This project aims to identify, empower, and reward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) champions within the geosciences by aligning hiring, promotion, award, and other evaluation systems with goals to promote diversity and inclusion within our field.  Working with with the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies (SWCHRS), we will learn from and work with national leaders in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education to revise and re-envision evaluation and reward structures within academic units that recruit and train the next generations of geoscientists.

We are currently seeking a postdoc to support this work. Click here for more information and application instructions.

Specific project goals:

1) Collect DEI data from geoscience departments nationwide to capture a baseline understanding of faculty demographics, particularly with regards to race and ethinicity.

2) Interview faculty in focus departments and survey geoscience programs nationally to establish how faculty are currently evaluated in geoscience departments; determine how DEI efforts fit within evaluation, tenure, promotion, and award frameworks; assess faculty attitudes on the value of DEI work; and identify barriers to engaging in and rewarding DEI efforts.

3) Work with expert consultants to develop example evaluation and reward structures that explicitly value DEI work that can be adopted/adapted by other geoscience departments.

4) Work with SWCHRS experts to develop and distribute two webinars focused on helping academic units explicitly value DEI efforts within hiring and evaluation systems. These webinars will be offered at no cost to the geoscience community.

5) Evaluate the impact of the webinars and faculty perceptions of revised evaluation systems that explicitly value and reward DEI efforts.