Discussion with Dr. Sarah Davies, led by Eric Crandall

Summary of discussion: Moving beyond performative inclusiveness

TaMIS met with Dr. Sarah Davies, lead author of the recent paper in PLoS Biology: “Promoting inclusive metrics of success and impact to dismantle a discriminatory reward system in science” to discuss how to value scientific contributions that go beyond publications and citations.The meeting was attended by 17 participants and contained a mixture of Q&A with Dr. Davies and a discussion between people from Penn State about issues in the current metrics for evaluating success and how to create change at Penn State.

Ideas discussed

• Diversity & inclusion are slowly increasing within ECoS and in the sciences generally but not fast enough.
• Much support for Justice, equity, diversity and inclusive (JEDI) policies and practices is performative at Penn State:
  • There is emphasis on recruiting professors and graduate students from diverse backgrounds, and those who work to increase diversity in the sciences, but little support for their JEDI activities after recruitment
    • Additionally, individuals from underrepresented backgrounds are often expected to start or lead diversity initiatives once they arrive, which is an unfair burden
    • Multidimensional mentorship is an excellent way to support individuals beyond recruitment
      • Current model is PI as the primary mentor
      • Networks of mentors can make up for individual needs not met by PI
  • Seemingly not enough action or money put into JEDI initiatives (i.e. if there are changes happening, it is not apparent to junior faculty and graduate students)
  • Not enough incentive to initiate and participate in activities that would improve JEDI:
    • Faculty
      • Little incentive for tenured professors
      • JEDI work is actually discouraged as time/resources spent on JEDI activities are considered lost to research, teaching or university service
      • DEI is under-emphasized on FARs (Faculty Activity Reports)
    • Graduate students
      • As with faculty, JEDI work is discouraged as time/resources spent on JEDI activities are not rewarded
        • At Boston University, students can include large JEDI activities as a chapter in their thesis
      • Lab Compacts should be encouraged as a way to clearly establish laboratory and academic expectations for graduate students from communities that don’t often send students to graduate school, and are not aware of the “hidden curriculum” of graduate school.
    • General
      • JEDI activities are only taken up as “extras” without proper acknowledgement or compensation
        • There are no awards for JEDI activities other than ECoS Diversity Awards (and there is nothing written on the website about why people won)
  • Low Awareness at Penn State
    • Little awareness of JEDI resources by many students
    • Resources are explained to new students, but not reinforced to others

Actionable items:

• Multidimensional mentorship network
  • Collaborative effort across all life sciences at Penn State
  • Link mentors and mentees from different programs/departments/colleges to discuss aspects of their identities/lives/career paths
  • More in a proposal here
• Summarize JEDI resources available at Penn State
  • A “need-to-know” fact sheet easily available online
  • Shorter and simpler than program-specific handbook resources
• Organize a faculty workshop to develop lab compacts