity, foster inclusion, and allow people to maximize their success and contributions to the scientific community. Engagement means involvement or commitment in departmental activities (according to roles defined in departmental bylaws). Diversity means all kinds of differences among people. Equity (equitable) means that everyone is supplied with the resources and opportunities to achieve outcomes equivalent to their peers who do have access to those resources; or the absence of avoidable differences among groups of people. Inclusivity (inclusive) means making sure everyone feels welcome, valued, and respected.

Membership: The AEC consists of one or more core faculty Chairs who develop the annual agenda with input from the Department Head, at least two other core faculty members, and at least one staff member. In addition, one graduate and one undergraduate student will be solicited and encouraged to join the AEC as members annually.

Role: The AEC will:

• Disseminate current literature and announcements about programming and training opportunities that serve to educate members of the Department about the value of diversity and help them to achieve their personal and professional goals related to inclusivity and equity;

• Create and supply advisory statements and materials that assist all members and committees of the community in achieving their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, including but not limited to recruitment of a diverse faculty, staff, and student body; assessment of policies and practices; and achieving broader impacts;

• Review and suggest updates to the Department Code of Conduct with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusivity;

• Create and maintain a lending library of materials that students may need to achieve their degree requirements, including field equipment;

• Ensure that all members of the Department community are aware of where they can find a community of support for their identities by providing a list of and hosting events with those organizations on campus and in the community;

• Ensure that all members of the Department community are aware of the venues and channels for reporting all types of diversity-related issues;

• Offer informal opportunities for all members of the Department community to interact in social and collegial ways;

• Track and issue an annual report on diversity-related metrics and contextualize those data among University and discipline-level metrics.

• Identify and invite guests from diverse backgrounds to present in the Klepser lecture series;

• Regularly update the content of the access and engagement page on the Department’s website.

Resources