Three decades later, there were more women in engineering classes but still almost none teaching behind the lectern.

And even 25 years ago, the few women joining Georgia Tech’s engineering faculty found themselves without many others to work alongside.

But in 2023, faculty ranks have changed. This year, 14 women occupy critical leadership roles guiding the College of Engineering and its eight schools and departments. Their positions span research, entrepreneurship, faculty development, and more. They are associate chairs and associate deans. And, for the first time in the College’s history, two women serve as engineering school chairs.

Read about these 14 leaders on the College of Engineering website.

Hosted by Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI), the event featured campus presenters discussing disability awareness and its importance to diversity, inclusion, and the campus community, and more than 600 viewers tuned in. This year marks the 30^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H.W. Bush.

“Unfortunately, many members of the Tech community have a limited understanding of the term ‘access’ when it comes to understanding the myriad challenges faced by some members of our community,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for IDEI, ahead of the event. “Many of us understand issues of physical access to facilities and technologies. However, fewer realize that many members of our community face additional barriers — both visible and invisible to most of us.”

Featured speaker Haben Girma, the first deaf-blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School and author of Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law School, opened the event and relayed the importance of disability inclusion and disability technologies.

“If we can harness more awareness between disability and technology and innovation, everyone will benefit,” Girma said, speaking with the assistance of a hearing translator and braille computer.

“I have a braille computer; along the bottom are dots. I run my fingers over the dots and feel the patterns,” Girma demonstrated. “The patterns of the dots make braille. During this presentation, this is what I’m using for communication. I have an assistant who will be typing what people are saying.”

Girma urged viewers to let go of the idea that disabilities are a burden. “We have to resist those stories and instead reframe what disability means.” She described winning battles while at Harvard Law (such as successfully arguing for braille menus in campus cafeterias) and learning to salsa dance and surf. Today, she travels the world teaching the benefits of choosing inclusion.

The event also featured three panel presentations and discussions, including a group who discussed their experiences with their disabilities on campus and in everyday life.

“Awareness is only one part of it,” said Danny Housley, assistive technology manager with Tools for Life, part of the College of Design’s Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI). “I use a white cane and I’m blind. You’re now aware that I have a disability — what does that change? We want to move toward acceptance of disability and for people to look at it like a trait, like anything else. I may be blind, but that doesn’t mean that I’m incapable of working.”

“I think this is a great step toward things that we need to be doing more of,” added Liz Persaud, also a CIDI staffer and panelist. “Recognizing that we have a diversity symposium and being able to focus specifically on disability issues is unbelievably important.”

Other panels focused on Tech-centered disability technology research and development, design, and Georgia Tech’s IT accessibility policies.

“The 2020 Diversity Symposium raised critical awareness of accessibility issues and exclusion that many in our Georgia Tech community and around the world face due to poor design of the built and digital environment,” said Chantal Kerssens, panelist and CIDI’s executive director and director of research. “Disabilities, permanent and temporary, are much more common than we think. Removing barriers and designing for inclusion opens up society and unlocks joy and productivity from which we all stand to benefit.”

The symposium also featured live captioning from CIDI.

“The Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation was a proud partner in planning the event and we were proud to share our lived experiences, our scholarship, and our service to communities around the country,” Kerssens added.

The event ended with the annual awards presented to this year’s Faces of Inclusive Excellence honorees and the Diversity Champion Awards honorees, who were recognized for their achievements in accessibility and inclusion on campus. They included Cassie S. Mitchell, assistant professor, Biomedical Engineering (faculty winner); Johan “John” Rempel, UX/ICT quality assurance manager, CIDI (staff winner); Nandita Gupta, graduate student, Human-Computer Interaction (student winner); and the Writing and Communication Program in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts School of Literature, Media, and Communication (unit winner).

“This year’s Diversity Symposium told the story that every person in the Tech community is valued and entitled to full access to all that we have to offer to fulfill each person’s aspirations, Ervin added. “Seeing access as an issue of inclusion demonstrates that everyone is welcomed and that we should all be dedicated to eliminating barriers of any kind for our community members.”

To learn more and to view the event’s panel recordings, visit: diversity.gatech.edu/12th-annual-georgia-tech-diversity-symposium.

A full transcript of the event is also available here. 

The fourth cohort will begin the program on Sept. 24, 2020. Fellows will be expected to complete an individual or group action, teaching, or research objective and share with the campus community before the program’s completion next April. This year’s program received an astounding 151 applications.

“The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows program allows us to harness energy and ideas that emerge from the fellows’ projects as we work to implement changes to co-create a more inclusive environment where we can all thrive," said Terry Blum, Scheller College of Business professor and Tedd Munchak Chair in Entrepreneurship; director for the Institute for Leadership and Social Impact; and recently appointed ADVANCE professor.

“So many members of the Georgia Tech community are committed to inclusion and equity,” added Martha Grover, professor and associate chair for Graduate Studies in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “I am glad to join the program, which brings these fellows together, with their own passion and innovative ideas, and empowers them to work together and synthesize their ideas to change policies and enact new programs.” Grover was recently named the ADVANCE professor for the College of Engineering.

Blum and Grover will co-direct the program this year.

The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program was created in 2017 with goals of cultivating a network of campus ambassadors who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence and to create an environment where community members feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion at Tech. 

Applicants were asked to submit an idea an issue area or project idea for diversity and inclusion such as developing recommendations and content for new institutional training programs and collating best practices for increasing diversity or enhancing inclusion of a given campus group.

The 2020 cohort include: Sinet Adous, Anabel Alfonso, Jalen Borne, Joshua Burr, Dian Chung, Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena, Kenneth Cunefare, Giovani Galicia, Corey Goergen, Emily Grubert, Laura Haynes, Tiffany Johnson, Kyriaki Kalaitzidou, Shiraz Karaa, Dani Lechner, Michael LiBretto, Matthew Lim, Kimberly Molina-Veronico, Susana Morris, Kim Paige, Robert “Trey” Quinn, Devesh Ranjan, Vicki Rogers, Chris Rozell, Nancy Sandlin, Sania Shikh, Hannah Sherrill, Brandi Simula, Julie Sonnerberg-Klein, and Brandy Stanfield-Nagel.

To learn more about the fourth cohort, visit https://diversity.gatech.edu/2020-diversity-and-inclusion-fellows-bios.

This is the seventh consecutive year the Institute has been named a HEED Award recipient.

“Our diversity and inclusion core values support our vision for building and sustaining an inclusive and welcoming community,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI). “In the years ahead, these values will also undergird our commitment to ensuring success for all our students, staff, and faculty so they can thrive and succeed unimpeded by social barriers.”

Open to all colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, the award measures an institution’s level of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff.

The HEED Award announcement comes on the heels of Tech’s enrollment of a record number of first-year, transfer, and dual-enrollment students this fall and IDEI’s creation of Diversity and Inclusion Education and Training earlier this year to lead a broad range of education and training focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion for the campus community.

"The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion," said Lenore Pearlstein, co-publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. "As we continue to see a record number of HEED Award applicants each year, nearly every school tells us they use the application itself as a tool to create new programs and to benchmark their accomplishments across campus. The process allows them to reflect on their successes and also determine where more work needs to be done. We also continue to raise the standards in selecting HEED institutions."

To learn more and for a full listing of 2020 HEED Award recipients, visit https://www.insightintodiversity.com/about-the-heed-award/2020-recipients/.

Established in 2001 and supported by Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Georgia Tech’s ADVANCE Program builds and sustains an inter-college network of professors who are world-class researchers and role models to support the community and advancement of women and minorities in academia. Professors are nominated by their respective deans to serve as their College’s leading advocate for gender and race equality.

There is an ADVANCE professor representative from each of Georgia Tech’s six colleges.

Grover, the associate chair of Graduate Studies for Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering recently said: “I began my faculty career at Georgia Tech in 2002, as the ADVANCE program was getting started. I was fresh out of my Ph.D., and excited to have the opportunity to start my career as an assistant professor at Georgia Tech.”

“I am often, seemingly daily, met with overt surprise when I introduce myself as a professor,” she continued. “I am committed to continuing the work of ADVANCE, until all members of Georgia Tech are seen and included as true members of the community.”

After serving as dean of Scheller College of Business from 1999-2007, Blum became the founding director of Georgia Tech's Institute for Leadership and Social Impact, an interdisciplinary unit that develops individual and organizational leadership capabilities for economic growth, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability. She is also the co-founder of Tech’s Excel Program which provides a four-year certificate in academic enrichment, social fluency, and career exploration for students with intellectual disabilities.

“I am delighted to be a Georgia Tech ADVANCE professor," she said. "In light of systemic racism, institutionalized inequity and injustice, the call has never been more urgent and important. I look forward to seizing the opportunity to more formally collaborate in the transformation to a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive Georgia Tech.”

To learn more about the ADVANCE Program and its professors, visit http://www.advance.gatech.edu.

The regulations mandate how colleges and universities receiving federal funding must investigate and adjudicate sexual misconduct cases under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities, including employment.

At USG institutions, sexual misconduct is addressed under Policy 6.7 in the Board of Regents Policy Manual. Much of the policy remains the same and Georgia Tech will continue to address incidents of sexual misconduct brought to its attention. One notable change will be in the hearing process for Title IX cases — institutions will now be required to provide an advisor to either party who does not have one. The advisor will have the right to cross-examine, in contrast to the previous Title IX process, where all questions during a hearing were submitted to and asked by a hearing panel. 

Georgia Tech’s Title IX office will host information sessions in the coming academic year to provide opportunities for the campus community to learn more.

Student support and services at Georgia Tech remain the same. Confidential victim-survivor support, prevention and education resources, and other services are available through VOICE, Georgia Tech’s sexual violence prevention program. Support is also available through the Counseling Center; Center for Assessment, Referral, and Education; and the Title IX office. Employees also have access to confidential resources through the Employee Assistance Program and health care providers.

Panelists and advisors are a vital part of the hearing process, and faculty and staff volunteers are needed to serve in these roles. Annual training is provided, and panelists and advisors serve on a rotating basis, usually one to two times per academic year.

To learn more, contact Marcia Bull Stadeker, Title IX Coordinator, at marcia.stadeker@gatech.edu or 404.385.5583.

She stepped down as dean and as the Ivan Allen Jr. Dean’s Chair in Liberal Arts and Technology in August 2019. She retires August 31, 2020.

Royster is regarded as a leading scholar in feminist rhetorical studies as a deliberately interdisciplinary area of research.  During the past year, her research was three-pronged.  She continued to work with undergraduate interns on her Building Memories project, which draws attention to the diverse histories and cultures of particular sites in the City of Atlanta and on the lives and accomplishments of some of the people who lived and worked in these spaces.  She continued also to work through Communities Who Know, Inc., focused mainly on developing the CWK Data Dashboard, which is designed to enhance community knowledge, encourage better data-driven decision-making at the neighborhood level, and to support, as well, research and policymaking processes related to the development and sustainability of urban communities.  Her major research priority, however, was a book project focused on the socio-political activism and leadership of nineteenth century African American women.  

During her nine years as dean, Royster raised the profile of Georgia Tech liberal arts research, education, and public engagement through a robust array of innovative initiatives engaging local, national, and international partners and audiences.

A graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, Royster earned an M.A. and D.A. in English from the University of Michigan. Her research centers on rhetorical studies, literacy studies, women’s studies, and cultural studies, areas in which she has authored and co-authored numerous books, articles, and book chapters. 

She is the author or co-author of four books: Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1997), Traces of a Stream: Literacy and Social Change among African American Women(2000), Profiles of Ohio Women, 1803-2003 (2003), and Feminist Rhetorical Studies: New Horizons in Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies (2012). She is the co-editor of two books:  Double-Stitch: Black Women Write about Mothers and Daughters (1991) and Calling Cards: Theory and Practice in the Study of Race, Gender, and Culture (2005), and the editor of an anthology for college writing courses, Critical Inquiries (2003). She was consulting writer for Writer’s Choice, a textbook series for grades 6 – 8, and co-editor of Reader’s Choice, a literature series for grades 9 – 12, both published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.

Prior to joining Georgia Tech in 2010, Royster served as Senior Vice Provost and Executive Dean of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University (OSU).

Read an extensive article highlighting Royster’s leadership and achievements as dean.

That conversation took place on July 16, online, hosted by IDEI. Tia Jackson-Truitt, director of Diversity and Inclusion Education and Training within IDEI, moderated “Race at Georgia Tech: A Call to Action.” The event drew more than 1,000 unique viewers during 90 minutes of candid reflections on Black experiences at Tech — and talking about about what comes next, as the Institute and the nation come to terms with the reality of systemic racism at a moment in which change feels both possible and palpable.

It was the first in a series of events that seeks to shine the light on painful racial truths and inspire the action required to bring about change. It featured students, faculty, and staff who, each in their own way, have worked to make Georgia Tech more inclusive. They were tasked with being open, honest, and vulnerable about their lived experiences, and they did that and more.

Mechanical engineering undergraduate Mykala Sinclair began by observing that Black students, and especially Black student organizations, are usually asked to participate in wider campus events when they involve a “Black” issue. “It’s almost a silo,” she said. “The Institute, by not showing care and interest in communicating consistently with the Black community at Georgia Tech, has created that narrative.”

Nettie Brown, third-year Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, first visited the Tech campus as part of the Focus program, which encourages the brightest underrepresented minority students from around the country to pursue graduate studies at Georgia Tech. When she returned as a doctoral student, one of the first things she noticed was that “people stare a lot. And there’s a difference between an admiration stare and a ‘What are they doing here?’ stare.” She described wearing her BuzzCard everywhere she goes on campus, “not just for the quick access, but so people will know, that’s a student, faculty, staff, she’s a something — she belongs here.”

Associate Professor Manu Platt in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering recalled his first day in a Tech classroom. For the Morehouse College graduate, it was his first experience teaching white students. He was 29. “The challenges I got as a young faculty member from 18- to 20-year-olds in class were about my intelligence, where I got my degrees, did I deserve to be here, why did I get hired — it shocked me in my early days.”

Since then, he has taken an active role in making sure that Black students in biomedical engineering feel like they belong there. “If I hear of something being said to or about one of our students, my job is to go in and correct it. I don’t want to drive our students away from science and engineering” because of a hostile environment.

Where to start, then? Change the environment. Participants agreed on the necessity of creating and nurturing a pipeline and networks for Black students at Tech, and for white faculty — and students — to be intentional, persistent allies who will take the lead in solving problems that are the result of deeply entrenched racism.

Sonia Alvarez-Robinson, executive director of Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting, concluded the session, noting that the work being done to improve equity and inclusion represents a “great beginning. But we’ve got to accelerate the momentum. We have to take courageous action to address the things that we know are real. Racism is a societal cancer. I don’t know that we have gone as far to be as fierce as we need to to really address it at the root.”

Other panelists included Seth Marder, Regents Professor and Georgia Power Chair in Energy Efficiency in Chemistry; Kaye Husbands Fealing, dean and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; and President Ángel Cabrera.

Cabrera wrapped up the event by identifying steps that Tech is taking to move beyond words to action. First, Tech’s executive leadership team will engage in anti-racist training this summer. Next, the Institute will set up a community police council made up of a cross-section of students, faculty, and staff to meet regularly with the Georgia Tech Police Department, ask questions, and share concerns. There are also plans to launch an Institute-wide diversity and inclusion council, to develop new implicit bias training with greater attention to racial biases, and to highlight diversity and inclusion in the new strategic plan currently under development.

“We have to act today,” Cabrera urged. Before signing off, he turned to the camera and said, “At Georgia Tech, Black lives matter.”

“In the aftermath of the national upheaval over the killing of unarmed Black Americans, the campus community has openly called out racism in our society,” Archie Ervin, vice president for IDEI and chief diversity officer at Tech, said last month. “We have heard their voices and understand that the campus body is not simply satisfied with platitudes – they want change and they are asking for our direction.”

Tia Jackson-Truitt, director of IDEI’s Diversity and Inclusion Education and Training, added, “Now that there has been a collective raising of consciousness on issues of race and racism, the campus community has been very vocal in telling us that they are ready to have these critical conversations.”

In addition to Cabrera, the July 16 event will feature Ervin; Jackson-Truitt; Sonia Alvarez-Robinson, executive director for Strategic Consulting; Nettie Brown, biomedical engineering doctoral student and vice president of Academic and Research Affairs, graduate Student Government Association (SGA); Kaye Husbands Fealing, dean, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; Seth Marder, Regents Professor and Georgia Power Chair in Energy Efficiency, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Manu Platt, associate professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering; and Mykala Sinclair, mechanical engineering undergraduate student and vice president of Student Life, undergraduate SGA.

Each panelist will discuss their personal experiences with race and ways in Georgia Tech can expand on its commitment to eradicate overt and implicit racism, and build a more diverse and inclusive campus.

The event will be the first of a continuing series on race.

Following the July 16 discussion, its recording will be posted online for viewing. Questions may be submitted for panelists in advance to institutediversity@gatech.edu. They may also be submitted during the live event.

Date and time:

July 16, 11 a.m.to 12:30 p.m.— https://c.gatech.edu/race-at-GT

“A lot of people would like to talk about race, racial inequality, and the impact of racism, but don’t know where to start,” said Tiffiny Hughes-Troutman, licensed psychologist and director of the Center for Assessment, Referral, and Education (CARE) at Georgia Tech. “Some worry that others won’t understand their points of view or fear that what they say might be offensive to others. Also, individuals may be confused about how to be an ally and supporter and how to make an impact in a positive, meaningful way.”

