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Dear students and faculty members,
It’s a total cliché to say, but I find myself thinking a lot about fresh starts and new beginnings. We’ve spent the majority of the last four months largely indoors (because of the cold) and isolated (because of the pandemic). Now, with temperatures on the rise and three different vaccines in play, there’s an undeniable “light at the end of the tunnel” feeling in the air.
While we may be able to enjoy the outdoors more often and with fewer layers, we need to continue taking precautions against the spread of COVID-19. If you have been reading @Rochester, and I strongly encourage you do, you know COVID-19 is still very much with us. Please, please continue to wear masks and practice physical distancing when around others.
These last few months also have me thinking about our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. February was Black History Month and March is Women’s History Month. March 8 was International Women’s Day (IWD). For this year’s IWD, all were encouraged to “challenge and call out gender bias and inequality.” The challenge wasn’t just about gender and women but about all diversity. It is a great articulation of the idea of inclusivity, and it called to mind a panel discussion that I am moderating next week, “Bridging the Gender Divide in STEM.” Using the documentary Picture a Scientist as a foundation, I’ll be conversing with three women scientists—one is a University of Rochester alumna on the faculty at the University of Chicago and the others are currently faculty members at Rochester—about DEI in science.
Having more women engaged in science is just one DEI issue among many more we face within the School of Arts and Sciences. As outlined in the AS&E Fall 2020 DEI Annual Report, we’re working toward five broad goals. For example:
Goal 1 — “Continue to develop and strengthen curricular structures to support diversity, equity, and inclusion across the AS&E curriculum.”
Goal 2 — “Enhance infrastructure and continue to develop resources in support of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.”
- We have worked to continue our training of faculty search committees to avoid bias and to remove the idea of “fit” in selecting candidates. We also have worked to hire junior BIPOC faculty into post-doctoral fellows for one year prior to their joining the tenure track
Goal 3 — “Continue to deepen faculty and more fully develop staff training on anti-racism and other related topics.”
- We have been working with departments and programs to establish diversity committees and to encourage faculty, staff, and students to participate in diversity efforts. For example, the establishment of the Rochester Education Justice Initiative and having approximately 200 faculty and staff attend anti-racism training.
This is far from a brag. This is only to show we are actively working toward our stated goals and refining how we view our work going forward.
If you want to hear some “bragging” and more on the School of Arts and Sciences, then you should make sure you register for my State of the School address on Thursday, April 1 at 12 p.m. (This is not an April Fools’ joke!) I’ll be covering the many highlights and accomplishments we enjoyed during the last few academic years. Despite operating under a pandemic, we did a lot—that you might have missed—that I’m proud to share. I also hope to leave plenty of time to answer questions.
Regardless of whether you can join me next month, please continue to be safe, and look for the next issue of In Focus early next month.
Best wishes,
Gloria Culver
Dean
School of Arts & Sciences
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