Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in PSU Geography
Providing an inclusive learning experience is a top priority for us in Geography and lies at the core of our values. We recognize that moving towards a fully inclusive program that comprehensively values and supports diversity in all of its forms while providing an equitable learning experience for all students is a work in progress that requires continued effort on behalf of all faculty, staff, and students. We in Geography at PSU are deeply committed to this sustained effort and continued progress. Leading these efforts is the Geography Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JDEI) Committee. In collaboration with the Geography JDEI Committee, and with the input and support of our students, faculty, and staff, we continuously evaluate all aspects of our program and department from culture to curriculum to sustain progress towards a fully inclusive and equitable program that supports and values diversity.
Past Events
February 2022: Social Hour: Mental Health and Healthy Life Practices
Geography JDEI Committee
By JDEI committee* & Curriculum Committee**
The Department of Geography formed the Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (JDEI) Committee in Fall 2020 to better address ongoing JDEI issues in the department and the university community. The committee met biweekly during the regular academic terms to get familiar with these critical issues and to identify ways to improve our current situation. The committee read relevant books and articles to educate ourselves and discussed them during the meetings. Additionally, the committee discussed the need for regular gatherings, surveys, and updating our grad handbook and curriculum. The activities were reflective, facilitating dialogue and appreciating different lenses among the members from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. We recognize this is an ongoing effort, requiring constant vigilance, self-reflection, and willingness to speak out about injustices.
Apart from regular committee meetings, we hosted three monthly JDEI social hours in winter and spring terms. The first JDEI monthly social hour, hosted by Lexi and Heejun, started with introducing each participant about their background to the whole group followed by small group discussions. Each small group had a mix of students and faculty to discuss what issues students/faculty see in their lives and our curriculum in addressing JDEI issues and how we can improve the current situation. The meeting offered us the opportunity to better understand how one’s background and life experiences can potentially shape the viewpoints that one has now.
The two subsequent monthly social hours were more focused and structured. In April, hosted by Jola and Arun, we discussed why centering our attention on racial justice matters for advancing JDEI within our department, university, and in the larger society. Our meeting coincided with a period where anti-Asian racism and sexism were on the rise, while the racialized killings of George Floyd and other Black men and women in America remain a vivid and traumatizing event in the minds of our students, staff, and faculty. We acknowledge that all spaces, institutions, and everyday relations in America are racialized. People of color do not have a shared reality of equity and freedom as our white counterparts. Similarly, at PSU we are surrounded by White dominant culture, practices, policies, norms, and views that seem to drown out other voices and experiences. Our meeting in April sought to lay a foundation for transformation at the departmental level by listening to multiple perspectives, voices, and lenses about how we can emerge better and stronger in our quest for justice, diversity, equity and inclusion, while focusing on underrepresented and/or minoritized groups.
Prior to the meeting, we circulated two materials white supremacy culture and The American LOWS to foster a deeper and rich conversation about JDEI issues and to identify levers of change. During the meeting, we engaged in a group exercise using a deconstructionist approach. We had a 15 minutes breakout session where we asked participants to use their own words, experiences, and stories to capture what justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion mean to them and how this manifests in different social relations and spaces within the department and university. Apart from opening up new vistas of shared understanding about JDEI, the information gathered from this exercise will also form the basis for our JDEI mission statement in addition to other resources provided by the JDEI committee.
The May meeting, hosted by Lexi Kowalczyk and Paul Loikith, focused on sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination in academic settings. Prior to the meeting, participants were asked to watch the NOVA documentary "Picture a Scientist," which chronicles sexual harassment experienced by women in STEM. After an introduction and an ice breaker, the participants broke off into small groups of four to discuss issues around sexuality-based harassment in different academic settings in Geography. These included in the classroom, during student group projects, in the field, and at professional conferences and meetings. Groups also discussed ways to address these problems and identified examples of efforts and strategies that have been successful.
Additionally, the committee launched a survey to see how our current geography community members perceive various JDEI issues in our recruitment, retention, recognition, support, curriculum, and research. The survey, conducted in mid-April, obtained 30 responses from our students (50%), faculty and staff (40%), and alumni (10%).
Here are some interesting findings from the survey:
- A large proportion of respondents do not know if/how the department is recruiting, retaining, and supporting underrepresented undergraduate students, although many respondents agreed the department is doing well in those areas with faculty and staff.
- More than ⅔ of respondents agreed the department welcomes people of different cultural backgrounds and viewpoints.
- There is a lack of positive responses (6.7%) in communicating the department’s policy documents (e.g., grad handbook and governance document), while the majority mentioned they do not know (63.3%).
- While respondents agreed that geography graduate courses address JDEI issues generally well, faculty noted there is room for improvement.
Based on the survey responses, the committee will work with other department committees to address and improve our current environment associated with JDEI. Stay tuned for these changes.