That’s the position Steve McLaughlin found himself in until a few years ago. McLaughlin, dean and Southern Company Chair of the College of Engineering, said that he is like many white people when it comes to talking about race: cautious because he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing.

“There are your intentions, and then there’s how it’s received,” he said. “The fear of saying the wrong thing is so strong. It’s such a block to making a difference and to being able to work on the things you feel strongly about.”

McLaughlin said that throughout his adult life he has considered himself an ally of groups that sometimes feel marginalized or misunderstood. He thought it was enough to see himself as nonracist. His thinking changed when the son he and his wife adopted from Guatemala as a baby entered his teen years.

“I started to see how the world treated him and processed him and, quite honestly, didn’t process him because they didn’t see him. Or didn’t want to see him,” McLaughlin said. “He was raised as we would have raised any other child. Then all of a sudden the world starts to just process him differently. I became more attuned to some of the things that African Americans and Latinos experience — everyday microaggressions and racism. I became more passionate. And, I decided I need to speak up.” 

McLaughlin said he is still trying to find his voice in terms of race. He posts on social media about his journey, and he shared his experiences with Transformative Narratives, a digital story library curated by the Office of Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI).

“I did it rather quietly at first,” he said. “I was the chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, then came into this role as dean and realized I have a platform. I can pick the things I think are important to talk about, and this is one of them.”

Where to Begin?

When trying to start a conversation about race, Hughes-Troutman suggests starting small.

“There is great potential in intergroup dialogue that leverages diversity and creates opportunity for connection among large groups,” she said, “but I would suggest starting on an individual level and creating a safe space with friends, colleagues, or co-workers you genuinely care about and whose lives and experiences you are sincerely interested in learning about.”

Stephanie Ray agrees.

“I want you to call me because you really care about me. Don’t call just because you think you should join the conversation about race,” said Ray, associate dean of students and director of Student Diversity Programs in the Division of Student Life.

Ray added that people should not expect their Black colleagues to be the only ones talking about or even leading the conversation. “Everyone has a responsibility to do some heavy lifting,” she said.

McLaughlin is determined to do his part.

“I have African American colleagues with whom I have close enough relationships to initiate the race talk and feel uninhibited in both directions,” he said. “I haven’t had many, but a few, that I could really have a direct conversation about race and not feel worried. I want to get more and more comfortable talking about it.”

Current Climate and What’s Next

Ongoing political protests against police brutality and systemic racism, combined with the anxiety of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, are having a significant impact on students, according to Hughes-Troutman.

“Students share feelings of anger, frustration, sadness, and grief as they process these complex emotions and focus on other milestones, experiences, and events,” she said. “The Covid-19 pandemic is incredibly stressful, and many students are grieving many losses — losses of lives through death, and the loss of their former lifestyle.”

Even when looking at the intersection of racism and Covid-19, Hughes-Troutman is optimistic because of the nature of the conversations taking place.

“I certainly hope it’s a turning point,” she said. “This is a time for racial healing, and these conversations are more important than ever. Dialogue, affirmation and connectedness, and a sense of purpose and agency are ways to move us forward.”

McLaughlin wants to keep the conversation going, and make the most of it. He said the College of Engineering has been talking with student groups and will be collaborating with IDEI to prioritize what can be done within the College to improve the climate in a short time.

“These moments seem to come and go, and people move on to something else,” McLaughlin said. “I’m determined to not let this moment pass.” 

Ray suggests that applying Georgia Tech’s spirit of “We can do that” is the approach to take when addressing race-related issues.

“Look at all of the research Georgia Tech does. If we are willing to put in the hard work for STEM, we should be willing to work hard to improve the human condition — which is part of our new mission statement,” Ray said. “Let’s put these great minds together to do the work needed, not only for Georgia Tech, but for the world.”

With support from the Office of the President, IDEI launched the Leading Women@Tech program in 2016 to facilitate women’s professional development and academic and administrative leadership, and to build a community of leaders across the Institute who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence.

Pearl Alexander, executive director of diversity, inclusion, and engagement, and program director said, “This cohort will partake in a revised virtual and truncated development experience with women managers at a few different levels. The 2020 cohort will also be larger, to include up to 30 women.”

This year’s formal program will run September through December and close with a community conversation next January. An emphasis will be placed on networking and engagement of the entire Leading Women@Tech community during the spring semester.

“The curriculum is streamlined to integrate storytelling, self-efficacy principles, emotional intelligence, contemplative practices, and race dialogue,” added Alexander. “These are foundational skills to lead through unprecedented uncertainty and will serve leaders by increasing self-awareness, resilience, and effectiveness in a multicultural environment.”

To submit a nomination, including a self-nomination, visit here. Nominations will be accepted through Monday, July 13. 

Following the nomination period, selected nominees will be invited to confirm their participation.

To learn more about the program, visit http://diversity.gatech.edu/leadingwomenattech.

This year’s Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication will virtually recognize notable faculty, staff, and students at the 12th Annual Diversity Symposium on September 9, 2020.

Faces of Inclusive Excellence recognizes faculty, staff, and students whose accomplishments in their research, teaching, leadership and/or service endeavors have earned special awards or recognition (e.g. career promotion, publication of research, books, articles, grant awards, and service recognition citations) during the previous academic year.

Nominations, including self-nominations, may be made by all Georgia Tech faculty, staff, or students and will be accepted through July 2, 2020.

For more information and the nomination form, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/facesofinclusiveexcellence.

“Last weekend, President Cabrera and I discussed at length the horrific events that have occurred in the black community in the U.S. in recent weeks,” he began. “The statement the president released Sunday about the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the deaths of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and Ahmaud Arbury in Brunswick, Georgia, inspired me.”

Read his full statement on the Chief Diversity Officer’s Corner blog.

Featuring guest facilitator Lani Peterson and speaker Birgit Burton, the soft closing offered words of encouragement to the fourth cohort in the midst of uncertain times.

Peterson, a psychotherapist, executive coach, and facilitator with expertise in storytelling as a leadership skill, opened the session with an ‘I am, I can, I will’ exercise for participants.

“How has this program influenced your transformation since you began the journey last October,” she asked?

Some of the responses:

‘I am calmer and more creative.’

‘I am more supportive of my team.’

‘I am more proactive and intentional.’

‘I am more resourceful.’

‘I am now more clear about how unfinished I am.’

“The program is designed to create space for women leaders to be deeply self-reflective and courageously share experiences as leaders,” said Pearl Alexander, executive director of diversity, inclusion, and engagement and the program’s director. “These comments are demonstrative of increased in agency and capacity to lead.”

With support from the Office of the President, Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion launched the Leading Women@Tech program in 2016 to facilitate women’s professional development and academic and administrative leadership, and to build a community of leaders across the Institute who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence.

Birgit Burton, executive director of Foundation Relations at Georgia Tech and past Leading Women@Tech program participant, offered words of encouragement and strength after a powerful story about her professional journey at Tech.

“Ladies, you have to remember that she who has knowledge has power,” she told the 20-woman cohort. Never forget these folks [your cohort] and watch yourselves rise. You now join the ranks of a powerful network of women leaders.”

“The insights I have learned in this program have made me more accountable to myself,” said Dominique Ennis, director of operations at Georgia Tech Professional Education and fourth cohort participant. “It has framed the way I not only describe and advocate for myself in all settings but also how I communicate with my staff. The program has truly been a transformative experience.”

The next cohort will experience a revised virtual and truncated program, set to feature women managers at a few different levels. The cohort will also be larger and include up to 30 participants. The curriculum will be streamlined to integrate storytelling, self-efficacy principles, contemplative practices and race dialogue.

The nomination period for the fifth cohort of the Leading Women@Tech program will open in June.

For more information on the Leading Women@Tech program, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/leadingwomenattech. 

The approved mission statement reads: The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university established by the state of Georgia in Atlanta in 1885 and committed to developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.

Feedback from internal and external campus stakeholders was used to guide the development of the mission statement.

Along with this new mission statement, the strategic planning process has also produced a vision and foundational narrative, values definition, and strategic themes, which are currently being further refined by active working groups. 

The strategic planning process is currently in phase two: goal setting. Working groups are focusing on six strategic themes that will drive the Institute’s actionable goals — Amplify Impact, Champion Innovation, Connect Globally, Expand Access, Cultivate Well-Being, Lead by Example. These themes resulted from the first phase of the strategic planning process: the visioning phase. During visioning, more than 5,700 students, faculty, staff, alumni, campus partners, and community leaders shared varied perspectives, aspirations, and dreams to help shape the future of the Institute. From there, the steering committee worked to extrapolate and organize the most relevant and salient themes from the data collected. The committee then divided into four sub-committees to draft the mission statement, vision narrative, values definitions, and strategic themes that are now being further developed.

“Our mission to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition has never been more relevant and necessary,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “Georgia Tech is a leading research university devoted to inclusive and impactful innovation, relentlessly committed to serving the public good and breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges of our time. Our many contributions in combating the covid-19 pandemic offer a clear illustration of what our mission means in practice.”

Learn more about the work of these groups and each strategic impact theme by visiting the strategic plan website.

Do you know a faculty member, staff member, student, or unit (e.g., office, department, school, or lab) who advances the culture of accessibility and inclusive excellence at Georgia Tech?

Centered around accessibility, the 2020 Diversity Champion Awards will recognize those who have demonstrated a commitment to accessibility and creating an inclusive campus community for all.

Nominations, including those by previous nominees and self-nominations, may be made by Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students for any award category. Honorees will be recognized at the 2020 Diversity Symposium in September.

Visit here for more information, including past winners, criteria, eligibility, and nomination form. Nominations will be accepted through June 15.

With support from Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the ADVANCE Program, the program brings together campus community members who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus.

“The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program provided me an opportunity to work on projects to raise awareness around topics of personal interest and of community and global importance,” said Stephanie Merrick, a senior Administrative Professional for the College of Design’s Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization and fellow in last year’s program. “I am thankful I had the opportunity to work with a collaborative team where we worked together and exchanged diverse ideas.”

The program will run from August 15, 2020 to April 15, 2021. During this time, fellows are expected to complete an individual or group action, teaching, or research objective to share with the campus community.

“As a grassroots effort to seed great ideas that have the potential to transform culture around diversity and inclusion on campus, this program has exceeded all our expectations,” said Magnus Egerstedt, co-director of the program and Steve W. Chaddick School Chair and professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

“We have seen a number of really impactful projects go from vague ideas to crisp programs,” added Beril Toktay, Brady Family Chair and faculty director for the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. “We are really excited to see what the next round of fellows will bring to the table.”

Interested applicants should submit an issue area or project idea to focus on as a potential Diversity and Inclusion fellow. The program is seeking participants who have been immersed in the topics of diversity and inclusion, as well as those interested in connecting these topics to different fields and perspectives.

All Georgia Tech faculty, post-doctoral fellows, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students are welcome to apply.

The application deadline is May 15, 2020 at 5 p.m. To read the application instructions, visit diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgramApplicationInstructions, and to apply, visit https://forms.gle/X74fh8nqNGbnwitU7.

To learn more about the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, visit diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram.

Keskinocak has focused her career on heath and humanitarian systems, including hospital operations management, infectious disease modeling, and evaluating the effectiveness of intervention strategies. Since the initial coronavirus outbreak, she has worked on developing a comprehensive agent-based disease spread model, in collaboration with ISyE Professor Nicoleta Serban and Ph.D. students Buse Eylul Oruc, Arden Baxter, and others. The model estimates the spread of the disease geographically and over time; resource needs such as hospital beds, ICU beds, and ventilators; and enables the team to evaluate the impact of various intervention scenarios to determine the best course of action.

In a recent CNN interview, Keskinocak discusses the impact of social distancing and current shelter in place orders. She cautions that a careful, gradual approach is needed as society plans to go back to work and social life, a balancing act between public health and the economy. She emphasizes the importance of the need to continue social distancing to slow down COVID-19 spread, flatten the curve, and save lives.

Jackson-Truitt, who has worked in higher education since 2010, previously worked in the mental health field with at-risk youth and adults. She has also worked as a forensic social worker for incarcerated populations. 

“In this new role, I hope to use my experiences in counseling and higher education to create diversity and inclusion programming that enhances the culture and climate of the Institute,” Jackson-Truitt said. “In the ten years that I’ve been at Tech, I have seen so much growth in how people with different backgrounds and areas of expertise are regarded and respected.”

Archie Ervin, vice president of IDEI added, "The addition of Dr. Jackson-Truitt to Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s professional staff represents an important milestone in the Institute’s commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming campus community. She was selected for this position from a very competitive pool of talented candidates."

"She will develop and lead a broad range of education and training focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues that will be available to all members of the Tech community," Ervin continued. "Education and awareness about diversity, equity, and inclusion is a prerequisite to building the capacity to understand, embrace, and leverage differences that diversity brings. We fully expect Dr. Jackson-Triutt’s role as a diversity education and training specialist will be a difference-maker on Georgia Tech’s journey toward remaining a best-in-class model of diversity and inclusion among universities nationwide."

Jackson-Truitt received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Delaware; her master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania; and her doctorate in counseling and student support services from the University of Georgia.

In her most previous role at Georgia Tech as associate director of the Center for Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED), Jackson-Truitt provided recruitment and retention programming for undergraduate and graduate students through the SURE, LSAMP, Grad REACH, and Grad RISE initiatives. Using best practices in STEM recruitment and retention, she has guided dozens of students from under represented backgrounds through master’s and doctoral degree programs at Georgia Tech and peer institutions. Combining her counseling background with her passion for students, she has also served as an advisor, advocate, and mentor.

Jackson-Truitt also serves as the Region B chairperson for the National Association of Multicultural Educational Program Administrators (NAMEPA) and is the principal empowerment officer for GRIOT -- the Georgia Tech African-heritage Employee Resource Group.

“I am ecstatic to be able to bring not only my professional and educational training into this role, but also my lived experiences,” Jackson-Truitt added. “I am optimistic for the opportunity to work across the campus’ various constituent groups and excited about this role’s many contributions to the Georgia Tech community to come.”

You can find recent Op-eds and guest columns below: 

Forbes- How Fast Can The U.S. Go Back To Work?

The Hill- In 'coronapocalypse' the worst shortages could be deadly

NY Daily News- Coronavirus’ health-care capacity gut check: We need to radically ramp up facilities in America

Health experts determine the ideal vaccine formula each season, which is then produced in small batches, leading to uneven supply and demand while vaccine production ramps up. Historically, due to fairness considerations, vaccines have been allocated pro rata, which means proportionally based on the population of a region. While this may seem like the best way to fairly distribute a limited supply, it does not take demand and “uptake” — the number of people who are willing to be vaccinated — into account.

“The uptake rate can vary by region, for various reasons.” explained Pinar Keskinocak, William W. George Chair and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering ADVANCE Professor, and co-founder and director of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems (CHHS). “If the limited vaccine inventory is allocated proportionally to the population in different regions without considering the uptake rate, unused vaccine inventory may pile up in some areas while other areas experience shortages.”

With the goal of better matching supply and demand, Zihao Li (Ph.D. 16), Keskinocak, and CHHS co-founder and Professor Julie Swann (BIE 1996) from NC State University proposed a new allocation strategy, where the limited vaccine inventory is allocated pro rata only to those regions that continue to experience a positive uptake rate. They developed a simulation model to compare the current and proposed vaccine allocation strategies.

“We found that the proposed strategy would benefit the entire population because it leads to a higher number of people vaccinated and less inventory leftover,” explained Keskinocak.

However, vaccine inventory visibility in public health supply chains is limited, and accurate uptake rates may not always be available in each geographic area. Keskinocak hopes the results of the study will encourage local reporting of both the number of vaccines administered during a season and the amount that is unused, to inform future allocation decisions.

Optimizing the flu vaccine supply chain will also help when the next pandemic strikes. Historically, pandemics occur every 30-40 years, but the results can be devastating. According to the CDC, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic resulted in 60.8 million illnesses and 12,469 deaths in the U.S. alone.

“Information about uptake rates is even more important during a pandemic,” added Keskinocak, “not only for the effective allocation of vaccines to slow the spread of the disease, but also to increase public awareness efforts about vaccinations in areas where uptake is low.”

This study was supported by a seed grant from Georgia Tech and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. This research was also supported in part by the Harold R. and Mary Anne Nash Junior Faculty Endowment Fund and the following Georgia Tech benefactors: William W. George, Andrea Laliberte, Joseph C. Mello, and Richard “Rick” E. and Charlene Zalesky.

Since October 2019, more than 5,700 students, faculty, staff, alumni, campus partners, and community leaders provided input via surveys, in-person meetings, workshops, informal sessions, and webinars. They shared varied perspectives, aspirations, and dreams to help shape the future of the Institute.

The steering committee worked in tandem with the visioning and collection process to analyze volumes of raw data and provide the building blocks for the Institute’s new mission, vision, and values, and strategic impact theme areas.

Members of the Georgia Tech community are encouraged to visit strategicplan.gatech.edu to review the draft of the foundational narrative, vision, theme and values and beliefs that will ultimately shape the strategic plan. There, you can submit feedback through March 20, and learn more about the process, the data collection and analysis methodology, and next steps.

