EAPS Actions

We in EAPS break down our efforts to actively working towards diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) into four categories:

Educate

Take a stand

Open doors

Monitor progress.

 

1. Educate

   1. One EAPS departmental seminar slot each semester is reserved for a talk on issues related DEI in academia
      1. Fall 2019: Aiden Powell, the Assistant Director of the LGBTQ Center
      2. Fall 2020: Natasha Harris, Science Diversity Office, Purdue College of Science
      3. Spring 2022: Ken Ridgway (EAPS) and Felica Ahasteen-Bryant, Director of the Native American Educational and Cultural Center
      4. Fall 2022: Kelsey Jordan & Susan Lausier, Assistant Directors of the Purdue Disability Resource Center (DRC)
      5. Fall 2023: Green Zone Training by Morgan Torres, Director of the Veterans Success Center
      6. Spring 2024: Prof. Margo Monteith (Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue & Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the College of Health and Human Sciences), presented "Reducing Bias and Creating Identity-Safe Environments Through Interpersonal Confrontation”
   2. One EAPS faculty workshop each semester tackling DEI issues
      1. Spring 2018: Implicit Bias training
      2. Fall 2020: EAPS antiracism workshop hosted by Purdue Division of Diversity and Inclusion -- “Understanding race and power and strategies to increase recruitment and admission of under-represented minority graduate students”
      3. Spring 2020: “How to be a better Ally?” workshop which promotes bystander intervention
      4. Fall 2021: Holistic Graduate Evaluations and Admissions, Prof. Kevin Gibson, Associate Dean for the Graduate School and Director of the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership (SIGP)
      5. Fall 2021: Pam Sari, Director, Asian American and Asian Resource and Cultural Center
      6. Spring 2021: EAPS-wide Safe Zone training, led by the Purdue LGBTQ Center
      7. Fall 2022: EAPS-wide Trans Inclusion Training, led by the Purdue LGBTQ Center
      8. Spring 2022: Graduate Student Mental Health, run and cosponsored by the Graduate School and the Department of Chemistry
      9. Spring 2024: Engaging Strategic Diversity and Managing Bias workshop, run by Dr. Christopher Munt, Senior Director for the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging
   3. DEI resources and tours of relevant campus cultural centers (LGQBTQ, Native American, Black, Latino) integrated into graduate student orientation and prospective graduate student visit weekend.

2. Take a stand

   1. Syllabus and powerpoint templates for faculty members’ use to make clear our position on DEI within EAPS [Fall 2020]
      1. Anti-Intolerance statement
      2. Preferred name + pronouns
      3. Safe zone (if completed training)
   2. Fall 2020 creation of an EAPS departmental Code of Conduct to clearly define departmental values and expectations for how to treat one another with dignity and respect.
   3. Expansion of EAPS ombudsperson program to include students and postdocs, with clear guidelines for their roles
      1. Introduction to and discussion of the role of the ombudspeople at the new graduate student orientation, the Graduate Student Association meetings, and the first year graduate student seminar
   4. EAPS departmental support for Purdue Native Land Acknowledgment developed by the Purdue Native American Education and Cultural Center
   5. Departmental statement on Black Lives Matter

3. Open doors

   1. At least one EAPS department seminar slot each semester is reserved for a person of color.
   2. Elimination of GRE exam score requirement in graduate admissions
   3. Fall 2020 faculty training on holistic evaluation of graduate applications
   4. Continued support of the Women in Science Program among graduate students with participation by faculty mentors
   5. Hosting information sessions on “How to Apply to Summer Internships” and “How to Apply to Graduate School” for undergraduate students each fall semester, targeting first generation college students and URMs
   6. The K-12 Outreach program partners with school districts with high percentages of underrepresented students to help teachers be successful in science instruction and to excite students in the STEM fields. These partnerships include grant writing, teacher professional development, resource acquisition, and student programs.
   7. Purdue University’s Superheroes of Science program that interviews STEM professionals and provides online professional development content for K-12 educators. Students get to see a diverse pool of successful persons in a STEM field. One of the reasons for this is so that students know that there are people “like them” and that they can be a STEM professional also.

4. Monitor progress

   1. EAPS departmental culture survey
      1. Performed in 2020 after a 5-year hiatus, planning to perform at a much greater frequency (1-2 years) moving forward
      2. Exit surveys for all students, postdocs, and faculty beginning in AY 2020-2021
   2. Centralized database
      1. Tracking faculty participation in workshops
      2. Targeted goals for instructional training completion by faculty, staff and students (e.g., 50% Safe Zone trained by end of AY20-21)
      3. URM application, admission, and retention rates (grad and UG)