Thread by @RisaWechsler

Yesterday I had the honor of talking to the @Stanford Faculty Senate about our efforts over the last few years to improve equity and inclusion in the Physics Department, along with some fantastic colleagues from @StanfordEng and @StanfordMed. news.stanford.edu/2019/03/08/fac…

Working on these issues, especially in physics, can sometimes seem outright discouraging and unappreciated — so the engagement, thoughtful questions, and curiosity of my faculty colleagues across the University was very encouraging.

In previous years, it seems the Senate just heard reports on diversity *numbers*, not on actual concrete actions & steps being taken at the local dept & school level. Great to hear what other depts & schools are doing *differently* on admissions, training, faculty hiring, etc.

It can be really easy to get stuck in local cultures and familiar practices, so it’s very good to see what others do and what they have tried, especially when they make a little progress. We need to be more creative.

We are not doing nearly enough, not in my department, not at @Stanford overall, and as far as I can tell, nowhere. But yesterday’s discussion was a good example of the power of actually talking about small steps in the right direction.

In that spirit, I will share a bit more on some of the actions we have taken at Stanford Physics. They seem very small. There is still so much broken. But there has been a real shift in how we talk among the faculty and in the climate for students.
physics.sites.stanford.edu/about/equity-a…

In Summer 2016 we started a committee on Equity & Inclusion. 7 Faculty (3 women and 4 men, all white). The best decision we made in the first meeting was to fully engage students, postdocs, staff as full members of the committee.
physics.sites.stanford.edu/about/equity-a…

We started by looking at the numbers. They weren’t good. In 2016, women were 16% of recent undergrad majors, Black/Latinx/Native American students were 7%, 1st gen college students were 6% (cf. 50%, 26%, 16% of Stanford undergrads).

This is roughly average for Physics departments. There is only ONE non-HBCU Physics department in the entire country that regularly graduates 3 or more Black undergrads. The fraction of undergrad women has been slowly declining and at ~20% for almost 20 years.

As my colleague Tom Jaramillo said yesterday, diversity is the only area in which @StanfordEng is content to be average. IMHO institutions like @Stanford with such an incredible talent pool and wealth of resources should lead and not follow on this.

BTW these numbers in Physics were WAAAY worse at the undergrad level than Stanford Engineering. Much less racially diverse than *every* *single* engineering department. (They get similarly bad at more advanced stages though…)

Plenty of issues at every stage, but the biggest issue in Physics (both at Stanford and nationally) is at the undergrad level (in our dept, undergrad major demographics is similar to faculty!)

Students of all identities and backgrounds come to college interested in physics, but something about our departments / teaching / culture leads them not to stay. We found *big* demographic differences in the students who declared a Physics major and then switched.

Black and Latina women were leaving at much higher rates. That is probably unsurprising. Women of color in physics regularly have their competence questioned and experience harassment and microaggressions.
aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.…

The other thing we learned in our early work was that female undergrads who *finished* the major had a very different opinion of the department than male undergrads, including rating the Physics teaching as much worse!

This may also be unsurprising... a recent student of women students in physics showed that “Female students with A’s have similar physics self-efficacy as male students w C’s in introductory courses” and that this goes *down* after physics instruction.
journals.aps.org/prper/abstract…

This combination of facts was very useful and eye opening, and really helped start discussion. Every institution and department is different — I strongly encourage any one doing this kind of work to start by taking a hard look at your own biggest issues.

The big thing our committee did to start was write a 5 year strategic plan for E&I in the department. I was inspired by Berkeley Physics example (led by Steve Boggs when he was chair) See here: physics.berkeley.edu/about-us/equit…

This task was much harder than I thought! It took 1.5 years to develop and get approved by the department. You can see what we came up with here:
physics.stanford.edu/about/equity-a…

Very few individual things we proposed are revolutionary. Even as a whole its not close to enough for the scope of the problem. But this itself was an incredibly useful exercise, including the discussions that we had as a committee and as a faculty to create it.

Creating a community of practice, of learning, and of listening to each other, both among the faculty and student bodies but especially across career stages, has been the #1 most useful thing of doing this work.

We have had amazing set of speakers, including physicists like @IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @bbeckford000 @jazztronomy and @SFOregonian come talk to us about equity issues AND about their science.
physics.sites.stanford.edu/about/equity-a…

Last year we also started an Inclusive Physics Reading Group, led by students and postdocs. We discuss recent relevant literature — here is some of what we have been reading lately.
physics.sites.stanford.edu/about/equity-a…

We have also significantly expanded access to undergrad summer research for students outside of Stanford, with a focus on students from underrepresented groups. Several previous students now in or going on to grad school! physics.sites.stanford.edu/about/equity-a…

Independent of our committee, the other big change in our department in the last few years is in our practices of, and discussion about, inclusive teaching practices.

Most of our intro course and most of our upper division major courses have switched to active learning. Prof Carl Wieman has played a key role in educating us about research-based teaching practices.

This quarter Prof Sarah Church and colleagues piloted a new program for an intro mechanics class targeted to students who did not take physics in high school. Upperclass Learning Assistants help with active learning and serve as small group and 1-1 mentors.

Prof Pat Burchat has spearheaded an effort to encourage faculty to explicitly talk about classroom norms and what it means to have an inclusive environment, and also to explicitly ask about supportive and inclusive learning environments on course evaluations.

Probably the biggest change in the undergrad climate? A new student group, PUWMAS (Physics Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities at Stanford). They are amazing and inspiring. Check out some of what they do here: physics.sites.stanford.edu/about/equity-a…

Last year the grad students on the E&I committee started monthly meetings as the Grad Action Committee. They have discussed lots of important topics where we really need to improve: graduate mentoring, admissions, recruitment, advisor-student relationships, etc.

They brainstorm stuff that needs to be done (they have really good ideas, and often such a deeper understanding of the issues!) but an essential element is that we have a place to discuss recommendations with faculty who then try to help make it happen.

None this is enough. It feels WAY too slow and too conservative compared to the scope of the problem. I am still frustrated by the climate in physics regularly. But we are moving, and I think a little bit faster than average.

We also learning from each other. Members of the our committee have made an impact on inclusive practices in big physics collaborations including ATLAS, LZ, DES, DESI, and LSST, and at major Physics centers like KITP and Aspen.

It can feel risky to do this in a Physics Department — and it is. Research shows that when people from underrepresented groups advocate for diversity it hurts their scientific credibility.

But one thing about doing this work has surprised me, and really hit home for me after talking at the Senate yesterday. I have made allies — and friends — across the University who trust my judgment and who know that I am serious about getting things done.

This was unanticipated and is pretty damn satisfying. As a tenured white women & now as an Institute director, my experience certainly will not be universal. But students & postdocs on our committee have also told me that it is one of the things that kept them engaged in Physics.

If you are in Physics or really in any field at all and care about equity, it is hard work. It comes at a cost to your own work & I will never tell anyone from a marginalized group that this is how they should spend their time — but for some it can be exactly what you need.

And if you are *not* from a marginalized group, start paying more attention. Read more. Listen more. Do more. Use your power. Don't wait. We are losing brilliant physicists today and every day.

Faculty: make students your partners, and listen to them. And then do the work. We all have the power to do a little bit more and to be a little bit braver.