Applying to a Working Group

Starting now in Phase two — goal setting— working groups will cluster around six strategic themes. Applications are currently being accepted for any who are interested in serving on one of six themed working groups.

The strategic themes are as follows:

1. Amplify Impact: Embrace our power as agents of change for the public good and concentrate our research and learning efforts on identifying and solving the most critical and complex problems of our time, locally and globally.
2. Champion Innovation: Champion our leadership position as an engine of innovation and entrepreneurship and collaborate with other public and private actors to create economic opportunity and position Atlanta and Georgia as examples of inclusive innovation.
3. Connect Globally: Strengthen our role as a hub of worldwide collaboration and build a global learning platform to expand our reach and amplify our impact.
4. Expand Access: Empower people of all backgrounds and stages of life to learn and contribute to technological and human progress.
5. Cultivate Well-Being: Strengthen our culture of wellbeing and create an environment of holistic learning where all members of our community can grow and learn to lead healthy, purposeful, impactful lives.
6. Lead by Example: Lead and inspire by example by creating a culture of deliberate innovation in our own practices and by being an example of agility, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability.

The working groups will meet between March and May, and work to identify goals, objectives and measures of success necessary to bring those themes to life. The groups are expected to meet on a regular basis, with time commitments expected to be between four to six hours each week.

Interested working group applicants must complete the Institute Strategic Planning Working Group Application Form by Wednesday Feb. 26, 2020.

Questions can be sent to strategicplan@gatech.edu.

Fox researches the role and influence of gender in scientific occupations and organizations, and she is considered one of the leaders in the field. She has received numerous honors in her career, including:

• Section Star in Science, Knowledge and Technology from the American Sociological Association, 2015
• Gender Equity Award from the Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016
• Ivan Allen College Distinguished Research Award, 2017
• Faculty of the Year Award from the Georgia Tech Undergraduate Student Government Association, 2017
• Elected AAAS Fellow for “distinguished research on women and men in scientific organizations and occupations, and leadership on issues related to diversity, equity, and excellence in science,” 2018

As part of the ADVANCE Program, which has a professor in each of Georgia Tech's six colleges and is supported by the Institute Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office, Fox works to support and build a community of women in science and academia.

Fox's term begins on Feb. 17, at the conclusion of the AAAS's Annual Meeting.

Sponsored by Georgia Tech's ADVANCE Program since 2016, the Adaptive Leadership Workshop is designed to provide tenured and non-tenure track faculty and staff members with an understanding of concepts and models that will enhance leadership competencies.

Facilitated by Robert “Bob” Thomas, professor of the practice and director of leadership education at the Scheller College of Business Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship (ILE), the workshop sessions provide an overview of tools and techniques of adaptive leadership, understanding immunity to change, the philosophy of servant leadership, and a framework for identifying and understanding individual values.

To learn more and to apply for the Spring 2020 program, visit http://www.advance.gatech.edu/adaptive-leadership-workshop. The application deadline has been extended through Friday, December 13, 5 p.m.

Georgia Tech has received the 2019 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, one of the oldest and largest diversity-focused publications in higher education. As a recipient of the annual HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — Georgia Tech will be featured along with 93 other recipients in the magazine's November 2019 issue.

This is the sixth consecutive year the Institute has been named a HEED Award recipient.

“Georgia Tech continues to be an influential thought leader in the areas of diversity and inclusion,” said Archie. W. Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “Receiving the HEED Award for a sixth year in a row signifies the Institute’s commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming campus community for all as we continue on our path forward, together, as ‘One Georgia Tech.’”

Open to all colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, the award measures an institution’s level of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff.

The award announcement comes on the heels of Georgia Tech welcoming one of its most diverse class of incoming students last month and amid the expansion of campus diversity and inclusion programs and initiatives such as the Challenge program for incoming students; one-on-one leadership coaching for staff members; and added implicit bias workshops and trainings for faculty.

“The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”

For a full listing of 2019 HEED Award recipients and to learn more, visit insightintodiversity.com/about-the-heed-award/.

Bring your lunch and join a panel of Georgia Tech subject-matter experts as they discussion sexual harassment awareness at the Institute on Wednesday, October 16, from 11:30a.m. - 1:00p.m. in the Bill Moore Student Success Center, President's Suite A. Registration is now open at: https://gatech.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2nkwaZcTskQOl7v.

Panelists:

Marcia Bull Stadeker, Title IX Coordinator, Ethics Compliance & Legal (Title IX campus reporting obligations, training)

Dr. Janice E. Harewood, Licensed Psychologist, Assistant Director for Outreach and Wellness (Mental Health Impact of Sexual Harassment)

W. Gail Greene, Director of Faculty Administration/HR Scheller College of Business

Jennifer Gagen, VOICE Advocate

Moderator: Dr. Kim Cobb, ADVANCE Professor, College of Sciences; Director, Global Change Program; Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Presented by Stephanie Merrick, Ph.D., 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Fellow Program

By definition, a “Responsible Employee” or mandatory reporter is required to promptly and fully report complaints of or information regarding sexual or gender-based misconduct to the Institute’s Title IX coordinator or deputy coordinator. Responsible Employees include any administrator, supervisor, faculty member, or other person (including student-employees in some cases) in a position of authority who is not a Confidential Employee or Privileged Employee, as defined by policy or law. 

“We understand that members of our campus community may be unsure what to do, for themselves or others, if faced with a gender or sexual misconduct issue,” said Marcia Bull Stadeker, Title IX coordinator in the Office of Ethics, Compliance, and Legal Affairs. “To ensure a safe campus and provide clarity about available resources and reporting options, we provide education and refresher training to interested campus groups and departments.”

Among other things, training participants will learn what qualifies as sexual misconduct or gender discrimination, where to seek help, who is a mandatory reporter, what types of reports are or are not confidential, and available administrative remedies.

To request training regarding Georgia Tech’s and USG’s Sexual Misconduct Policies, contact Marcia Bull Stadeker at marcia.stadeker@gatech.edu. 

For more information on Title IX at Georgia Tech, visit titleix.gatech.edu.

When Moutoushi Majid first arrived at Georgia Tech in 2018, she felt isolated. She was struggling. Then she learned about a residential learning community sponsored by the Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology (WST Center).

It was a turning point for Majid, one that has allowed the master’s student in urban design who originally came from Bangladesh to successfully make the transition to life on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus.

“Because of these people, I feel like I will never be alone,” Majid said of her fellow residents in the Women, Science, and Technology Learning Community.

20 Years of Progress and Impact

Such successes are but one of the legacies of the WST Center, which turns 20 years old this year. WST and its faculty organizers played key roles in inspiring Georgia Tech’s learning communities, the Institute’s first undergraduate student-faculty research program, the WST Distinguished Lecture, and in Georgia Tech’s participation in the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program.

The Center funds research partnerships and offers opportunities for volunteer service through the Girls Excelling in Math and Science (GEMS) program. Through the WST Learning Community, it also provides students with faculty mentors and monthly dinners where they join in conversation with successful professionals who provide advice and encouragement.

“The values of diversity have become more integral to the Institution and the experience of students, and WST has been part of that, in partnership with campus leaders who see the way forward,” said Mary Frank Fox, WST co-director and ADVANCE professor in Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts School of Public Policy.

The center’s other co-directors are Carol Colatrella, a professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, also a unit of the Ivan Allen College, and Mary Lynn Realff, an associate professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

Center Founded as Inter-College Initiative

The Center was established in 1999 as an initiative of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, the College of Sciences, and College of Engineering. Funding from the Georgia Tech Foundation and the Focused Research Program, Office of the Vice Provost for Research, supported the launch.

It was the latest in a series of initiatives involving women and gender at Georgia Tech. Earlier, Fox, Colatrella, Anne Balsamo, a former professor in what is now the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, and Steve Vallas, now at Northeastern University, collaborated on the creation of a curricular minor in women, science, and technology. The WST minor was among the first such programs in the country.

Center Allows Faculty and Students to Grow Together

Colatrella was instrumental in setting up the learning community, which was the first at Georgia Tech.

“It grew out of a desire to provide a community, especially for women who were in technical fields where they were a distinct minority, but also where women who weren’t in sororities could find a comfortable community.”

It has done that through, among other things, 20 years of monthly dinners, often featuring successful women in technology and other fields, book clubs, and other social events.

Amanda Miller, a business student from Marietta, is a resident assistant in the learning community.

“It’s kind of overwhelming, the focus on academics,” she said. “And so being able to have a community that’s centered around something that we all have in common, besides academics, is what’s really unique here. Having that support base of women who are all pursuing the same things, this allows us to come alongside one another, and there’s so many extra resources provided for us through this community, it really allows us to grow together as women.”

The Center's initiatives also provide growth opportunities for Georgia Tech students to work with middle school students in the Atlanta Public Schools through the GEMS program.

Emma Pettit first got involved with GEMS as a middle school student at Inman Middle School in Atlanta. Now she is a fourth-year Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering student at Georgia Tech.

“GEMs gave me the opportunity to work with other like-minded girls and to learn from women already working in STEM fields," she said. "Interacting with these women helped me develop my passion for STEM and ultimately helped lead to me pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering at Georgia Tech.”

ADVANCE Grant

The Center also played a role in securing the 2001 grant that led to Georgia Tech’s involvement in the NSF’s ADVANCE program. The initiative sought to increase the participation and advancement of women and minorities in academic STEM careers.

In its first years, the ADVANCE program was responsible for the creation of new networking opportunities for women faculty members, new processes to assist faculty members in balancing work and family responsibilities, a research program identifying and analyzing issues involving faculty members’ advancement, and an assessment of promotion and tenure issues and processes.

“ADVANCE is key to Georgia Tech in its focus on systemic, institutional approaches that support the advancement and success of women and underrepresented minorities in academic careers,” Fox said. “This contributes to the vitality of the workforce, locally and nationally.”

What is Next for WST

After 20 years, the Center is far from done with its work.

Next up is a new learning community for first-year students focusing on social justice. WST is partnering with the Office of Institute Diversity to set up Impact through Science, Technology, and Social Good. The community is open to first-year students who want to explore issues related to diversity, community engagement, and sustainability.

Members of the learning community, which is sponsored by Institute Diversity and is scheduled to launch in August 2019, will live in Field Residence Hall.

With initiatives such as these, Fox said she is proud of the legacy WST has had, and for what the future will bring.

“WST has always been about responding to needs, but also anticipating needs, and I look forward to it continuing to do that for many years to come,” she said.

Spearheaded by Georgia Tech’s ADVANCE Program, the initiative to update the existing template enabled a closer alignment of the language in faculty hiring ads with the institution’s goals around diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The amended ad states: “Georgia Tech prides itself on its technology resources, collaborations, high-quality student body, and its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion … We strongly encourage applications from women, underrepresented minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans. Georgia Tech has policies to promote a healthy work-life balance and is aware that attracting faculty may require meeting the needs of two careers.”

ADVANCE Professor and Georgia Power Chair Kim Cobb noted that the revised template “serves to remind the entire Georgia Tech community of our shared goals and responsibilities in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Cobb previously worked with colleagues in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences to develop updated language to advertise new faculty positions. In partnership with the other ADVANCE professors, they advocated for campus-wide implementation by engaging with the office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Graduate Affairs, Office of Human Resources, Office of Legal Affairs, Office of the Provost, and Institute Diversity.

“Georgia Tech’s new language for faculty hiring advertisements explicitly states our goal to achieve greater diversity in future faculty hiring outcomes,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “Directing this message to women, underrepresented minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans will encourage more members of these communities to consider joining our campus community.”

The initiative to update the faculty position advertising template is also in line with ADVANCE’s mission “to develop systemic and institutional approaches that increase the representation, full participation, and advancement of women and minorities in academic STEM careers — thus contributing to a more diverse workforce, locally and nationally.”

Ervin highlighted the institutional importance of ADVANCE, noting that “Georgia Tech ADVANCE professors provide visible and tangible leadership for our equity and inclusion agendas with a special emphasis on gender equity.”

The updated faculty position advertisement template is available online.

The second cohort of staff, students, and faculty — Troy Batugal, Natashia Boland, Rachel Chen, Sheila Cranman, Rishabh Datta, Claudio Di Leo, Heather Dicks, Jennifer Glass, Skyler Henckell, Lacy Hodges, Avanti Joshi, Angela Keys, Preksha Kukreja, Minda Monteagudo, Rhea Perkins, Raneem Rizvi, Rockie Marie Rodríguez, Sahana Srivatsan, Maloreigh Todd, Emily Weigel, and Conan Zhao — have spent the past year developing, planning, and executing their proposals, each designed to accelerate cultural transformation on campus.

For the program’s sponsors, the goal is to create an environment where all people feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion.

“Diverse collaboration often sparks great innovation,” said Magnus Egerstedt, professor and Steve W. Chaddick School Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. “When we conceived of this program, the hope was to change the culture on campus by seeding a number of different projects. And it is really exciting to see this actually happening. I particularly appreciate the energy and passion that the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows bring to this program.”

With support from Institute Diversity, the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program was created in 2017 to bring together faculty, staff, and students who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus.

2018 Diversity Fellows’ topics included conflict resolution skills training for graduate students in science, mentoring and support for African-American female students matriculating through Tech, a summit-style event to discuss issues related to the inclusion of people with disabilities at Tech, and a workshop specifically geared toward undergraduate-run makerspaces that expose students to best practices in developing a diverse and inclusive atmosphere.

“It is very exciting to witness the creative ways that our fellows are using their own experience and expertise to foster diversity and inclusivity at Georgia Tech,” said Beril Toktay, ADVANCE Professor in the Scheller College of Business, Brady Family Chair and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. “It is particularly gratifying to see how interest in the program has grown, the wealth of ideas and projects that are being proposed, and the effectiveness of the execution.”

Angela Keys, an administrative manager in the Center for Career Discovery and Development whose project, Black Women Gather, provides mentoring and support for African-American women at Tech, reflected on her time as a fellow.

“I consider myself fairly dialed-in to being inclusive but seeing and hearing my fellow fellows' projects made me realize how much work there is still to do, how much there is I don't know and still want to learn,” she said.

She also noted how this project has further deepened her connection to Tech. “I feel more invested in this Institute and I want to be a part of its legacy of Progress and Service.”

The third cohort of faculty, staff, and students was recently selected for the 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

To learn more about the program, visit diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram.

Through its ADVANCE program, Georgia Tech is working to increase representation and advancement of women in academic, science and engineering careers. Tech’s ADVANCE program features six professors—one representing each college—who are not only exceptional researchers and teachers, but also serve as role models and advocates for women and minorities on campus.

These six women are accomplished faculty members and experts in their fields, and through the ADVANCE program are also giving back by helping to increase the representation and participation of women and minorities at the Institute. We asked these ADVANCE professors to talk about their experiences in academia and the work they do to create more equity, diversity and inclusion for those following in their footsteps.

What exactly do you do in your role as an ADVANCE professor?

Beril Toktay: I see the ADVANCE Professorship as a mixture of advocate, change agent, adviser and cheerleader. As an advocate, it is my job to surface issues and bring them to the attention of the administration. As a change agent, I collaborate both laterally and with the administration to make progress on those same issues. As an adviser to the administration, it is my role to share my thoughts honestly and constructively. And as a cheerleader, I elevate and celebrate individual and collective achievements.

Kim Cobb: I serve as liaison between the faculty and the administration as an advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion. At the same time, I work closely with members of the administration —from the president’s office to school chairs—to advise, coordinate and raise awareness of various initiatives. One of the most rewarding and fulfilling aspects of my role is to work alongside five other amazing ADVANCE Professors as we share best practices and build capacity and momentum for Institute-wide efforts.

Pinar Keskinocak: I listen via one-on-one and small group meetings to get a pulse from College of Engineering women, particularly faculty and graduate students, regarding their concerns on issues such as equity, work-life balance and leadership opportunities. I also gather and analyze data to better understand Georgia Tech’s current state and areas for improvement, and advocate for potential changes in policy or practices. One of the data-gathering activities we did as a team was to look at faculty hiring data, starting from applications, to interviews on campus, to offers, and then accept/reject decisions. We wanted to better understand this pipeline, especially considering the percentage of women and minorities at each stage.

Can you give an example of how you've advocated for or advanced the work of female and minority students, staff and faculty and what impact that has had?

Mary Frank Fox: One of my goals has been clarifying the evaluation process. I’ve done this by leading a team assessing Ivan Allen College school handbooks for clarity and continuity in guidelines and policies, as well as developing a document with the organizational factors (based on research) that support clarity and equity of evaluation. I participate in the dean’s workshops on reappointment, tenure and promotion, and have developed a set of practices that clarify criteria for promotion to full professor. These have been important because evaluation is the “lever for advancement.”

Dana Randall: It is exceptional and noteworthy that women on the faculty of the College of Computing are represented across all areas of the discipline. However, this is less true of the student body, and we continue to see certain sub-disciplines with far more gender balance than others. We have hosted various events to create a forum for women in less balanced areas in the College of Computing to be able to speak up and create a community, and give them access to women faculty and students in other areas with whom they can discuss opportunities and challenges.

