URGE AT PURDUE EAPS: ACTIONS TAKEN AND BARRIERS TO DEVELOPING A DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE DEPARTMENT

Recent demographic analysis shows that incoming graduate students in the Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) department at Purdue University have been predominantly white (~69-88% at the Masters level, and 73-93% at the doctoral level) over the last five years. To characterize potential barriers for prospective underrepresented students, a group of 15+ graduate students, postdocs, and select faculty members in EAPS formed an unlearning racism in geosciences (URGE) pod. Pod discussions focused on evaluating departmental statistics (in terms of representation at all career levels), hiring/admissions policies, and resources for incoming/current students. As part of URGE’s 16-week curriculum, our pod highlighted a few key shortcomings of the department that we aim to address both in the short (~next year) and long term (~years). These included: increasing visibility of current resources offered by the department and university for underrepresented students, developing guidelines for safely conducting field work, offering adequate mentoring resources geared towards underrepresented minorities, and implementing a holistic graduate admissions process. In partnership with EAPS’s DEI committee, URGE members have developed a list of action items, beginning in Fall 2021. In carrying out these items, we hope to promote a department culture that is more inclusive, and promotes the well-being of current and incoming students of color. While actions taken on the departmental level are critical, broader changes from the university level are necessary to adequately address the root causes of many issues faced by prospective and current underrepresented students in EAPS.