[IIGB_All] BPSC DEI Fall 21 Newsletter

Thu Oct 21 07:52:43 PDT 2021

Dear Everyone, 

Loralee Larios in Botany and Plant Sciences has shared a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Newsletter. There is information on mentoring, jobs, workshops and other opportunities that are valuable to students, postdocs and faculty across our campus. 

Julia Bailey-Serres

DEI DISPATCH
Happy Fall Everyone!
DEI Outreach Survey
BPS is doing a wide variety of outreach efforts and the BPS DEI committee is hoping to compile these efforts to connect individuals with similar outreach interests. If you are currently involved in DEI efforts, would be interested in joining existing efforts, or are interested in starting something new, please fill out this quick survey <https://forms.gle/Q9q4JyG6PqbRjn8S6>.
Scientist Highlight- Professor Paul Nabity

Dr. Paul Nabity, an assistant professor, in Botany and Plant Sciences in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Melissa Witiak, an associate professor at Virginia State University (VSU) received a grant from the University of California-Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or UC-HBCU, Initiative to provide undergraduate students with an enriching research experience and lay the foundation for a pipeline from HBCUs to graduate studies at UC Riverside. The new GRaPEs (Graduate Research and Preparation Experiences <http://www.nabitylab.org/summer-grapes.html>) initiative will cleverly leverage the existing research of Drs. Nabity and Witiak in native grapes. Read more about it here <https://plantbiology.ucr.edu/dispatch-spotlight-nabity>!

DEI Publications Highlight
In honor of Native American Indian Heritage month, we would like to highlight strategies for weaving Indigenous knowledge into classrooms. Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer <https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/>, Director of the Center for Native Peoples at SUNY-Syracuse, has been a long standing advocate for the use of Indigenous knowledge in ecological restoration and land management. In her 2002 publication, she calls for the weaving of Traditional Ecological Knowledge into biology eduction. Read her call to action here <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FoUsvzEKPqxDdMIer_xovpMgOHf23wdR/view?usp=sharing>. PBS has a great video series Tending the Wild <https://www.pbs.org/show/tending-wild/> that can be used to create classroom activities. Lastly, we want to highlight Rupert Costo - a Cahuilla Native American scholar- who played a pivotal role in lobbying for UC Riverside. Read about his legacy here <https://chass.ucr.edu/press/2020/08/26/rupert-costo-legacy-uc-riverside>.
Departmental DEI Highlights

We have stellar individuals who work hard to find ways to diversify STEM. Here are some recent highlights:

Patrick Thomas (PhD Candidate, Walling Lab) leads the American Society of Plant Biology Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee <https://earlycareer.aspb.org/edi-subcommittee/>. The committee has been organizing grant writing workshops and has a new Plantae blog series that highlights URM Plant Scientists - Check out the recent post and meet Manuel Mora <https://plantae.org/urm-plant-scientist-highlights-manuel-mora/>.

Claire Mauss (Graduate Student, Jinkerson Lab) recently contributed to Botany One a piece with tips to help URM students navigate graduate programs <https://www.botany.one/2021/09/navigating-your-way-to-a-graduate-program-in-the-u-s-as-a-student-from-an-underrepresented-minority/>. In a cool collaboration with past alum, Dr. Lorena Villanueva Almanza, the article is also available in Spanish.
DEI TIP

Supporting inclusive teaching practices is a key way that we can enhance the classroom experience for students from diverse backgrounds. The CAST organization is developing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines <https://udlguidelines.cast.org/> to promote inclusivity in the classroom. As part of these efforts they have a set of guiding questions that you can use when developing a lesson plan-check them out here <https://udlguidelines.cast.org/binaries/content/assets/common/publications/articles/cast-udl-planningq-a11y.pdf>.
DEI LISTENING
  <https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/19-importance-sharing-our-stories-dr-noah-whiteman/id1517730294?i=1000496981973>
Science of Mentorship  is a podcast sponsored by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. They have kicked off their second season with a few episodes to guide new mentoring relationships such as "Finding a Mentor" and "Setting Expectations and Boundaries".
  <https://ucanr.edu/blogs/NuestraComunidad/index.cfm>
Nuestra Comunidad is a new blog <https://ucanr.edu/blogs/NuestraComunidad/index.cfm> hosted by UC ANR. It aims to showcase stories from Latinx academics, advisors, and educators from UC ANR.
Funding Opportunities 
  <https://guides.lib.ucr.edu/c.php?g=1098139&p=8008435>
Western SARE <https://sarep.ucdavis.edu/news/wsare> has a proposal call right now for small grants to aid in the professional development of agricultural professionals (e.g. extension specialists, advisors) across a range of topics from climate change, soil health, and community-based food systems.
SGN (Some Good News)
A team of BPS faculty, led by Dr. Thomas Eulgem, have been awarded a US Department of Education GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National need) grant for support of current and incoming graduate students in the Plant Biology program. 

If you have any exciting news you would be open to sharing to the department or if you would like to share some DEI related activities please email us <mailto:loralee at ucr.edu?subject=DEI-DISPATCH%20Some%20Good%20News>.
CAMPUS ACTIVITIES
UCR's Graduate Student Resource Center is hosting the Academic Pathways Week Nov 1-5 with a focus on preparing for the job market. Please see the full line up here <https://gsrc.ucr.edu/aftergrad/apw>.

The initiative to begin a Department of Black Study will be brought to the Academic Senate. Please check out their Frequently Asked Questions <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vo8-9URag09Hp3xAbDGB2mYoD8AwCqLO/view?usp=sharing> to learn more about this initiative.

Chicano Student Programs will be sponsoring the annual Día De Los Muertos or Day of the Dead Celebration Wednesday Nov 3 from 11:30am to 1:00pm at the Bell Tower.
WEBINARS
  <https://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=34961>
The Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) has a strong webinar line up this Fall <https://saberbio.wildapricot.org/Diversity_Inclusion>. The next webinar on Oct 21, 2021 at 9am will highlight Dr. Bryan Brown from Stanford on "The meaning beyond the words: How language, race, & culture impact science teaching & learning" <https://saberbio.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/2%20Brown%20final.pdf> All webinars are recorded and posted afterwards.

  <https://equityinstem.org/>
ARC (ADVANCE Resource and Coordination) Network <https://equityinstem.org/> fall webinar series highlights research on supporting equity in STEM faculty.  First webinar will be on Oct 28, 2021 -  "Examining How Race/Ethnicity and Gender is Explored in Research on STEM Contingent Faculty". You can register here <https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9vQCIsHwT2qdVh1bBe_6VQ>. 
If you any information or resources that you would like to contribute to the newsletter, please email Loralee <mailto:loralee at ucr.edu?subject=Newsletter%20suggestion>
Copyright © 2021 UC Riverside BPSC DEI Committee, All rights reserved.

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