Contents

Keep reading this document to find some resources for addressing the below questions:

• Need to write a reference letter for a mentee?
• Need to write a statement to discuss your contributions to DEI?
• Trying to be attentive and effective in your DEI work?
• Looking for ways to set up an inclusive lab group?
• Looking for ways to set up an inclusive classroom?
• Looking for ways to make your meetings and events more inclusive?
• Curious about past surveys and working group recommendations re: DEI at MIT?
• Curious about past recommendations relating to DEI specifically at EAPS?
• Trying to be more accessible in digital spaces?
• Looking for practices to build safe and inclusive field environments?
• Trying to decide on an author order for your next paper?
• Want to learn more about equity and justice?

About This Document:

This document was created in November 2020 by Rohini Shivamoggi in the hopes of making it easier to locate and adopt inclusive practices in our day-to-day lives as members of EAPS.  This is intended to be a living document!  If you have questions you would like to see included, or further resources you would like to contribute, please let us know by filling out this form.

Need to write a reference letter for a mentee?  
Here are some resources:

• Avoiding Racial Bias in Letter of Reference Writing (Asmeret Asefaw Berhe and Sora Kim)
• Avoiding Gender Bias in Reference Writing (University of Arizona)
• Writing Effective Reference Letters (general tips, McGill)

• See also: more detailed Tips for Writing Effective Reference Letters

Need to write a statement to discuss your contributions to DEI?  
Here are some resources:

• Berkeley Guidelines for Writing Statements
• Berkeley FAQs
• Berkeley Rubric for Assessing Contributions to DEI

Trying to be attentive and effective in your DEI work?  
Here are some things to look out for:

• The Rules of the Diversity and Inclusion Racket
• 21 Signs You or Your Organization May Be the White Moderate Dr. King Warned About

Looking for ways to set up an inclusive lab group?  
Here are some resources:

• Suggested Practices:

• Give wise feedback - communicate both areas for growth and belief in mentee’s ability
• Promote a growth mindset - attitude that skills can be honed rather than being fixed
• Promote a belonging mindset - mentees should feel they are part of their community
• Promote psychological safety - mentees should not be afraid of making mistakes
• Distribute a lab manual or lab expectations document (e.g., Dr. Mary Salcedo’s) to clarify expectations - both what you expect of your mentee and what your mentee can expect from you.
• Support your mentee’s interests (academic or non-academic)
• Expand your mentee’s professional network by introducing them to your colleagues
• Sponsor your mentee by nominating them for awards or encouraging attendance at conferences
  

• Resources for Further Reading

• ADVANCEGeo Compilation of Resources for Creating Inclusive Virtual Spaces
• Ten Simple Rules for Building an Antiracist Lab (V. Bala Chaudhary, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe)
• UMass Amherst Graduate Mentoring Handbook (see pp. 19-21 and 22-24)
• EAPS 2020 UROP Mentoring Workshop 
• Growing Healthy Labs (workshop designed by Christine Chen)
• Beronda Montgomery’s publications on inclusive mentoring

Looking for ways to set up an inclusive classroom?  
Here are some resources:

• ADVANCEGeo Compilation of Resources for Creating Inclusive Virtual Spaces
• Think-Pair-Share active learning technique
• 21 Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement and Cultivate Classroom Equity (Dr. Kimberly Tanner)
• MIT Teaching and Learning Lab Resources: Create an Inclusive Classroom

• Suggestions for Navigating Politics

• Grading for Equity: Equitable Grading Resources
• Conduct values affirmations in the classroom
• Strategies for Reducing Stereotype Threat
• Teaching Tolerance Resources

Looking for ways to support a mentee who is having a hard time?  
Here are some resources:

• Guidance for supporting well-being in a virtual campus environment (Stanford)
• Minds Matter Boston Anti-Racism Resources (see “Self-Care” and “Supporting Students”)
• EAPS 2020 UROP Mentoring Workshop (see slide 24)
• Mentoring During a Crisis

