I am committed to creating an inclusive community that values human differences and prioritizes equity in opportunity and success. I am the chair of the advisory board for Wooster’s STEM Success Initiative, whose mission is “to empower Wooster STEM faculty, staff, and students in cultivating an inclusive STEM community to better support the academic success and STEM identity development for students from underrepresented groups.” I also served on Wooster’s social justice task force, which helped make the teaching of diversity, power, and privilege issues part of our required curriculum. As a Councilor for the Geosciences Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research, I lead the GeoCUR task force on diversity, equity, and inclusion and run sessions on creating inclusive undergraduate research experiences at AGU and GSA faculty development workshops. I am the PI on a recently awarded GeoPATHS grant to build a Geoscience Learning Ecosystem to engage early-career students from historically marginalized groups to work on community-driven projects at the nexus of soil, water, and energy.
I participated in the GeoDES project, in which I practiced bystander intervention and learned about prejudice and social justice issues in the geosciences. My acquired knowledge and skills have been helpful in my leadership roles at Wooster, where I have led my department through curriculum reform focused on diversity and inclusion, and made inclusive teaching a regular agenda item in our department meetings. My passion and perseverance fuels my learning and growing in this area. If you are interested and want to share ideas and opportunities, I hope you will contact me.