Toktay: A good example is the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows program, which offers a one-year fellowship to approximately 20 faculty, staff and students who propose initiatives that contribute to diversity and inclusion on campus. This program fills the need for bottom-up diversity and inclusion initiatives that draw on the unique experiences and talents of the campus community. As co-director and co-founder of the program, I consult with each fellow in shaping their project, connect projects to areas of the Institute that would benefit from them and champion their adoption.

Women's issues have come to the forefront in today's cultural landscape: sexual harassment and abuse, gender wage gap, discrimination in STEM fields, and more. What issues do you feel are most pressing? What should we be focused on addressing first?

Catherine Ross: Not just one, but many issues are pressing. Thomson Reuters Foundation asked about 100 people in Britain, Italy, the United States, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, India, Thailand, Brazil and Colombia what they saw as the biggest challenge for women. The overwhelming response was, “the world would be a better place for women if they had access to more and better quality jobs.” Of course, we know that access to higher quality education leads to a better quality job, which brings us back to the role of the Georgia Institute of Technology and other institutions of higher learning.

Fox: Key here are the subtlety and complexity of systemic discrimination that creates inequitable outcomes in salaries, positions and advancement. This is complex because it involves organizational climates, patterns of who is valued (and why), practices of evaluation and forms of inclusion or exclusion. These are pressing issues because so much of people’s lives occur in these organizational settings and the features of organizations shape outcomes for all.

Keskinocak: This is a tough one, and they are all somewhat related to each other. Women are less likely to stay or advance in the workforce, or seek leadership positons, especially if there is harassment, inadequate family support or discrimination. I think bias, whether it is implicit or overt, is still a big issue. This is true for women, and for underrepresented minorities as well. My perception is that while women are more easily accepted in junior-level roles, bias and other barriers become bigger, and more pronounced, as women advance in their careers.

Randall: Sexual harassment and unsafe work environments for women and various underrepresented groups are by far the biggest societal concerns across fields. None of these other issues around gender and identity can be addressed until we create an environment where everyone feels safe to speak up, contribute and be fully valued.

What in your opinion is the greatest challenge facing women on college campuses today? And what do you think can be done to meet and overcome that challenge?

Fox: A big challenge is the prevalence of the “pipeline model.” From this perspective, the issue becomes keeping women and other under-represented groups “in the pipeline” so that they emerge into careers in an “orderly and expected” progression. This view—introduced in the early 1980s—has governed many practices, policies and initiatives, with less than positive outcomes, despite good intentions. A more realistic and effective model is the “pathway” approach, which involves considerations of institutional influences like marriage and family, relations of power that favor or disfavor some groups, and organizational arrangements that create advantages and disadvantages in interactions, evaluation and rewards.

Randall: What often holds women back in certain academic disciplines is not their inability to “lean in” but rather the unwillingness of some men to “lean out.” The nature of many STEM fields, in particular, can be more challenging for certain women as everyone is struggling to make their own voice heard. This is compounded by implicit bias—unconscious stereotypes or assumptions about groups of people—which is now well-documented in job acquisition, letters of recommendation, teaching evaluations and so forth. While some of these biases undoubtedly can hinder careers, the wave of discussions around this topic has made many more people aware of these tendencies, and it has made others vigilant about countering such behavior in others.

Cobb: As a mother to four, I am particularly sensitive to the challenges related to childbirth, especially in the face of federal parental leave policies that lag those of all other developed nations. However, bias represents a more universal, and often more subtle, threat to the well-being of women. And it’s not just women—racial and ethnic minorities, members of the LGBT+ community, as well as the disabled face a range of biases, sometimes multiple biases at once. While it is important to continue our collective work as an institution to raise awareness about sources of bias and design policies to mitigate its effects, it is equally important to build a community where personal experiences are shared and valued, and where everyone sees themselves as an active participant in the solutions to these challenges.

Toktay: There are no silver bullet solutions, but it’s very important that those in leadership positions make it a priority to try to understand how people experience life on campus, and make a conscious effort to model inclusive behavior.

What obstacles have you personally faced as a woman in your field? Do you think conditions have improved over the years for younger women who are following your career path?

Ross: For me, this is a particularly potent question being both African American and a woman. The struggle to obtain a college education was a tedious and precarious one which was made more difficult because of limited family resources and persistent barriers of racism. In many instances, I was not selected, invited, referenced or acknowledged simply because of who I am and how I look. However, I took advantage of every opportunity that came my way, including volunteering at professional agencies, accessing scholarship and work-study opportunities, visiting universities and deciding that I would identify people who were supportive and with whom I could learn. While there are fewer obstacles today, we need only to look at the status of women (especially African-American women) to know we have much further to go.

Randall: Being a woman in mathematics and computer science creates challenges, but it also creates opportunities. I have personally experienced just about every possible type of discrimination at various stages of my career, but I’ve also had more access to leadership and scientific roles than I might have otherwise due to systemic efforts to achieve greater gender balance. These additional experiences helped ameliorate the unfortunate reality that other people made themselves less accessible, and certain opportunities may have been less readily available to me as a woman. To thrive, you have to learn to distinguish these experiences and maximize the settings that are supportive and inspiring. I believe that overall, recent progress by diversity-promoting programs (like ADVANCE) has been helping to increase access and support for younger women entering academia.

Cobb: I have faced my share of challenges, big and small, that left me feeling extremely isolated. But as a tenured, white professor, I also came to realize that I had the capacity and privilege to advocate for the kind of structural changes that could ease the path for women and other under-represented minorities. I’m thrilled to have a formal appointment as ADVANCE Professor, wherein I can engage for real-world change as part of a team of accomplished, hard-charging, like-minded women. It is a steep hill to climb, but the process of climbing towards equity and inclusion every single day is one of the most rewarding aspects of my professional life. The dozens of amazing young women I have mentored in my lab, in addition to my own three daughters, remind me that while our work will never be done, small wins accumulate through time to open doors for them that might have been closed for me, and that keeps me going.

How has Georgia Tech best supported the ADVANCE program efforts on campus?

Ross: Georgia Tech has supported the work of ADVANCE Professors beginning with our launch of the Equity, Diversity, and Excellence Initiative. Our work seeks to support each academic unit’s attempt to become a place that promotes gender equity, bias awareness, open communication on Institute climate and culture, and more significant interaction with higher administrators, while convening programs such as the Annual Diversity Symposium. The Institute has also supported our requests for data to better understand the hiring, interviewing and employment practices across colleges.

Keskinocak: We are grateful for the support from the highest levels, including our president, Institute Diversity, college deans, and beyond. For example, the Strategic Planning Advisory Group proposal, which was written with the leadership of ADVANCE professors along with others, had strong support from Institute Diversity as well as the colleges, and led to three new initiatives: the Diversity and Inclusion Councils, the Fellows/Ambassadors Program and the Personal Narrative Library.

Fox: Georgia Tech has taken values of equity and diversity and made them integral to the fabric of the Institution. This has occurred through bias awareness workshops, accountability of data collection, the amplified voices of previously marginalized groups and respect for ADVANCE goals.

This story was originally published in the Fall 2018 Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine (Vol. 94 No. 3)

The report from the 2017 Faculty and Staff Climate Assessment Surveys is now available from Institute Diversity and Academic Effectiveness at diversity.gatech.edu/ClimateAssessmentSurveys. In the report, longitudinal data from last year’s surveys were compared to the results from the 2013 Climate Assessment Surveys.

As Academic Effectiveness Assistant Director Joe Ludlum explained, “The content of the questions in the 2017 surveys remained unchanged from the 2013 surveys, which therefore allowed comparative analysis to track changes over time since the first surveys’ administration.”

The Climate Assessment Surveys assessed the lived experiences, perceptions, and satisfaction of faculty and staff with respect to the Strategic Plan’s aspiration to build “a culture of collegiality, close collaboration, global perspective, intercultural sensitivity and respect, and thoughtful interaction among a diverse community of scholars that includes all students, faculty, and staff.”

“The results of the surveys indicate significant progress on some important measures,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “For instance, there were positive gains over the past four years on faculty satisfaction with support from their chairs, and nearly 90 percent of staff respondents hold the opinions that they freely interact with colleagues across Georgia Tech and that the Institute is generally a comfortable and inclusive environment for them.”

“Despite the generally positive direction over four years, we have work to do. As another example, the level of agreement from staff respondents that adequate processes are in place to address grievances dropped by seven percent in 2017 in comparison to 2013,” added Ervin.

Following the evaluation of the faculty and staff surveys over the past year, all undergraduate and graduate students were invited to participate in the 2018 Student Climate Assessment Survey earlier this month. Results from this survey will be compared to the findings of the 2013 Student Climate Assessment Survey and released in 2019.

“Thank you to those who participated in the surveys as this feedback will help us better understand the lived experiences of faculty, staff, and students and inform Tech’s leadership about strategies to improve support for the campus community,” said Keona Lewis, program review and research manager for Institute Diversity. “Programs like the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, Inclusive Leaders Academy, and Leading Women@Tech were launched, in part, after reviewing the findings from the 2013 survey.”

To learn more and read the reports from the 2013 and 2017 Climate Assessment Surveys, visit diversity.gatech.edu/ClimateAssessmentSurveys. 

“We are honored,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity and president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. “On the heels of a challenging year for our campus community, we remain steadfast in our commitment to an inclusive, safe, and healthy community on our path forward together as ‘One Georgia Tech.’”

Open to all colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, the award measures an institution’s level of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff.

Award applications are reviewed and evaluated by representatives of Potomac Publishing Inc., publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity, and the magazine’s editorial board members may have also been asked to assist with evaluating applications.

“Georgia Tech’s HEED Award application received our highest score to date,” said Keona Lewis, program review and research manager for Institute Diversity. “While we are grateful for the recognition, there is still work to do as evidenced by our recently released report from the 2017 Faculty and Staff Climate Assessment Surveys.”

Ninety-six higher education institutions, including Georgia Tech, received the HEED Award this year. They will be featured in the November 2018 and December 2018 issues of INSIGHT Into Diversity.

To learn more about the HEED Award, visit www.insightintodiversity.com/about-the-heed-award/. 

With support from Institute Diversity and the ADVANCE Program, this program brings together campus community members who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus. The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program is a bottom-up initiative tapping into the creativity and diversity of thought among our campus community to crowdsource ideas that create long-term culture change.

“The goals of the program are to cultivate a network of ambassadors who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence and to create an environment where people feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion at Georgia Tech,” said Beril Toktay, ADVANCE Professor in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, Brady Family Chair and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

Each applicant should submit an issue area or project idea to focus on as a potential Diversity and Inclusion Fellow. The program is seeking fellows who have been immersed in the topics of diversity and inclusion, as well as those interested in connecting these topics to different fields and perspectives.

All Georgia Tech faculty, post-doctoral fellows, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students are welcome to apply. The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program will run from January 15 to December 1, 2019. During this time, fellows are expected to:

• Complete an individual or group action, teaching, or research objective and share with the campus community; and
• Attend the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program meetings, including the program’s final poster expo and celebration.

“Our intention is that Diversity and Inclusion Fellows will benefit from this program by building lasting connections among participants and accelerating culture change at Georgia Tech,” said Catherine Ross, Harry West Professor and ADVANCE Professor in the School of City and Regional Planning and incoming co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. 

The application deadline is October 19, 2018 at 5 p.m. To read the application instructions, visit diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgramApplicationInstructions, and to apply, visit https://goo.gl/forms/WM3OOdBB5ndTi3dB3.

To learn more about the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, visit diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram. The program is one of three diversity and inclusion initiatives funded through a Strategic Planning Advisory Group proposal; the other two are the Diversity and Inclusion Councils and Transformative Narratives. 

Georgia Tech’s ADVANCE Program is offering three Demystifying How Georgia Tech Works events on October 2, November 8, and November 27. Each event is open to all faculty, staff, and students.

“We tend to know what is happening within our networks, but we could often benefit from seeing the bigger picture at the Institute,” said Pinar Keskinocak, College of Engineering ADVANCE Professor and William W. George Chair and Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. “This event series is an opportunity to transfer knowledge and fill information gaps between units, so campus community members can be on the same page as ‘One Georgia Tech.’”

On October 2, “Ethical Responsibilities of Public Universities” will address issues around the mission of higher education, costs, ethical aspects of rankings, and some unethical practices.

On November 8, “How the Office of Sponsored Programs Supports Faculty” will feature panelists from key offices that help faculty obtain and manage sponsored research funds. Panelists will discuss recent initiatives focused on streamlining their services, the range of services provided, and how faculty can best benefit from working with their offices. 

Finally, on November 27, “Professional Development Programs for Faculty and Staff” will feature a panel discussion on several professional development programs for faculty and staff that are offered by Georgia Tech and the University System of Georgia.

L. Beril Toktay, Brady Family Chair and ADVANCE Professor in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, explained that this fall’s event topics were selected by crowdsourcing ideas from previous participants.

More than 500 faculty, staff, and students have attended the Demystifying How Georgia Tech Works series since its launch in 2016.

“As a Tech alumna and now faculty member, it was enlightening to attend last spring’s event on undergraduate enrollment, and heartening to hear of the plans to create a more diverse, better-supported undergraduate environment,” said Emily Weigel, academic professional in the School of Biological Sciences. “This series provides a quick crash course on topics of importance.”

To learn more and register, visit www.advance.gatech.edu/demystifyingtech.

The four Regents Professors are:

• Ajay Kohli, professor and Gary T. and Elizabeth R. Jones Chair in Management in the Scheller College of Business.
• Timothy Lieuwen, professor and David S. Lewis Jr. Chair in the School of Aerospace Engineering, and the executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute.
• Catherine L. Ross, professor and Harry West Chair for Quality Growth and Regional Development in the School of City and Regional Planning, director of the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development, and deputy director of the National Center for Transportation Systems Productivity and Management.
• John Stasko, professor in the School of Interactive Computing and director of the Information Interfaces Research Group.

The Regents Researcher is:

• Michael O. Rodgers, principal research scientist in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Georgia Tech Air Quality Laboratory.

“Congratulations to my esteemed colleagues on this new distinction,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs and the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair. “The world’s best and brightest scholars and researchers can be found at Georgia Tech, and this recognition is evidence of their relentless pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship.

Each year, the college deans may nominate two academic faculty members for the Regents Professor title and one research faculty member for the Regents Researcher title. The Georgia Tech Research Institute may nominate two research faculty members for Regents Researcher. The titles are awarded upon approval by the USG chancellor and its Committee on Academic Affairs only with unanimous recommendation by the university’s president, the executive vice president for research, the chief academic officer, the appropriate academic dean, and three other faculty members.

The nominations were approved by the Board of Regents (BOR) at their Aug. 14 meeting. During the meeting, the BOR also approved the renewal of the title of Regents Professor for Sudhakar Yalamanchili, Joseph M. Pettit Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

After engaging in up to 24 hours of study and practice, 78 staff and faculty leaders from 52 campus units graduated as the second cohort of the Inclusive Leaders Academy and were celebrated as “Culture Champions” during the program’s closing ceremony.

Within the first full year of its launching, more than 250 staff and faculty leaders have participated in the programming, yielding 165 Culture Champions. “By launching the Inclusive Leaders Academy and creating a cadre of Culture Champions, we knew that we would move more rapidly down the road toward building an inclusive campus community,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

The Inclusive Leaders Academy is a professional leadership and legacy development program for Georgia Tech staff, faculty administrators, and research leaders who manage people. Created by Institute Diversity’s Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement (SDIE) unit, the curriculum was designed to blend neuroscience and social science in ways that spark insights and guide personal transformation.

“Through this program, we provide leaders with the reflective space to contemplate who they are as people, and we engage them in becoming grounded in their common humanity and leading bravely,” said Pearl Alexander, executive director of diversity, inclusion, and engagement and co-founder of the Inclusive Leaders Academy. “We value the wholeness of people, and the program is fostering both personal and community transformation.”

The Academy is designed to enhance self-awareness, social intelligence, and co-active leadership, which have been identified as critical competency areas for leadership development and agility. Curriculum content has been curated from the NeuroLeadership Institute on unconscious bias and from Brave Leaders Inc on Daring Leadership: The Four Pillars of Courage, based on the research of Brené Brown.

Upon completing the curriculum, Ashley Beavers, project manager for the Georgia Tech Research Institute, stated, “Many biases are in our lives because we are rushing from one thing to the next. Often, we don’t have time to reflect on the decisions made, and we don’t have time to integrate the ethics that we value into our actual daily practice.”

To date, more than 100 learning experiences have been offered, including wisdom labs, individual and group coaching sessions, and co-active leader and inclusive leader dialogues.

SDIE also launched an executive and senior leadership coaching program earlier this year. Eight participants – in positions of executive director or associate chair and above – engaged in the same online curriculum and commited to completing up to three individual 60-minute coaching sessions or experiential diversity and inclusion-related reflective activities.

“It is such a humbling experience to be with these wonderful leaders and witness their unfolding over the program cycle. Our Culture Champions have looked themselves squarely in the eye, courageously confronting the truth of who they are,” said Cheryl Cofield, director of inclusion and engagement and co-founder of the Inclusive Leaders Academy.

The Academy was recently honored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education with a 2018 Circle of Excellence Award. A panel of experts from peer schools, colleges, and universities recognized the Inclusive Leaders Academy in the “Diversity Programs: Internal Constituencies” category among nine entries, and Georgia Tech was the only winner in the category.

The nomination period for the third cohort of the Inclusive Leaders Academy will open this fall, and the next program will run through the spring semester in 2019.

