PREPARING GEOSCIENTISTS TO LEAD DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION CULTURAL CHANGES IN THE GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES: HEARTS OF GOLD

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the geological sciences can only occur when geoscientists take deliberate actions to redefine the field’s culture. However, scientific leaders often do not have the expertise in DEI to implement these culturally inclusive change efforts. Hearts of GOLD’s (GOLD: Geo Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity) professional development provides geoscientists with the knowledge, tools, and skills to become DEI change leaders. By targeting scientists who are actively engaged and well-respected in the field, the project seeks to connect and expand the cohort of diversity champions who have power to make significant cultural shifts in their institutions, professional organizations, and across the geosciences community. The project held two summer sessions called “GOLD Institutes” where geoscientists engaged in lessons of diversity, equity, and inclusion (led by the Knapsack Institute) and planned specific actions to lead change in their home organizations. In this preliminary report, we use case study analysis to investigate how participants who attended the first session in July 2017 enacted change strategies. We frame our discussion by considering how change occurs in communities through socially-constructed adaption and adoption of new ideas. Results consist of a landscape of practices that geoscientist leaders have used to become champions of diversity, from discussing DEI representation on department websites to developing new organizational structures to support DEI. Future work will be discussed, including how the landscape of practices can be used in the design of future DEI professional development sessions.