March 20, 2019
Lee to present CAS Diversity Lecture on creating inclusive spaces in the sciences
Danielle Lee from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will present a special seminar titled "A Seat at the Table: Creating Deliberately Diverse and Intentionally Inclusive Spaces in the Sciences" from 11 a.m. to noon Friday, March 22, in 232 Ackert Hall.
The lecture is part of the College of Arts and Sciences Diversity Lecture Series and co-sponsored by the Kansas State Office for the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering.
Lee is a behavioral ecologist, a leader in science outreach and an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the sciences. Lee was selected as a 2015 TED fellow and a White House Champion of Change in STEM Diversity and Access. Her current science outreach efforts emphasize engagement with broader audiences via science journalism. In 2013, Lee helped found the National Science and Technology News Service, a media literacy initiative to bring more science news to African-American audiences and promote science news source diversity in mainstream media.
Seminar abstract:
Diversity and inclusion are more than philosophies — they are values. Values are demonstrations. Values require action — to act on behalf of your closely held philosophies. Creating spaces in the sciences that are welcoming requires individual, institutional, and infrastructural re-evaluation and reformation. Everyone and every organization dedicated to diversity and inclusion should be prepared to do the work. This work includes 1) honest evaluation of what scholars from under-represented groups at all levels experience, 2) critical examination of who participates in decisions, as well as their reasons, roles, and goals, and 3) dismantling systems of inequity and exclusion. In this talk I present a starting point: The Course Syllabus and recommend jump-starts for diversifying your citations and expert voices presented to students in the classroom and beyond.