To view the Inclusive Leaders Academy second cohort highlight video, visit https://youtu.be/8BP5LUwYhD8, and to learn more, visit www.sdie.gatech.edu/InclusiveLeadersAcademy.

A panel of experts from peer schools, colleges, and universities selected the Inclusive Leaders Academy entry in the “Diversity Programs: Internal Constituencies” category among nine entries, and Georgia Tech was the only award winner in this category.

In 2017, Georgia Tech received a Circle of Excellence Award in the same category for the launch of Institute Diversity’s Leading Women@Tech program.

“This is the second year that CASE has recognized our outstanding commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we remain steadfast in our path forward to building an inclusive, safe, and healthy community,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

The Inclusive Leaders Academy is a professional leadership and legacy development program for staff and research leaders and faculty administrators, and Leading Women@Tech is a program to engage women leaders. To date, more than 250 faculty and staff members have participated in these programs.

“Both programs were launched intentionally after reviewing Georgia Tech’s Climate Assessment Survey. One of the major findings was a desire for targeted professional, career, and leadership development opportunities,” said Pearl Alexander, executive director of diversity, inclusion, and engagement for Institute Diversity. “We are grateful for the Institute’s investment and the opportunity to lead this transformative work of strengthening our faculty and staff managers. We appreciate the partnerships that make this experience possible and look forward to making even greater impact going forward.”

According to peer professionals in the judges’ report, “We were impressed that Georgia Tech used the 2012 Climate Assessment Survey as the basis for this program. Diversity and inclusion are everyone’s responsibility, and by creating culture champions, Georgia Tech is able to develop competent leaders on their campus and in the community.”

Entries are assessed on their overall quality, innovation, use of resources, and the impact on the institution or its external and internal communities. In 2018, more than 675 higher education institutions, independent schools, and nonprofits worldwide submitted 3,200 entries for consideration across 100 categories.

To learn more about the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards, visit www.case.org/Awards/Circle_of_Excellence_x75314.html. 

This year’s Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication and video will recognize deserving faculty, staff, and students at the 10th Annual Diversity Symposium on September 5, 2018.

“The theme of this year’s Diversity Symposium is ‘Building Inclusive Communities: The Path Forward – Together,’ which will explore both the progress made and the challenges that remain in the interrelated areas of academics, health and well-being, and student and community life," said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “We encourage you to nominate faculty, staff, and students for Faces of Inclusive Excellence to honor their accomplishments, and we look forward to celebrating their successes at the Diversity Symposium as we all work together to continue building an inclusive community at Georgia Tech.”

Faces of Inclusive Excellence recognizes campus community members who have distinguished themselves in their research, teaching, and/or service by receiving special awards or recognitions during the past academic year.

Nominations, including self-nominations, may be made by all Georgia Tech faculty, staff, or students and will be accepted until June 29, 2018.

For more information and the nomination form, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/facesofinclusiveexcellence. To view last year's Faces of Inclusive Excellence video, visit https://youtu.be/8L9OLnHIMwY.

Excerpt:

Science revolves around the cooperation of individuals and groups, and entails human and material resources. Collaborative linkages are becoming more global, and work conducted with international collaborators is more influential. International collaboration is especially consequential in Europe where mobility and collaboration are explicitly designated as markers for advancement in ranks.

I am currently working on a project with two scientists in Spain — Carolina Cañibano and Javier Otamendi — looking at gender and mobility of European researchers. We find that men are more likely to be mobile for research. Confidence about career prospects is a factor in predicting who is mobile internationally, and women are often less optimistic about their prospects.

Interestingly, the largest gap in mobility appears in established career stages. This goes back to the point that formal factors of seniority and time do not accomplish gender equity.

For the full interview, visit the Nature Index website.

Excerpt:

“As a child I attended meetings and events. I was little and saw and heard my mother with the courage of her convictions,” said Fox.

In high school, with tools from the public library and encouragement from a social sciences teacher in Plymouth, Michigan, Fox designed and completed a study of gender and opportunity for high school students.

“I had a finding: That the status of the students in the school and their families corresponded more closely for girls than for boys. Boys, it appeared, had some independent avenues. They could become socially mobile through athletics. That wasn’t available to girls at the time.

This then opened a world of inquiry for me,” she said.

For the full article, visit the American Association for the Advancement of Science website.

Each year, the Diversity Champion Awards recognize those who demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Georgia Tech community. They will be honored at the 10^th Annual Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon on September 5, 2018.

“This year’s Diversity Symposium theme is ‘Building Inclusive Communities: The Path Forward,’ and the awards will be given to campus community members who demonstrate leadership in building an inclusive community and advancing a culture of inclusive excellence,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

Award recipients will have demonstrated one or more of the following within the last 10 years:

• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Leadership in building an inclusive campus community and advancing a culture of inclusive excellence.
• Organized, conducted, and/or supported programs, events, and activities that promote cross-cultural understanding, respect, and inclusion of diverse individuals and groups.

Nominations will be accepted until June 1, 2018. For more information and the online nomination form, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/diversitychampionawards. 

The launch follows a year of deliberations by an executive committee of campus stakeholders brought together under a joint charge from the Office of the Provost and Office of the Executive Vice President for Research. The 22-member committee was led by President Emeritus G. Wayne Clough and represented all six colleges.

“The work of the committee highlighted the many ongoing and exciting efforts in the global change space happening in schools, units, and centers across the Institute,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “Bringing these groups together in a coordinated, collaborative, and multidisciplinary way will amplify Georgia Tech’s thought leadership and expertise, expand academic programs, and strengthen key partnerships with industry and peer institutions.”

The program will be directed by Kim Cobb, ADVANCE professor and Georgia Power Chair in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Early program activities include curriculum design for undergraduates, including creation of an “Energy and Climate” minor and a climate solutions lab. The program will also host speakers and roundtable events to showcase Georgia Tech’s contributions to global change-related subjects including energy, food and water supply, air quality, ocean health, public policy, and economics. Objectives include possible expansion of academic programs to graduate students, and growth of new partnerships both within Georgia Tech and with public and private partners.

“The initial thrust of the Global Change Program will focus on undergraduate education and the creation of critical connections among our research and academic faculty,” said Cobb. “Our students want exposure and real-world, hands-on experience with these topics as they enter the workforce. Growth of current programs like the Carbon Reduction Challenge and development of new programs will allow future generations of learners to understand issues of global change from the vantage point of their own discipline.”

The Global Change Program is initially supported by seed funds from the Office of the Provost and the Executive Vice President for Research, and through a $500,000 gift from the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. The gift builds upon the successful expansion of Cobb’s Carbon Reduction Challenge to co-op and internship students who partner with their employer to design and implement a carbon reduction project that delivers cost savings.

The co-curricular initiative is a partnership between Cobb and Beril Toktay, professor in the Scheller College of Business and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business.

“We believe this is a critical time to support an initiative as exciting as the Global Change Program,” said John A. Lanier, executive director of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. “With its focus on solutions to our pressing global challenges, in particular the challenge of climate change, the program will make Georgia Tech a leader in creating positive change. We are grateful to President Peterson, Dr. Cobb, President Emeritus Clough, and the entire administration for their commitment to this important work.”

Two councils will be established in support of the program. A faculty advisory council has been established to help shape program activities and ongoing strategic objectives. Chaired by Clough, the council is an extension of the initial executive committee. An external advisory board will also be established.

“The implications of global change are economic, environmental, and cultural,” said Clough. “The work is happening all over campus, and Georgia Tech has a tremendous opportunity to influence the scholarship and policy solutions that address issues of global change and ready students for the careers of the future.”

EDITOR"S NOTE: This item was adapted from a story by Susie Ivy published on March 19, 2018, in the Georgia Tech News Center. 

“We’re thrilled that so many staff and faculty leaders have joined the second cohort,” said Cheryl Cofield, director of inclusion and engagement and co-founder of the Inclusive Leaders Academy. “Once the second cohort completes the program this semester, we will have engaged more than 500 campus leaders with the curriculum and created more than 200 ‘Culture Champions.’” Culture Champions are committed to modeling inclusivity and shifting the culture towards leadership excellence and inclusive excellence.

The Inclusive Leaders Academy is a professional leadership and legacy development program for staff, faculty administrators, and research leaders at Georgia Tech. Developed by Institute Diversity’s Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement (SDIE) unit, the curriculum was designed to blend neuroscience and social science in ways that spark insights and guide personal transformation.

Key learning benefits of the Inclusive Leaders Academy – and core curriculum topic areas – facilitate self-awareness, social intelligence, and co-active leadership, which have been identified as critical areas for leadership development. Curriculum content has been curated from the NeuroLeadership Institute on unconscious bias and from Brave Leaders Inc on Daring Leadership: The Four Pillars of Courage, based on the research of Brené Brown.

According to survey responses from the first cohort, 100 percent would recommend the unconscious bias content from the NeuroLeadership Institute, and 90 percent would recommend the Daring Leadership: The Four Pillars of Courage content. Additionally, 98 percent would recommend all wisdom labs and group coaching sessions to future participants.

In 2018, the Inclusive Leaders Academy has been condensed from an eight-month to a four-month program based on lessons learned and current capacity for execution. This year’s curriculum expands on the model of an individualized path of self-guided learning, interactive practice, and knowledge integration through wisdom labs, group coaching sessions, and dialogue discussions. Upon completing 12-24 hours of learning, participants will receive a “Culture Champion” certificate at the end of this semester.

Andy Register, chief scientist in the Electronic Systems Laboratory at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), remarked, “I was motivated to participate in the Inclusive Leaders Academy because greater diversity at GTRI is critical to our future as an exceptional research organization, and there is a disparity in the number of women engineers at GTRI compared to the number of women earning engineering degrees from Georgia Tech.”

SDIE is also offering an executive and senior leadership coaching program through the Inclusive Leaders Academy this year. Selected participants – in positions of executive director or associate chair and above – will participate in the same Inclusive Leaders Academy online curriculum and complete up to three individual 60-minute coaching sessions or experiential reflective activities by May.

“I hope to leave the Inclusive Leaders Academy with specific tools that will inform and guide my decision-making about important processes such as hiring, tenure and promotion, and performance reviews,” stated Richard Utz, chair and professor, School of Literature, Media, and Communication. “More generally, I also hope for a renewed sense of solidarity to be part of a campus culture in which inclusiveness is at the heart of all we do.”

“There is a mindful leadership movement toward managing organizational culture that is growing across the country, and as we’ve learned, we cannot separate leadership and culture,” said Pearl Alexander, executive director of diversity, inclusion, and engagement and co-founder of the Inclusive Leaders Academy. “At Georgia Tech, we are responding to the desire for leadership development through the Inclusive Leaders Academy as the work is focused on practicing valued leadership behaviors that, in turn, foster inclusivity, healthy levels of engagement, and resilience in our workforce.”

To view the Inclusive Leaders Academy video sizzle reel, visit https://youtu.be/6tNpT1V54J0, and to learn more, visit www.sdie.gatech.edu/inclusiveleadersacademy. 

According to Georgia Tech’s Fifth Annual Black History Month Lecture Keynote Speaker Angela Rye, this is the wrong ask.

“In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Where Do We Go from Here?’ speech, he discussed power, and he defined power as the ability to achieve purpose,” said Rye. “When you can’t achieve your purpose, does it matter if you are dealt with fairly?”

“If you’re released from a form of bondage, and you’re not equipped to fully engage in society in a meaningful way, your justice means nothing. Society can treat you fairly, but if you don’t have the tools to achieve your purpose, or power, you’re going to fail. Black activists have been asking for justice and equality, but what we need is equity and power.”

The theme of this year’s Black History Month Lecture was “Giving Voice to Justice for 50 Years.” “The theme was selected to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King and the founding of AASU at Georgia Tech,” explained Leah Miller, president of the African American Student Union (AASU) and undergraduate student in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business. “Moreover, 2018 is seeing a continuation of the #MeToo movement in the ongoing struggle for gender equity.”

Rye, a national political strategist and commentator, discussed the recent controversies surrounding pervasive sexual harassment, the unmasking of male privilege, and the impact of the #MeToo movement through the lens of Black History Month. As a central narrative, Rye repeatedly referenced “Ain’t I a Woman?,” a powerful speech delivered by Sojourner Truth at the Women’s Rights Convention in 1851.

“I wonder what Sojourner would say today given our current discord and state of the struggle. Not just for women’s rights but for black women’s rights,” reflected Rye. “When I think of the many black women throughout history who have blazed trails, opened doors, persisted, and resisted, I pull from their strength. I get to stand on their shoulders. And ain’t I a woman?”

In addition to #MeToo, Rye talked about the #StayWoke movement. “We can’t afford to talk about ‘Stay Woke’ anymore; we have to ‘Work Woke.’ We have to use our gifts to truly change our path forward. Black History Month is about honoring the legacy of people who blazed trails for us. They were working woke.”

Institute Diversity Vice President Archie Ervin concluded the lecture by stating that he was inspired by the references to “Ain’t I a Woman.” “Today’s lecture was an uplifting experience, and at Georgia Tech, we are honored to continue the conversation on April 5 by unveiling a sculpture of Rosa Parks in one of our most cherished locations, Harrison Square.”

To view the Black History Month Lecture in its entirety, visit https://youtu.be/n_W4WzIx9dw.

Georgia Tech’s Black History Month Lecture was sponsored by Institute Diversity and AASU. To learn more, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/2018-black-history-month-lecture. 

Earlier this month, Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement (SDIE) hosted the inaugural Transformative Narratives Storytelling Crawl, an immersive, six-event series featuring 51 stories, four poems, and two monologues from 26 national, local, and Georgia Tech storytellers and six musicians over two days.

“Transformative Narratives was launched as a major storytelling initiative at Georgia Tech because we want to be among the best at modeling and achieving inclusive excellence,” said Cheryl D. Cofield, director of inclusion and engagement and curator of the initiative. “The reciprocal relationship between storytellers and story listeners sparks connection among people and the opportunity for ‘being with’ and understanding others.”

The storytelling crawl elicited strong reactions from attendees. “It was cathartic to hear the stories of pain, hope, and triumph from my colleagues and invited guests. While we may be in a different time, stage, or season in life, we can all persevere and help one another grow by taking the time to listen and truly care about what others have experienced,” remarked Laura Pusateri, assistant director of Institute special events and protocol for Institute Communications.

Aisha Oliver-Staley, executive director for Affiliated Organizations, found it an enriching experience. “I left inspired by stories of lived experiences that connect all of us beyond our identifiable differences.”

Through the Transformative Narratives initiative, SDIE has curated 24 artistically embellished photographic portraits as a traveling exhibit, currently hosted by the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, and 17 audio recordings that capture the rich diversity of the campus community. The curated sets of photographic portraits and audio recordings are maintained in the growing digital story library.

Now, SDIE is seeking stories from faculty, staff, and students as part of Transformative Narratives, which is endorsed by the Strategic Plan Advisory Group. Submitted stories may be selected to become part of the Institute’s digital story library and showcased in a future exhibit. To participate, campus community members can submit 55-word story summaries at www.sdie.gatech.edu/share-your-story.

“The initiative aligns well with growing the capacity of our faculty, staff, and students to increase their intercultural competence and interpersonal savvy through the sharing of their identities, experiences, and perspectives,” Cofield noted.

Pearl Alexander, executive director for diversity, inclusion, and engagement and co-producer of Transformative Narratives, credits Cofield’s leadership as well as input from the steering committee with the initiative’s success to date. “We are creating the spaces and means for our campus community to excavate and express their personal stories,” she said. “I’m extremely proud of Cheryl’s vision, the work of the committee, and the sponsorship that we’ve been afforded to make this initiative happen.”

Visit www.sdie.gatech.edu/transformative-narratives to learn more, share your story, or register to attend an upcoming storytelling workshop. 

“During this pivotal time, it seems as if we are at the height of the struggle toward becoming an inclusive society, and our journey continues during this evolution toward becoming a truly just and beloved community,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

During Georgia Tech’s Seventh Annual MLK Lecture, “Actualizing the Dream: The Future of Nonviolent Political Protest,” Joy-Ann Reid, national correspondent for MSNBC, discussed King’s legacy and his vision of a beloved community, achieved through nonviolent principles.

“I sometimes object to the ‘postcardization’ of Dr. King,” said Reid. “During these anniversaries, it is easier to remember the beautiful words that he said and to forget the more complicated person that he was. If Dr. King were alive today, he wouldn’t be the man who is saying that we can get to the table of brotherhood; he would be agitating for the change that he was trying to create.”

After discussing the complexities of American history, including the Poor People’s Campaign, King’s last days, and the designation of a federal holiday honoring him, Reid shifted her focus to today’s national climate. “The wealth gap is only getting worse, and the political power gap is just as wide. The country has a long way to go to be a more perfect union.” 

As Reid stated, the median black family has $1,700 in wealth, and the median Latino family has $2,000 in wealth – total assets minus total debt – which has declined over the past three decades. Meanwhile, white median household wealth is significantly higher – $116,800 – up from $102,000 30 years ago.¹

“Anyone who wants to advocate for economic justice needs to understand that you need to fight for racial justice as a unique, special, and separate thing. Then, you need to fight for economic justice as a reparative, multi-community, and interdenominational thing,” concluded Reid. “Otherwise, America is a tribal country, and all the tribes will fight for whatever limited resources there are.”