Looking for ways to make your meetings and events more inclusive?  
Here are some resources:

• AGU 10 Best Practices for Inclusive Remote Meetings
• ADVANCEGeo Compilation of Resources for Creating Inclusive Virtual Spaces
• AORTA Anti-Oppressive Facilitation Guide
• MIT’s Land Acknowledgement Statement
• Establish community norms at the start of each meeting to set the tone and expectations.  We have compiled a list of some examples.
• Some tips for Zoom meetings:

• Plan for one person to monitor the chat and type in notes or updates while another person does most of the talking -- it‘s hard to do both!
• Ask Zoom attendees to rename themselves (the … in their screen showing themselves) with their name and pronouns.

• Facilitating a meeting for a large group?  Consider a fishbowl strategy!

Curious about past surveys and working group recommendations re: DEI at MIT?  
Here are some resources:

• Graduate Student Council DEI Allyship Guide for Research Groups (see pp. 4-5)
• ICEO Recommendations Scorecard (tracks progress of past recommendations)

Curious about past recommendations relating to DEI specifically in EAPS?  
Here are some resources:

• Open Letter from #ShutDownSTEM and suggested Action Plan (June 2020)

• TIDE Scorecard to track progress on these items

• Open Letter from EAPS Undergrads (July 2020)

Trying to be more accessible in digital spaces?  
Here are some resources:

• MIT’s commitment to, and resources for, accessibility (if you have a public website through MIT, you MUST link to this page with the text label “Accessibility”)
• Rule of thumb: make sure the information is discernible in multiple ways (i.e., through text AND visuals AND audio).  Some ways to do this are to include alt text and captioning.
• Alt text:

• Include alt text with descriptions for images!  Scroll to “Accessibility” for instructions on different platforms.
• Hashtags are also helpful!  When you include a hashtag, capitalize each word (e.g., #SoCold instead of #socold) to help those with screen readers.

• Captioning:

• MIT’s recommended methods and training
• Upload your video to Panopto, caption there, and then do a screen recording (thank you Marjorie Cantine!!)

• Use colorblind-friendly palettes on your scientific figures.
• When you repost content on social media, make sure that the creator has been properly credited!

Looking for practices to build safe and inclusive field environments?  
Here are some resources:

• ADVANCEGeo resources for learning more about harassment and safety in the field
• Some suggested practices (thank you Athena Eyster!!) include:

• Provide detailed information before the field work begins so everyone knows what to expect
• Leadership should model expected behavior
• Always have an “out” - all field workers should have access to transportation and communication devices whenever possible
• Provide clearly defined codes of conduct with clear consequences for misconduct.  For example, see UAF Toolik Field Station's sexual misconduct policy and the ISU/UNL Geology Field Camp Agreement.

Trying to decide on an author order for your next paper?  
Here are some resources:

• Equity in Author Order: A Feminist Laboratory’s Approach

Want to learn more about equity and justice?  
Here are some resources:

• Suggestions from our peers, compiled from the EAPS-wide #ShutDownSTEM discussions

• Resources for Self-Education
• Individual Actions 
  

• Further Reading

• Responses to 10 Common Criticisms of Anti-Racism Action in STEM
• GeoReading for Equity - list of publications about DEI in STEM
• GeoContext - social and political context for the geosciences
• Association of Polar Early Career Scientists DEI Resources
• Diverse Geologists Resources Page - many links to affinity groups here!
  

• Come to the DEI Reading Group!  

• July 7, 2020: women and people of color disproportionately do department service
• July 20, 2020: environmental racism and climate justice
• September 14, 2020: community belonging and publication rates by gender in EAPS
• October 5, 2020: the danger of a single story
• October 22, 2020: Indigenous knowledge joint event with Harvard EPS and WHOI
• November 9, 2020: equity in field work and conferences
• December 7, 2020: identity and intersectionality