Action for Justice, Equity and Diversity (AJED) Committee

Annual 2020 report

AJED 2020-2021 Membership:

• Francois Lutzoni (chair of AJED - Professor),

• Danae Diaz (Graduate student)
• Amanda DelVecchia (Postdoctoral researcher)
• Shannon Fang (Undergraduate student)
• Jill Foster (Staff)

• Alison Hill (Senior Lecturer),

• Richard Hilleary (Postdoctoral researcher)
• Clarice Hu (Undergraduate student)
• Paul Magwene (Associate Professor),
• Julia Notar (Graduate student)
• Steve Nowicki (Professor),
• Justin Wright (Associate Professor)
• Marie Claire Chelini (ex officio - Postdoctoral fellow/communications specialist)
• Emily Bernhardt (ex officio - Professor and chair of the Biology department)

 Introduction to the AJED 2020 Report:

This committee was initiated during the summer of 2020 as a replacement to the Faculty Diversity Committee. One of the first goals was to assemble a diverse and inclusive committee, representing all group members of the Department of Biology. Currently this committee includes five faculty members representing both tenure and non-tenure track faculty, one staff, two postdoctoral researchers, two graduate and two undergraduate students, as well as two ex officio members (communication expert and departmental chair). Because of the scope and ambitious list of goals for this committee, five subcommittees were formed to reach these goals more efficiently. Each subcommittee provided a report covering their activities and accomplishments during the fall semester of 2020, as well as their objectives for 2021. Action items falling outside the realm of these five committees were grouped under "General Action Items". These subcommittee reports are available using these links:

• Governance Review Subcommittee Report
• Education Subcommittee Report
• Recruitment and Hiring Subcommittee Report
• Inclusion and Empowerment Subcommittee Report
• Outreach Subcommittee Report
• Report for General Action Items

Acknowledgment: The Action for Justice, Equity, and Diversity (AJED) committee acknowledges and is thankful for the work from the student-led Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) committee, for the Department of Biology to enhance fairness and foster the development of an embracing academic environment where everyone can thrive.

The entire AJED 2020 Annual report can also be downloaded as a pdf (see attachment at the bottom of the page).