Following the lecture, Allen Hyde, assistant professor in the School of History and Sociology, remarked, “It is important to understand the complexity of Dr. King and American history, so we can understand the connections between racial justice and economic justice in both the past and today’s society.”

“Despite America’s tribal nature, we can come together by developing Dr. King’s dangerous unselfishness, particularly in today’s narcissistic era, as the need for economic justice cuts across everything,” said John Jordan, alumnus of Morehouse College and managing partner for Fight for Light Inc.

To view the MLK Lecture in its entirety, visit https://youtu.be/LF9PiJpzW2U.

Georgia Tech’s MLK Lecture is sponsored by Institute Diversity, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Office of Government and Community Relations, and Office of Student Diversity Programs. To learn more about the MLK Lecture, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/mlk-celebration.

¹ Josh Hoxie, “Blacks and Latinos Will Be Broke in a Few Decades,” FORTUNE, (September 19, 2017). 

The first cohort of fellows included Jennifer Beveridge, Brienné Coates, Santanu Dey, Lana Ferreira, Michelle Gaines, Stephanie Gillespie, Tia Jackson-Truitt, Ronald Johnson, Timothy Lieuwen, Susannah McFaul, Jerrold Mobley, Lauren Neefe, Dionne Nickerson, Irina Nikivincze, Yelena Rivera-Vale, Sebastian Ruf, Calvin Runnels, Hussein Sayani, Jacquelyn Strickland, and William Todd.

“Through this program, we wanted to create a grassroots movement that would accelerate cultural change at Georgia Tech,” said Magnus Egerstedt, professor and Julian T. Hightower Chair in Systems and Controls in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, executive director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

According to the Harvard Business Review, a number of organizations experienced consistently positive results with diversity and inclusion programs that apply three basic principles: engage ambassadors in solving the problem, expose them to people from different groups, and encourage social accountability for change.¹

With support from Institute Diversity, the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program was launched last year to bring together faculty, staff, and students who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus.

The goals of the program are to cultivate a network of ambassadors who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence and create an environment where people feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion at Georgia Tech.

“After selecting the first cohort from their submitted proposals, the fellows were grouped into teams, and each team had a leader or co-leaders,” remarked Beril Toktay, ADVANCE Professor in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, Brady Family Chair and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. “This cohort represented an excellent cross-section of the Institute. We are proud of the authenticity of this program thanks to the unique perspecties of the fellows.”

Projects from the first cohort included podcast stories, blogs, icebreakers, online training modules, panel discussions, and circus arts performances focusing on the dimensions and intersectionalities of diversity, including race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, and disability. To learn more about the fellows’ projects, visit
www.diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram/2017ProjectSpotlights.

Yelena Rivera-Vale, one of the fellows and TV and web operations coordinator for the Georgia Tech Cable Network, described her team’s project: “Accent Stories is a series of podcasts where campus community members share their personal recollections and perspectives related to the way they speak. The way one speaks tells a story, and accents can be related to bias. After hearing these stories, it is our hope that listeners will think about accents in a different way.”

The second cohort of 21 faculty, staff, and students was recently selected for the 2018 Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. Following an application period last fall, this year’s fellows will be expected to:

• Complete an individual action, teaching, or research objective and share with the campus community;
• Contribute to a group project, to be determined by the fellows, that will raise the profile of the diversity and inclusion theme on campus or make a campus-wide contribution; and
• Attend the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program meetings.

“Institute Diversity is pleased to support the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, which was launched after a Strategic Plan Advisory Group proposal was submitted. We applaud the first and second cohorts who are making a difference and transforming the culture through modeling inclusive excellence,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

To learn more about the program, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram.

^{1 Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev, “Why Diversity Programs Fail,” Harvard Business Review (July-August 2016).}

Fellows are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications. Fox was recognized “for distinguished research on women and men in scientific organizations and occupations, and for national leadership on issues related to diversity, equity, and excellence in science.” The honor will be bestowed at the AAAS conference on February 17, 2018.

Fox’s research focuses on women and men in academic and scientific organizations and occupations. Her research has introduced and established ways in which scientists’ participation and performance reflect and are affected by the social and organizational settings in which they are educated and work, with significant implications for science and technology policy.

Fox’s research is published in over 60 different journals, books, and collections. In 2015, she received an award as “Section Star” from the Science, Knowledge, and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association. In 2016, she received the Gender Equity Award at Georgia Tech, and in 2017 the Ivan Allen College Distinguished Research Award and the Faculty of the Year Award of the Student Government Association. 

Fox brings to the national forefront issues of diversity, equity, and excellence through her work with advisory boards and panels including those as Member of the Social Science Advisory Board, National Center for Women and Information Technology, Council Member, Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology, American Sociological Association, Advisory Board, Expanding Computer Education Pathways Alliance, Editorial Board Member of the leading journal, Social Studies of Science, and elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Electorate Nominating Committee, Division on Social, Economic, and Political Sciences.

Fox was also elected to the AAAS Committee on Nominations who determine the slate for elections of the organization’s president-elect, board of directors, and the AAAS Council executive committee.

The School of Public Policy is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

The findings from the 2017 Climate Assessment Surveys will provide longitudinal data that will be analyzed and compared to the results from the Institute’s 2013 Climate Assessment Surveys.

“The climate assessment survey comparisons will help us measure progress toward achieving the goals in our strategic plan and inform the Institute’s leadership about our strengths and opportunities to improve efforts with supporting a culture of collegiality, close collaboration, and professional development,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

Beginning the week of November 13, 2017, faculty and staff will receive an email that includes a link to their respective online survey. The survey should take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete, and participation is completely voluntary.

Students will receive a climate assessment survey email during spring semester 2018.

“On behalf of Institute Diversity and Academic Effectiveness, thank you for your time to complete this survey, as your feedback is greatly valued,” added Ervin.

Contact Academic Effectiveness at 404.385.1292 or survey@oars.gatech.edu with any questions. To read the 2013 Climate Assessment Survey findings, visit http://b.gatech.edu/17c2DzK.

The magazine’s cover profile of CEO Satya Nadella centers on the culture of empathy and inclusion he has cultivated since taking the reins of Microsoft three years ago. In the old days, the article says, employees were know-it-alls. Nadella is working to make them learn-it-alls, and that requires strengthening interpersonal competencies.

“You have to be able to say, ‘Where is this person coming from?’ Nadella says. ‘What makes them tick? Why are they excited or frustrated by something that’s happening?’”

It’s exactly that kind of thinking that’s at the heart of a remarkable new initiative taking shape within Georgia Tech’s Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory. Partnering with the Vice President for Institute Diversity’s Office at Georgia Tech, the initiative hopes to change the ways student’s think before they go on to their careers.

The department announced this summer it had been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to do something unheard of in engineering education: prepare students to shape and lead teams of people who have different backgrounds and perspectives.

The logic behind the initiative is simple. The big problems facing the world are so complex, they can only be solved by teams. A number of studies show the highest-performing teams not only have people of varied cultures and influences — these different members are able to connect with each other. Diversity is a start; harnessing diversity is the key.

By infusing such awareness among student teams in classrooms and labs, the thinking goes, the department will produce graduates so well equipped to collaborate, they’ll ultimately transform the engineering workplace.

“I like to think of it as creating situations in teams where people feel both respected and connected,” says Joe LeDoux, the department’s associate chair for undergraduate learning. “We all need to feel like we’re valued as individuals, for who we are. But just as important is feeling like we belong.”

The initiative is part cultural transformation and part scientific research. The grant comes from NSF’s “REvolutionizing engineering and computer science Departments” program, which supports “groundbreaking, scalable and sustainable changes in undergraduate education.”

An obvious question is, why the Coulter Department? The department itself is already a model of fusion: Since its founding 20 years ago, it’s been the nation’s only academic engineering enterprise comprised of both a public and private university (Georgia Tech and Emory). In 2013, the state Board of Regents recognized the department for its teaching innovation. And a “climate study” conducted last year revealed favorable perceptions from students on matters of diversity and acceptance.

“Yet, I hear anecdotally all the time that faculty at Georgia Tech witness interpersonal issues on teams of students,” says Wendy Newstetter, the College of Engineering’s assistant dean for educational innovation. “There are conflicts that go on in undergraduate teams. For example, female members are sometimes given writing tasks, rather than technical work. I don’t think it always means that boys on teams consciously say, ‘We’re going to give these jobs to the girls.’ But it happens.”

Julie Ancis, associate vice president for Institute Diversity, who has studied such attitudes and behaviors over a 30-year career, agrees. “Some biases affect our judgments, actions and decisions unconsciously,” says Ancis, Tech’s associate vice president for diversity. “These implicit biases differ from the more conscious biases that people may choose to conceal. They’re automatic reactions to people and events.

Ancis – who, along with Paul Benkeser, senior associate chair of the Coulter Department, holds faculty workshops on the issue – points to a number of examples in academe. Letters of recommendation written for female students and faculty tend to hedge on achievements, compared to the descriptors in letters written for men. Students of color often report feeling marginalized in classroom and lab work. “They may be perceived as less capable by others, which impacts how they are treated, or they may be picked last,” Ancis says. “Their input is not sought out, or they say they don’t feel included in a group or team.”

How the new Coulter Department and Institute Diversity initiative will peel back bias, interpersonal conflicts and other issues affecting team performance stems from a well-considered plan. The 15-page grant application to NSF presents organizational change theories and frameworks – the kind of social science exploration not typically seen around engineering departments.

The thrust of the approach is independence and collaboration. Faculty, staff and industry representatives, guided by learning specialists, will work in “incubator” teams to engineer strategies and tactics for student groups in classrooms and labs. Their approach is not prescriptive – each team develops its own interventions, which are tried, then refined. Outside of this effort are a host of other activities, such as the creation of a “Faculty Learning Community,” in which faculty collectively explore approaches that work.

By addressing student pairings, or dyads, as well as larger groups, the plan creates an architecture that ultimately will influence the culture of the department. Five years of this kind of activity is expected to produce knowledge that will then be shared across Georgia Tech and exported to other universities around the country.

“It’s essential that we create engineers in the workforce who understand what inclusion is and can help promote it,” Newstetter says. “We need to be graduating those people.”

“There is such a thing as an ‘inclusion dividend,’ and that’s really at the heart of what we’re doing,” says Le Doux. “The inclusion dividend is the positive impact that high-functioning teams make, not just because they’re diverse, but because they’re inclusive.”

To appreciate the distinction, he points to a 2015 talk from consultant Verna Myers. “She said, it’s the difference between being invited to a dance — and being asked to dance,” Le Doux says. “Who among us doesn’t want to be asked to dance?”

AT-A-GLANCE

The Wallace H. Coulter Department ’s RED Grant

$2 million from the National Science Foundation

Five-year program to prepare students to shape and lead teams of people who have different backgrounds and perspectives

Three-part effort:

1. Create “incubator” squads of faculty, students, industry reps and learning specialists to invent classroom and lab practices that equip students to shape and optimize diverse teams
2. Hold ongoing dialogues to exchange ideas and share experiences on strengthening interpersonal competencies
3. Take actions to apply what’s learned to transform department culture

For More Information:

Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory

www.bme.gatech.edu

Office of Institute Diversity

diversity.gatech.edu

Implicit Bias Workshops

advance.gatech.edu/implicit-bias-workshops

With support from Institute Diversity, this program brings together campus community members who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus. The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program is a bottom-up initiative tapping into the creativity and diversity of thought among our campus community to crowdsource ideas that create long-term culture change.

“The goals of the program are to cultivate a network of ambassadors who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence and to create an environment where people feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion at Georgia Tech,” said Beril Toktay, ADVANCE Professor in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business, Brady Family Chair and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

Each applicant should submit an issue area or project idea to focus on as a potential Diversity and Inclusion Fellow. The program is seeking fellows who have been immersed in the topics of diversity and inclusion as well as those who are interested in connecting these topics to different fields and perspectives.

All Georgia Tech faculty, post-doctoral fellows, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students are welcome to apply. The Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program will run from January 15 to December 1, 2018, and during this time, fellows are expected to:

• Complete an individual or group action, teaching, or research objective and share with the campus community; and
• Attend the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program meetings.

“The bottom-up nature of this program recognizes the importance of ensuring that the Institute leverages the thoughts and actions of each individual in promoting diversity and inclusion,” remarked Magnus Egerstedt, professor and Julian T. Hightower Chair in Systems and Controls in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, executive director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

The application deadline is October 20, 2017 at 5 p.m. To read the application instructions, click here, and to apply, visit https://goo.gl/forms/NSsxCjy8FSwB0Yyd2.

To learn more about the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram. The program is one of three diversity and inclusion initiatives funded through a SPAG proposal; the other two are the Diversity and Inclusion Councils and Transformative Narratives. 

In light of this year’s theme, “Building Inclusive Communities,” the Diversity Symposium featured a variety of lectures, panels, and performances that explored the impact and implications of race and class on individual success and community engagement in higher education institutions.

The morning sessions featured an opening keynote from John Quiñones, author, broadcast journalist, and host and creator of What Would You Do?, and panel discussions on race, class, and bias.

Quiñones shared his inspiring journey from migrant farm work and poverty to more than 30 years at ABC News and the anchor desk at 20/20 and Primetime. “When journalism is done right, stories can shed light on injustice,” he said. “Peter Jennings once told me to talk to the moved and the shaken – not the movers and the shakers.”

After the morning sessions, the Diversity Symposium awards luncheon included Diversity Champion Awards and Faces of Inclusive Excellence presentations and an artistic performance that addressed issues of race in contemporary society.

Four Diversity Champion Award winners were honored for advancing equity at the Institute, particularly at the intersections of race and class. This year’s winners are Anne Pollock (faculty), Jocelyn Thomas (staff), Jennifer Salcedo (student), and the Center for Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED) (unit). To view the 2017 Diversity Champion Awards video, visit https://youtu.be/NrK61wCwIzY.

“The Diversity Champion Award means so much to me, everyone within our office, and the students we serve. The recognition shows that not only do you see us, but you accept us, and value what we do,” remarked Felicia Benton-Johnson, assistant dean and director for CEED.

Sixty-five honorees were featured in this year’s Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication, which was distributed at the Diversity Symposium. The publication recognized a diverse group of faculty, staff, and students who are committed to advancing a culture of inclusive excellence at Georgia Tech and who have distinguished themselves in their research, teaching, and/or service. To view the 2017 Faces of Inclusive Excellence video, visit https://youtu.be/8L9OLnHIMwY.

Following the awards and recognition presentations, Dahlak Brathwaite, writer and performer of Spiritrials, delivered a powerful performance on race and the criminal justice system. To view his performance, visit www.bit.ly/2xiQQr4.

“The last five years have been particularly challenging on college campuses as we have grappled with issues of free speech, political ideologies, race, gender identities, access, and disability,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “I want to thank the faculty, staff, and students who attended and contributed to the discussions during this year’s Diversity Symposium. These conversations are important to our journey toward becoming the kind of community that we want to be.”

To learn more about the Diversity Symposium, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/diversitysymposium.

“The HEED Award, open to all colleges and universities across the country, measures an institution’s level of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff,” said Holly Mendelson, co-publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

Eighty higher education institutions, including Georgia Tech, received the HEED Award this year, and these institutions will be featured in the November 2017 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

“We are honored to receive the HEED Award for four consecutive years,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity and president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. “Following a landmark year for the Institute, Georgia Tech’s HEED Award application received our highest score to date from INSIGHT Into Diversity. We remain steadfast in our commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment, particularly in this time of uncertainty in the U.S.”

To learn more about the HEED Award, visit www.insightintodiversity.com/about-the-heed-award/.

For this reason, Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement launched the Inclusive Leaders Academy, a professional leadership and legacy development program for managers at Georgia Tech. The goal of the program is two-fold: to support managers’ career development by creating opportunities to learn and grow, and to build a leadership community that will transform Institute culture through modeling inclusive excellence.

“More self-aware managers collaborate better with others, are more effective in leading change, can be more inclusive and engaging, and proactively seek to develop others,” said Pearl Alexander, executive director of Institute Diversity’s Staff Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement unit and co-founder of the Inclusive Leaders Academy.

The key learning benefits of the Inclusive Leaders Academy – and core curriculum topic areas – facilitate self-awareness, social intelligence, and co-active leadership. Curriculum content has been curated from the NeuroLeadership Institute on unconscious bias and from Brave Leaders Inc on Daring Leadership: The Four Pillars of Courage based on the research of Brené Brown. This combination of self-paced online learning is supplemented with interactive group activities through wisdom labs and coaching sessions to reinforce skill building in each of the core curriculum areas.

As Alexander added, “The program engages leaders in reflective practices, such as journaling, intergroup dialogue, storytelling, and coaching, to evoke personal insights and promote self-discovery and transformation.”

More than 120 staff leaders representing over 40 campus units joined the first class of the Inclusive Leaders Academy during spring semester 2017.

