CDEI June 2021 Update from the Chair

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Last week we had a wonderful All Hands CDEI Business meeting.  We had 48 people who joined us on the call! You can see the slides from the business meeting here:

 

Here are some key takeaways:

1. The Year of Impact on Racial Equity (YIRE) work is beginning. CDEI’s committees discussed this during the call. If you signed up to participate on the YIRE Taskforce, you should have received an email from Jeremi London on 6/11, and you will be getting an email from one of next year’s chairs team members this week. If you want to participate but forgot to sign up, please email the chairs at cdeichairs@asee.org.
2. We will be sending out the details about the CDEI sessions at the annual conference, so watch for that in your inbox in the next few weeks.
3. Welcome to our new CDEI Incoming Chair, Homero Murzi, who will be starting his role after the 2021 Annual Conference. We also welcomed new Division and Section delegates Mundasser Wyne, Sarah Lester, Yuting Chen, Natasha Smith, Aysa Galbraith, Navarun Gupta, and Cecelia Wigal.
4. Thank you to the other CDEI members who will be rolling of the commission this year. We are grateful for your service to our community: Susan Walden, Alice Squires, Emily Allen, Jeffrey Fergus, Bruce Neville, and Brian Kirkmeyer.  You’ll still be on our membership list as a CDEI Friend unless you ask to be removed. 😊
5. Ask your division or section how your group might work to advance social justice in the communities in which we gather for ASEE conferences. We believe it is important for ASEE and ASEE members to acknowledge and take steps to address justice issues in the communities in which we gather for our annual conferences.  There are four social justice areas we feel have been particularly hard-hit this year with the COVID-19 pandemic.  Housing/houselessness, food insecurity, immigration, and LGBTQ populations. We have compiled some recommended non-profits that are trying to address these issues. Please consider donating money or time to one or all of these non-profits.  Imagine the impact if each of us donated even just $5 to one or two of these!  We also encourage you to think creatively in your divisions and sections about how you might fundraise or partner with these organizations or others to advance justice.
6. Mark your calendars for the CDEI Social before the Annual Conference: Thursday 7/22/2021 3pm-4:30pm Pacific/ 6pm-7:30pm Eastern. Connection information will be sent in the next few weeks.
7. Delegates: If Susan Walden (CDEI past chair) has been in contact with you or your division chairs about your appointment (only some appointments are ending this year), please ask your division chair to respond to her request for delegate appointments.
8. We had a lot to celebrate on the call including tons of work from many of our committees. Please check out the slides for more information.

 

Other Announcements:

 

1. Lumina Foundation webinar June 22, 3:00 PM ET for a special conversation in our Equity First series with Dr. Shaun R. Harper, Executive Director of the USC Race and Equity Center, editor-at-large of TIME magazine, and Provost Professor in the Rossier School of Education and the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. June 22^nd Register Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZY4-ERIsTSKQetFKndNhzw
2. Molecular Foundry 2021 User Meeting- Free and Online: The Molecular Foundry is a nanoscience research facility at Berkeley Lab that provides visiting researchers (“users”) with access to cutting-edge expertise and instrumentation in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. The Molecular Foundry’s 2021 Annual User Meeting will be hosted virtually with free registration (register by 7/31) to bring our scientific community together in a safe and accessible format. Keynote speakers are Dr. Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Prof. Jim Pfaendtner of the University of Washington.

 

 

In Solidarity,

Liz Litzler

CDEI Chair 2020-2021