“The interactive wisdom labs with the highest participation include ‘Identity Cores, Self-Acceptance and Power of Authenticity,’ ‘Mitigating Unconscious Bias,’ ‘Emotional Intelligence – Triggers and Saboteurs,’ and ‘Resilience.’ These wisdom labs affirm leaders in the practices of making good business decisions, showing up authentically with their teams, discovering behaviors that inhibit authenticity, improving self-care, and growing their emotional fluency to navigate difficult circumstances,” remarked Cheryl Cofield, director of inclusion and engagement and co-founder of the Inclusive Leaders Academy. “We’re very grateful for our collaborators across campus, and brilliant teammates, Faith Sumpter and Alden Eavenson, who have been critical to the program’s success. With their support, a total of 41 interactive, facilitated sessions will be delivered by August 7.”

“One of the greatest insights from this program is how to be present in the moment and listen,” said Peter Severa, director of MBA student engagement in the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business and one of the participants. “The Inclusive Leaders Academy teaches you about yourself and your presence with others. You also learn about the soft skills needed to be more vulnerable and to establish better connections with your team.”

On October 24, the program’s closing ceremony will feature keynote speaker Brené Brown, research professor at the University of Houston, founder and CEO of Brave Leaders Inc, and author of three New York Times best sellers. In addition to recognizing the qualifying program participants, campus community members are welcome to attend the closing ceremony to engage in a dialogue on “Transforming Our Culture through Daring Leadership.” Invitations to register will be sent next month, and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.

“The Inclusive Leaders Academy is intended to cultivate valued leadership behaviors that, if practiced, will positively influence the lived experiences of staff, faculty, and students,” remarked Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

For more information on the Inclusive Leaders Academy, visit www.sdie.gatech.edu/inclusiveleadersacademy.

 Along with serving as the George Chair, Keskinocak is also the Advance Professor for the College of Engineering; the associate director of research for the Health Systems Institute, and the co-director of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems at Georgia Tech. Before joining the ISyE faculty in 1999, Keskinocak also served as a post-doctoral fellow at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center.

Her research focuses on applications of operations research and management science with societal impact (particularly health and humanitarian applications) and supply chain management, with an emphasis on resource allocation, revenue management, production planning/scheduling, and logistics/transportation. She received B.S. and M.S. degrees in industrial engineering from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, in 1991 and 1992, and a Ph.D. in operations research from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997.

Kim Kurtis, who has served as CoE’s associate dean for faculty development and scholarship since 2014, has been named interim chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, effective July 1, while a search for a new school chair is being conducted.

“Pinar will do an outstanding job in her new role as interim associate dean for the College of Engineering, and we are grateful to her for stepping into this complex and important role,” said May. “We look forward to Pinar’s leadership in this area .”

Earth and Atmospheric Science Professor Kim Cobb’s successful Carbon Reduction Challenge class will be expanded to enable students participating in an internship or co-op to plan and implement a carbon reduction project with their employers.  This new program is a collaboration between Professor Cobb, who also serves as a Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems Fellow, and Scheller College of Business Professor Beril Toktay, Faculty Director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business. Of the hundreds of Georgia Tech undergraduates that will participate in internships and co-ops this year, about 30 will work to reduce carbon emissions and save money for their employers through this innovative program. The Challenge is funded by a grant from the Ray C. Anderson Foundation’s NextGen Committee and the Scheller College Dean’s Innovation Fund, and is an affiliated project of the Georgia Tech Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain. 

Lauren McDow, Undergraduate Career Advisor and Corporate Relations Manager, notes that, “This is an opportunity for students to learn about carbon reduction across large organizations and to contribute value to their employers outside of their job descriptions. From the employer’s perspective, it’s an opportunity for them to partner with students and expert faculty in support of significant learning opportunities with projects that get implemented in a real business setting.”

Scheller College of Business Dean Maryam Alavi adds, “Student projects performed in a real-life setting can be more meaningful than theory learned in the classroom. But one of the things that sets this program apart is the likelihood that students will interact with senior leaders on their projects, which provides a unique perspective to the students who participate.”

Following the student project development and implementation model developed by Dr. Cobb in her class, students will design and propose their plan for approval by their employer.  Once approved, students will work with a small team of content experts to implement their plan.  Students will then document the actual, and long-term estimated savings that result. Some of the organizations which have committed to participate are Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, and SunTrust, among others.

Beril Toktay points out, “What’s most exciting about this program is that it teaches students they can be sustainable business champions no matter what their job function is. And even if students aren’t motivated to advance their careers towards a “sustainable business career,” they will still obtain tremendous benefits.”  Part of the program’s design is to develop students’ skillsets in building a business case for a project, “selling” a project to management, and demonstrating that taking initiative from within a company can have excellent results for all parties.  Having a stand-out internship experience to share will likely boost future employment prospects, as well.

All of the projects will be presented by the students in a public event – the Carbon Reduction Challenge Expo – to be held at the close of the academic year in 2018. The top three competitors will be invited to visit the Georgia State Capitol and/or Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. with Drs. Cobb and Toktay to discuss the implications of their projects for regional and national energy and climate policy.

“The students always surprise me,” says Cobb. “They identify heaps of low hanging fruit when it comes to reducing our energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions, while delivering huge cost savings to stakeholders. A win-win-win strategy for the 21st century.”

For more information about the Carbon Reduction Challenge Internship and Co-op Program, e-mail Kjersti.Lukens@scheller.gatech.edu. 

Each year, the Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication and video are featured at the Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon. In addition to the Diversity Champion Awards, this year’s Faces of Inclusive Excellence publication and video will recognize deserving faculty, staff, and students at the Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon on September 6, 2017.

Faces of Inclusive Excellence recognizes campus community members who have distinguished themselves in their research, teaching, and/or service by receiving special awards or recognitions during the past academic year.

“We encourage you to nominate faculty, staff, and students for the Faces of Inclusive Excellence to honor our diverse community of students, faculty, and staff whose accomplishments consistently exemplify inclusive excellence,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

Nominations, including self-nominations, may be made by all Georgia Tech faculty, staff, or students. Nominations will be accepted until June 30, 2017.

For more information and the nomination form, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/facesofinclusiveexcellence.

“Lavender Graduation rewards graduates for their accomplishments at Tech and serves as a formal farewell to the community,” said Aby Parsons, director of the Center. “The celebration also gives students the opportunity to connect with our alumni and learn how they can stay involved with LGBTQIA life at Tech after graduation.” 

During the celebration, Student Life Vice President and Dean of Students John Stein welcomed attendees, and Institute Diversity Vice President Archie Ervin invited each graduate to the stage to receive a lavender diploma from the LGBTQIA Resource Center and a letter from Stein.

“Lavender Graduation means to me that there is progress at Georgia Tech,” said Jefferson Dixon, a mechanical engineering student and Greek Allies facilitator with the Center. “In the last few years, Tech has made astounding progress in creating an inclusive, welcoming community.”

Following the event, the Center presented the Third Annual Lavender Awards to recognize individuals who have made the Institute a safer and more inclusive environment for LGBTQIA students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Award recipients included:

• LGBTQIA Alum of the Year Award – Katie Olliff, grant consultant, Palmetto Grant Consulting
• Award for LGBTQIA Employee Leadership – Jennifer Hasler, professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Award for LGBTQIA Student Leadership – Andrea Welsh, doctoral student, School of Physics
• The Billiee Pendleton-Parker Award for Outstanding Allyship – Rev. Steve Fazenbaker, director, Wesley Foundation at Georgia Tech

“It is such an honor to receive this award, as I know Billiee personally,” remarked Fazenbaker. “We strive to be a good partner to the LGBTQIA community. It is our belief that you can explore your sexuality in light of your spirituality, and explore your spirituality in light of your sexuality.”

The Fifth Annual Lavender Graduation and Third Annual Lavender Awards were supported by Institute Diversity, Parent and Family Programs, Georgia Tech Alumni Association, ADVANCE Program, and the Campus Recreation Center.

To learn more about Lavender Graduation and Lavender Awards, visit www.lgbtqia.gatech.edu.

The Distinguished Faculty Researcher Award recognizes top performing senior faculty who have a distinguished record of publications and a current project with equal potential. Recipients are endorsed by their school chairs and receive a one-time $20,000 research award.

Fox originated and is the driving force behind the ADVANCE Program at Georgia Tech, an initiative supported by Institute Diversity that seeks to increase the representation, full participation, and advancement of women and minorities in academic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. In addition, she serves as co-director of Georgia Tech’s Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology, and in 2016, she received Georgia Tech’s 2016 Gender Equity Champion Award.

Learn more about her research here.

The citation for the award recognizes:

“Dr. Fox is a continued champion for progress at Georgia Tech. This is evident in the naming of Dr. Fox as the 2016 Gender Equity Champion for her work as a pioneer in gender in science studies. Her continued dedication to students is clear in her classes, her availability for consultation, and her ongoing research laboratory, where she employs and mentors undergraduate students. Dr. Fox is known throughout the campus as an innovative professional who raises expectations of what a Georgia Tech professor is.”

Learn more about Fox’s research here.

The Diversity Champion Awards recognize faculty, staff, students, and units who significantly demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Georgia Tech community. They will be selected and recognized at the Ninth Annual Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon on September 6, 2017.

“This year’s Diversity Symposium theme is ‘Building Inclusive Campus Communities,’ and the Diversity Champion Awards will be given to campus community members who are advancing equity at the Institute, particularly at the intersections of race and class,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity.

Award recipients will have demonstrated one or more of the following within the last three years:

• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, particularly at the intersections of race and class.
• Leadership in building an inclusive campus community.
• Behavior that illustrates commitment to the inclusion of persons within the Institute who represent the diversity of the Georgia Tech community.
• Organized, conducted, and/or supported events and activities that promote cross-cultural understanding, respect, and inclusion of diverse individuals and groups.

Nominations will be accepted until May 26, 2017. For more information and the online nomination form, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/diversitychampionawards.

With support from Institute Diversity, the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program brings together faculty, staff, and students who individually and collectively advance their action, research, or teaching objectives while improving inclusivity on campus.

“This program is a bottom-up initiative, tapping into the creativity and diversity of thought among our campus community to crowdsource ideas that create long-term culture change,” said Beril Toktay, ADVANCE Professor in the Scheller College of Business, Brady Family Chair and faculty director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

The goals of the program are to cultivate a network of ambassadors who will advance a culture of inclusive excellence and to create an environment where people feel safe, comfortable, and empowered to discuss diversity and inclusion at Georgia Tech.

Following an application period last fall, 21 faculty, staff, and students were selected as fellows based on their submitted proposals, which were scored on their inventiveness and likelihood to change the campus culture. The fellows were then grouped into three teams. Each team has a leader or co-leaders, and teams are expected to meet at least six times per year.

“Diverse collaboration often sparks great innovation,” remarked Magnus Egerstedt, professor and Julian T. Hightower Chair in Systems and Controls in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, executive director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, and co-director of the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program. “Some of the teams’ ideas may be institutionalized and scaled to the broader campus community over time.”

Initial ideas from the fellows include symposia, workshops, improv performances, surveys, mentorship programs, and journaling exercises focusing on the dimensions and intersectionalities of diversity, including race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, and disability.

On March 7, some of the fellows hosted the Talking Race@Tech: Student Voices panel discussion with student leaders, which was sponsored by the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts; School of Literature, Media, and Communication; Writing and Communication Program; and Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program.

“Through the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, I was able to draw broader support and diverse audiences to this panel discussion,” said Lauren Neefe, Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, and Diversity and Inclusion Fellow. “The more we make spaces for these conversations, the more likely they are to occur again.”

SPAG solicits new ideas from the campus community each year that will continue the implementation of the strategic plan and address gaps in advancing the goals of the Institute. The three-year Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program is one of three diversity and inclusion initiatives funded through a SPAG proposal; the other two are the Diversity and Inclusion Councils and the Transformative Narratives project.

“This program is one example of Georgia Tech being steered in the right direction,” commented Brienné Coates, alumna of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, and Diversity and Inclusion Fellow. “We are helping to create ideal outcomes instead of waiting for these outcomes.”

For more information on the Diversity and Inclusion Fellows Program, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/DIFellowsProgram.

“I had no experience programming,” said Randall, now ADVANCE Professor of Computing in the College of Computing. “So I learned it to pass the exam. When I went to tell them that I had passed the test, they said, ‘why don’t you try out to teach?’”

She did, and then she spent several years

teaching other students from her self-described perspective of “I know nothing extraneous. I’m going to tell you how to learn and get through this exam.”

During those early years, Randall said she very deliberately tried to make the classroom comfortable for the students. Sometimes, she would sit on the desk to be different from the students’ usual classroom experiences, causing them to have different expectations.

Another early experience — two summers during high school spent at a math program at Hampshire College — taught her how to engage people and “trick” them into learning something complex by solving a puzzle.

“These experiences really shaped how I teach now,” she said.

Classroom Strategies

This semester, Randall is teaching Honors Discrete Mathematics (CS 2051). She describes the class as an honors class on “how to think about discrete math, how to do proofs, and how to think mathematically [for mostly computer science students].”

“Early on, I explain my expectation that everyone in the class, at some point, will say, ‘I don’t understand.’ And everyone at some point will say, ‘wow.’ I see it as my job to get them to the point where they feel comfortable saying those two things,” she said.

When designing a course, Randall said she has a collection of topics that need to be covered. But she works to keep it from being boring.

“I definitely switch things up,” she said.

“With some courses, you have to start with the basics, and it’s just boring for the first couple of weeks.”

Randall said she often starts with the ‘meat’ of the course — and even though the students may not have some of the fundamentals, they can follow along. Then she goes back later to fill in the missing details.

“I think it’s more fun to go out and play tennis a little bit before you spend two hours learning how to hold the racket,” she said.

Reaching the Students

Randall is excited when she sees students “thinking differently” after taking her class. She enjoys leading students and pushing them a little bit farther than they think they can go.

“In an honors class, you certainly have students who are very overly confident. But you’re still pushing them,” she said. “They have their style of learning. And, I teach very differently than most people do, so I definitely push them a little bit out of their comfort zones. I feel like I can do that with students at different levels.”

Randall also enjoys the puzzle of trying to figure out what the students are missing and what will help them understand.

“As a teacher, you have to not be pre-programmed,” she said. “You have to think on your feet and be reactive. I have a good ability to know — when students have their hand up — who is right and who is wrong, and I use that to help teach the class.”

When Randall senses that her students don’t understand what she’s talking about, she repeats herself.

“Yesterday, I had a day like that. It just wasn’t as smooth as it usually is,” she said.

“When I see that they’re amiss, I back up and say ‘let me remind you of the salient points.’ And I think that helps.”

Advice for New Faculty

Randall said one of her biggest assets as a teacher is talking straight to students and having a conversation. That’s one of her recommendations to new faculty.

“Have a real conversation with students, as though you’re having coffee with them,” she said. “The more you get away from this persona of teacher, I think that helps.”

Randall said the demands on a new faculty member’s time are overwhelming.

“You do have to put less time into absolutely everything than you wish you could,” she said.

“When teaching, the place not to skimp is the energy you put into the classroom. It’s worth engaging the students and enjoying that hour or hour-and-a-half that you’re standing in front of them.”

Randall suggests being clear about expectations for the class, but new faculty don’t have to polish every piece of material they bring to the class.

“You don’t have to practice your presentations 20 times before you come in,” she said.

“Making mistakes is okay as long as you’re honest and you own up, think quickly, and recover.”

Article by Victor Rogers, Institute Communications

Established in 1848, AAAS is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its Science family of journals. AAAS members reside in more than 91 countries around the globe. 

Fox’s research focuses upon the study of women and men in academic and scientific organizations and occupations. Her research has introduced and established the ways in which scientists’ participation and performance reflect and are affected by the social and organizational settings in which they are educated and work.  

Fox’s research is published in over 60 different scholarly and scientific journals, books, and collections. In 2015, she received an award as "Section Star" from the Science, Knowledge, and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association.

Janet Mock, an activist, author, and media personality, discussed the rewards, challenges, and implications of being black and trans as the featured speaker for Georgia Tech’s Fourth Annual Black History Month Lecture. The visit was co-sponsored by Institute Diversity, African American Student Union (AASU), and the LGBTQIA Resource Center.

“By bringing the achievements of queer black people to the forefront, we hope to honor these exceptional individuals and uncover histories that educate, inspire, and uplift,” said Adreanna Nattiel, graduate assistant in the LGBTQIA Resource Center.

Throughout her speech, Mock emphasized the importance of storytelling. “It gave me visibility and voice and allowed me to shift conversations such as living at the intersections of gender, race, and class, how restrictive gender expectations oppress us all, and the significance of media representation.”

She began with her own story of living in conflict as a young person to “express femininity in a culture that often demeans and devalues feminine people, is binary-prone, and mandates that if you are born with certain body parts, you are not allowed to express who you truly are.”

Mock said many black transgender women are struggling with interconnected issues of homelessness, joblessness, and lack of access to health care and education. “Our history as trans and queer people of color fighting against poverty, policing, brutality, hunger, racism, misogyny, and HIV/AIDS is deep,” she said. “Yet despite the tragedies, there is great resilience in our communities.”

“We must remember that telling our stories can be met with love, understanding, transcendence, and community, which has brought all of us here.”

Mock charged the audience to use its voice, story, privilege, and access to ignite change, and offered guidance “toward becoming more conscious partners in the struggle:”

• Realize allyship is not a label or identity but an action that requires self-education.
• Don’t be basic: Keep it intersectional.
• Remember when you donate your skills, time, and/or money, you are working with a group of people who are already working toward their own liberation.
• Recognize your privilege and use the access that it has given you to uplift marginalized voices.

As AASU Black History Chair Raianna Brown reflected, “I was moved by the vulnerability and realness of Janet Mock. At the end of the lecture, she opened up about the difficulties in being strong for your community and how becoming a symbol can sometimes be alienating. However, you can draw strength to keep going from those who came before us.”

“This lecture was one of the most inspirational events that I have seen at Georgia Tech,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “It takes tremendous courage to share your own journey publicly, and the Georgia Tech community immediately embraced her story — rewards and challenges alike.”

To learn more about the Black History Month Lecture, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu. Members of the Georgia Tech community who are interested in learning more about transgender issues can register for Trans 101 trainings at www.lgbtqia.gatech.edu/trans-101.

Students, faculty, and staff departed in charter buses on the night of January 12 to visit museums and memorials over the next two days, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the King Memorial, National Mall, National Museum of the American Indian, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 

Associate Dean of Students and Director of Student Diversity Programs Stephanie Ray reflected on why Georgia Tech’s MLK Student Board organized the civil rights tour in D.C.: “We followed the life of Dr. King. After leading civil rights trips in Montgomery, Ala. in 2012 and Birmingham, Ala. in 2013, the next goal was to end our tour by visiting the King Memorial and National Museum of African American History and Culture in our nation’s capital.”

Here is what student participants said about their experiences during the civil rights tour:

Why did you want to go on this trip?

“I wanted to experience the history and culture of Africans before being brought to America. I also wanted to learn more about the Native American culture beyond what is presented in history books.”

– Alexander Pegues, undergraduate student in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

What was your favorite part of this trip?

“The National Museum of African American History and Culture, hands down. From the photos to the interactive learning, it was beautifully designed and presented. The experience was more than you could imagine.”

– Khadijah Boles, undergraduate student in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

What have you learned from this experience that you could apply in your daily life?

“For us, as a people, to progress, we need to come together as one. We also need to make education available to everyone, especially our youth. I plan to start programs for youth that I didn’t have in school but was blessed to have family who taught me.”

– Khadijah Boles, undergraduate student in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering

“I saw the triumph of the human spirit over oppression. I apply that triumph to my own daily small victories.”

– TJ Funso, undergraduate student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Assistant Professor Jennifer Glass also shared her experiences on the civil rights tour at www.storify.com/jenniglass/gt-civil-rights-tour-of-dc.

This year’s tour was sponsored by the College of Engineering, College of Sciences, Department of Housing, Division of Student Life, Institute Diversity, LGBTQIA Resource Center, Office of Student Diversity Programs, and Parent’s Fund for Student Life and Leadership. To learn more about the civil rights tour and Georgia Tech’s MLK Celebration, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/mlk-celebration.

“It has been nearly 50 years since the assassination of Dr. King, yet many of the same issues he worked to address, including racial discrimination, poverty, and social justice, continue to be important to many in our nation today,” said Archie Ervin, vice president for Institute Diversity. “That is why the theme of this year’s MLK Celebration at Georgia Tech is ‘Setting the Agenda for the Next Civil Rights Movement.’”

During Georgia Tech’s MLK Lecture on January 11, Bakari Sellers, CNN political analyst, lawyer, and activist, honored Dr. King’s legacy while setting the agenda for the next civil rights movement with students, faculty, staff, and community members. During his remarks, Sellers asked the audience: “How far have we come, and where do we go from here?”

“When you think about the sacrifice of the civil rights leaders like Marion Barry and Julian Bond, and you ask yourself, ‘Where do we go from here?’ there are two choices — chaos or community — as Dr. King once outlined,” said Sellers. “The answer between these choices lies fundamentally in our ability to dream with our eyes open.”

According to Sellers, “When you dream with your eyes open, you seek nothing less than excellence.” He gave an example from his own life, when he made history in 2006 as the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African-American elected official in the nation.

“We have to remember the names that are not taught. For example, Shirley Chisholm helped paved the way for Hillary Clinton,” remarked Sellers. “We stand on the shoulders of countless heroes who deserve from us to continue this journey on the race to excellence.”

To view the MLK Lecture in its entirety, visit https://youtu.be/I1QildvSWeA.

Georgia Tech’s MLK Celebration is sponsored by Institute Diversity, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Office of Government and Community Relations, Office of Student Diversity Programs, and Student Government Association. To learn more about the MLK Celebration, visit www.diversity.gatech.edu/mlk-celebration.

Among faculty panelists were College of Computing Professors Dana Randall (ADVANCE Professor of Computing and Executive Director Institute for Data Engineering and Science) and Annie Antón (Chair, School of Interactive Computing), and College of Engineering Professor Ayanna Howard (Bioengineering Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering), Leanne West (GTRI and IPaT), and Maryam Alavi (Dean of the Scheller College of Business).

In addition, fifteen students were selected to attend from an internal competition run by the ADVANCE program, which awarded costs to attend the summit through a donation from Microsoft. Students applied and submitted vision statements for the competition, which were narrowed down and awarded by the ADVANCE professors.

“It was really exciting for me to read the vision statements,” Randall said. “I left incredibly excited and inspired because it is not very often you get to stop and just focus on great things that our female students are doing and want to do, and they’re outrageously good.”

Nine College of Computing, six electrical and computer engineering, and one mathematics student were chosen overall.

The event hosted influential leaders from academia, industry, nonprofit, and entrepreneurship spheres, predominantly women, who shared their stories amongst four conference programs: Entrepreneurship, Academe, Leadership, and STEM outreach.

The program consisted of a number of panels and keynote speeches over the course of the two days. Randall and Howard participated in the “Paths and Strategies to Successful and Fulfilling Careers in Academia” panel, while Anton joined an elite panel on academic leadership.

One Georgia Tech Ph.D. student, Sarah Cannon in the School of Computer Science, was also a member of a panel that focused on undergraduates. The discussion, titled “Inspiring Lessons and Success Stories for the Undergrad,” included two working professionals and two current Ph.D. students.

Cannon is in her fourth year pursuing her Ph.D. in algorithms, combinatorics, and optimization and is advised by Randall. She was excited to be a part of the conference and panel because of what the exchange of ideas with peers can lead to in her research.

“It’s a broad conference, but what we’re doing here is increasingly interdisciplinary,” Cannon said. “Right now, (Randall) and I have collaborations going on with some in the physics department. That starts with people meeting and sharing what they’re doing. I was just excited to share what I’ve been working on and hear about the other fascinating things that are being done by women in STEM.”

Georgia Tech ADVANCE was a sponsor of the summit, and Randall was a member of the organizing committee.

The Gender Equity Champion Award winners were honored at the Eighth Annual Diversity Symposium on Friday, September 16.

“I am excited to be part of an effort that celebrates and recognizes the remarkable contributions of campus community members who are advancing gender equity at Georgia Tech,” said Julie Ancis, associate vice president of Institute Diversity and chair of the Gender Equity Champion Awards Committee.

Gender Equity Champion Award recipients have demonstrated one or more of the following in the last three years:

• Commitment to gender diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Leadership in building a culture of gender inclusion and equity.
• Behavior that illustrates commitment to the inclusion of persons within the Institute who represent the gender diversity of the Georgia Tech community.
• Organized, conducted, and/or supported events and activities that promote respect and inclusion related to gender and gender expression.

Award recipients included:

• Faculty Award – Mary Frank Fox, ADVANCE Professor, School of Public Policy, and co-director, Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology
• Staff Award – Shannon Sullivan, graduate program manager, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
• Student Award – Kendall Rankin, undergraduate student, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering
• Unit Award – School of Physics

Mary Frank Fox’s research focuses on gender, science, and academia — the study of women and men in academic and scientific organizations and occupations — with significant implications for science and technology policy. “The Gender Equity Champion Award embodies values that are close to my heart — equitable conditions that benefit all,” said Fox.

Shannon Sullivan is a licensed professional counselor whose passion is empowering young people to develop themselves personally and professionally. “My work is about daily conversations with people. For someone to recognize that our individual conversations make a difference in students’ lives, I am deeply touched by this honor,” remarked Sullivan.

Kendall Rankin is the founder and executive director of The Diamond Campaign, a nonprofit she started during her sophomore year to empower women through service and education. As Rankin stated, “I believe that Georgia Tech is committed to gender equity as we have made huge strides in recent years, but I encourage each of you to find a way to support women on campus and to ensure we have an inclusive community.”

Diversity is a top priority to the School of Physics, and the school is committed to recruiting and retaining women faculty and students. “For the past two years, the incoming class of graduate students is 30 percent female in the School of Physics, which is currently above the national average,” explained Pablo Laguna, school chair and professor.

These awards at the Eighth Annual Diversity Symposium come on the heels of Georgia Tech’s Gender Equity Initiatives announcement at the Institute Address in fall 2016 and the Office of the President’s listening sessions on gender equity in fall 2015.

“One of the impact areas of the Gender Equity Initiatives is to create recognition opportunities and increase the visibility of the Institute’s commitment to gender equity,” said Archie Ervin, vice president of Institute Diversity. “The annual Diversity Symposium is one of the best opportunities to come together as a campus community, honor campus leaders who are committed to diversity, and have robust, informed discussions on important issues like gender equity.”

To learn more about the Gender Equity Champion Awards and the Diversity Symposium, visit diversity.gatech.edu.

Five Leadership Excellence Award winners were recognized at the Diversity Symposium Reception on Thursday, September 15, hosted by Institute Diversity, the Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology, Women in Engineering, and the Women’s Resource Center.

“This year, the Leadership Excellence Awards were established to celebrate and recognize the outstanding contributions of women in the Georgia Tech community. Recognition opportunities are one of the impact areas of the recently announced Gender Equity Initiatives,” said Archie Ervin, vice president of Institute Diversity.

Through their work, award recipients are women leaders who have accomplished one or more of the following:

• Built communities and raised the capacity of others to collectively advance the Institute’s potential.
• Either had national or international impact, or if at the regional level, attracted wider recognition.
• Created needed institutions, initiatives, and/or programs.
• Transformed their chosen field and presented fundamental and influential research contributions.

Award recipients included:

• Meltem Alemdar, assistant director and senior research scientist, Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC)
• Sherry Farrugia, chief operations and strategy officer, Pediatric Technology Center
• Elizabeth Mynatt, executive director, Institute for People and Technology
• Sungmee Park, co-founder and CTO, Sarvint Technologies Inc.
• Jacqueline J. Royster, dean and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

Meltem Alemdar’s research focuses on improving K-12 STEM education and evaluating K-12 STEM initiatives that target low-income and minority students. In 2009, she established CEISMC’s Evaluation Group to provide research and evaluation support for projects across Georgia Tech, the Georgia Department of Education, other higher education institutions, and the greater Atlanta community.

In her role at the Pediatric Technology Center, Sherry Farrugia works to build and sustain public-private partnerships and manage Georgia Tech and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s $20 million research portfolio. She also serves on multiple boards and was appointed to the Governor’s Council for Child Welfare. Farrugia has 25 years’ experience in the health information field, working in data analytics, data visualization, and clinical and financial outcomes.

In addition to her role at the Institute for People and Technology, Elizabeth Mynatt serves as a distinguished professor in the College of Computing and director of the Everyday Computing Lab. She is the chair of the Computing Community Consortium and a member of the National Academies Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. Mynatt has been recognized as an Association for Computing Machinery Fellow and a member of the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction Academy.  

While at Georgia Tech, Sungmee Park co-invented the world’s first Wearable Motherboard™, or “Smart Shirt.” She received the Jang Yeong-Sil Award from the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology for the development of HeaTex in 2008 and the Korean Prime Minister’s New Growth Business Award in 2010. In 2011, Park was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni at Georgia Tech.

Jacqueline J. Royster’s research explores the intersections of the history of rhetoric, feminist studies, and cultural studies with a primary interest in the connections between human and civil rights. She has received several awards, including The Winifred Bryan Horner Award from the Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition and being named a Fellow of the Rhetoric Society of America.

To learn more about the Leadership Excellence Awards, visit diversity.gatech.edu.

The Office of the President conducted a number of listening sessions last fall with female students, faculty, and staff to gather feedback about gender-related campus issues. That feedback was collected, categorized, and synthesized into a set of recommendations that will be pursued by departments across campus.

President G.P. “Bud” Peterson met with other Institute leaders earlier this semester to begin disseminating recommendations to relevant areas. Going forward, the implementation will be led by Institute Diversity, in close partnership with Human Resources and Faculty Affairs. These offices will call upon others for input and to hand off recommendations when needed or appropriate.

In a memo last week, Peterson endorsed the work of this task force and notified campus leaders that they may have a role. 

“We are all called upon to create a campus culture of dignity, respect, and inclusion,” Peterson said. 

For faculty and staff, many of the recommendations focus on policy or human resources initiatives. Some of those include providing diversity guidelines for search committees, evaluating and promoting family-friendly programming and policies, conducting a salary equity study for staff (to complement a recent one for faculty), and identifying pathways for advancement for professional staff.

Feedback from students was more cultural than institutional, but many of the opportunities created through the working group will also benefit students and lend to a more inclusive culture for all. Some of those campuswide opportunities will include implicit bias workshops, mentoring, professional and leadership development, highlighting the success of women on campus, and promoting events that feature and celebrate women.

“The whole process has been eye-opening for the Institute’s senior leaders,” said Lynn Durham, assistant vice president and chief of staff for the Office of the President, who helped lead the working group. “Having these conversations has brought to light some of the issues that may not have been readily apparent on campus.”

Per Peterson’s memo, two themes will continue guide the Institute’s work in this area:

1. Promoting gender equity through policies and processes related to the recruitment, hiring, retention, promotion, professional development, and appointment to leadership roles of faculty and staff members.
2. Celebrating the contributions of women in our community and making the commitment to inclusion more visible in communications.

Institute Diversity will meet quarterly with unit representatives from Human Resources, Faculty Affairs, Institute Communications, and other units to prioritize and track progress on these initiatives. 

At the recommendation of the working group, the 2016 Diversity Symposium will put a focus on gender equity. Institute Diversity also recently launched a Leading Women at Tech initiative, which engages senior and emerging women leaders on campus in collaboration and empowerment opportunities. Another recent step was a modified Regents Professor selection process to better incorporate diversity. 

Peterson has already met with one group and will be meeting with additional groups in the coming weeks to hear their thoughts and better understand the experiences and challenges unique to women at Georgia Tech. The information gathered will be used to develop specific actions that can be taken to continue to create a more welcoming environment for all people at Georgia Tech.

“We’ve seen spirited discussion around this topic, and I would like to continue the dialogue to continue our efforts to create a more inclusive campus environment,” Peterson said.

Representatives from each of the segments, faculty, staff and both undergraduate and graduate students, will be invited to participate in the conversations.

Keynote speaker Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, set the tone for the event by stating, “America is in a state of change. Embracing this change is what diversity in the 21^st century is all about. Diversity is a value for this country; it isn’t limited to an office or a symposium.”

This “state of change” was explored by James H. Johnson, Jr., distinguished professor and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the University of North Carolina, during the morning sessions of the Diversity Symposium. Johnson shared how demographic disruptions will impact higher education in the next 25 years, such as the growing population in the South; the shifting immigration-driven population; the approaching “Silver Tsunami” from changing life expectancy, declining fertility, and aging Baby Boomers; and the increasing rate of intermarriage.

“Our next generation of talent must be more diverse than the current generation,” said Johnson. “Institutions cannot afford to leave out anyone in the future. To anticipate these changing demographics, we must provide an alternative model of greater access and affordability.”

To conclude the morning sessions, ADVANCE Professors Mary Frank Fox, Pinar Keskinocak, Wing Suet Li, Dana Randall, Catherine Ross, and Beril Toktay discussed equity in faculty hiring, and Institute Diversity Associate Vice President Julie Ancis analyzed how unconscious thoughts influence behaviors at work.

“This event is important because we don’t pay enough attention to diversity issues in general,” said Ashok Goel, professor in the School of Interactive Computing. “Being a good citizen of the community means being inclusive and embracing diversity in all of its forms.”

During the Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon, Morial addressed how to redefine civil rights in the 21^st century through his “Three D’s of Diversity”:

• Defend democracy by pushing against the ideas of voter suppression (or voter self-suppression).
• Develop human capital by educating people to be self-sufficient and successful in this society.
• Demand jobs for all and economic opportunity for the next generation.

Prior to the keynote address, eight Diversity Champion Award winners were recognized for actively demonstrating and positively promoting the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Georgia Tech campus community. This year’s winners are Mary Lynn Realff (faculty co-winner), Stephen Ruffin (faculty co-winner), Madison Cario (staff co-winner), Matthew Hall (staff co-winner), Alex Berry (student co-winner), Andrea Welsh (student co-winner), Division of Student Life (unit co-winner), and School of Mathematics (unit co-winner).

Following the Diversity Symposium Awards Luncheon, faculty, staff, and students had the opportunity to attend afternoon sessions on LGBTQIA rights; sexual violence; or bullying, incivility, and lack of collegiality in the workplace and classroom. 

“Thank you to the campus community members who participated in and contributed to the Diversity Symposium,” said Archie W. Ervin, vice president of Institute Diversity. “Events like these are important in helping us build an inclusive community where every human being is valued and respected—especially in light of recent discrimination issues.”

To learn more about the Diversity Symposium and/or view Johnson’s presentation on disruptive demographics, visit diversity.gatech.edu/seventh-annual-diversity-symposium.