Mines DI&A Digest December 2021
Mines DI&A is grateful for you

Ready or not, here we go. The busiest time of the year is on our heels: Hanukkah, final exams, Commencement, The Continuum, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s. We are still scratching our heads asking, “Where did 2021 go?” You may feel the same way. As we close out another semester, we want to thank you for all the ways you showed up, leaned in and contributed to diversity, inclusion and access at Mines. We know the list is long, and we look forward to celebrating those efforts and results at our annual Celebration of Diversity at Mines (formerly known as Mines DI&A Campus Symposium) in the spring semester. We hope you’ll consider submitting an abstract to lead a breakout session during the celebration. 

Wishing you a strong end to the semester and a restful winter break. 

Dr. Amy E. Landis, Tammy Curry, Heather Houlton and Kelly Knechtel 
Mines DI&A 

Welcome, Mines Asian Community Alliance

There’s a new MCA on campus, and we couldn’t be more excited. The Mines Asian Community Alliance’s arrival brings the count to five, and joins the Black, Latinx, LGBTQ and Women MCAs in advancing the understanding and inclusiveness of all Mines employees, with a focus on employees with Asian or Pacific Island backgrounds. The Asian MCA is chaired by Dr. Zhao Han from the Department of Computer Science and vice-chaired by Jane Shiao from Information & Technology Solutions. The group’s executive sponsor is Brian Winkelbauer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mines Foundation. There are currently openings for Treasurer and Secretary officer positions. Other volunteer officers include, but not limited to, Strategic Areas Leads and Ad Hoc Committee Leads. If you would like to join their group or one of the other MCAs, all you need to do is complete the ‘join an MCA’ request form. MCAs operate in an inclusive manner and welcome all employees to join groups regardless of their social identities. 

Mines Community Alliance Letter of Support

As the leaders of the Mines Asian, Black, Latinx, LGBTQ, and Women Community Alliances, we embrace a mission to support the Colorado School of Mines in its pursuit of a culture of inclusion and equality, including disapproval of bullying and disrespectful behavior. We fulfill this mission through our program offerings, community-building events, and in our engagement with the broader campus community.

We would like to reassure the Mines community of our commitment to an inclusive and equitable campus environment for all students, staff, and faculty. As campus organizations designed to promote inclusion and belonging for minoritized groups on campus, we encourage all members of campus to utilize the many resources available to us to share about your experiences and seek support as needed:

Institutional Equity and Title IX 
SpeakUp@Mines 
Faculty Senate Suggestion Box 
Colorado State Employee Assistance Program (CSEAP)

Zhao Han & Jane Shiao, Mines Asian Community Alliance
Alex Leach, Mines Black Community Alliance
Andres (Dre) Guerra, Mines Latinx Community Alliance
Megan Rose, Mines LGBTQ Community Alliance
Savannah Allshouse, Mines Women Community Alliance

Student Life continues to make great strides for diversity, inclusion and access on campus

During an anything but normal return-to-campus semester, staff in the division of Student Life haven’t lost momentum on influencing culture change on campus. In a November update to their staff, Vice President of Student Life, Dr. Dan Fox, shared a few highlights. Through consultation with Vernon Wall, a social justice educator and facilitator, Student Life will invest in a stronger leadership vision for DI&A that will serve longer term to drive and sustain positive change. One outcome was the creation of a new leadership role in Student Life — the Assistant Vice President of Student Life for Equity and Engagement position — which is nearing the final interview stage of the search and will help lead our DI&A efforts, as well as support broader Mines@150 initiatives. The team is also nearing completion of searches to fill the recently vacant MEP Director and Assistant Director positions, which are also critical roles for serving students and advancing Mines DI&A goals. 

The Diversity & Equity Workshops (DEW) and Real Talk teams in CLASS continue to provide professional development and dialogue opportunities for the Student Life division to strengthen knowledge, skills and attitudes that support an inclusive living and learning environment at Mines. The CLASS unit will again be incorporating the CLASS DI&A performance planning strategy to infuse DI&A-focused goals into all employees’ work during the 2021-22 performance planning cycle. 

Project designers needed for K-12 virtual classroom takeover

Chemistry teacher showing an experiment COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact underrepresented and under-resourced communities across the state, specifically rural and communities of color. A silver-lining this pandemic presents is an opportunity to expand access to Mines and our outstanding K-12 outreach programs through virtual classroom experiences. The K-12 Virtual Classroom Takeover aims to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers by bringing Mines students to classrooms across the state of Colorado. The experience involves Mines students zooming into classrooms for a 45-minute “takeover,” which includes a short interactive STEM lesson, an overview of Mines and a Q&A panel. Project designers and demo facilitators are needed for grades K-6th. If interested in learning more about the program or contributing an idea, contact Kelly Knechtel. Prep and delivery are compensated at $15/hour.

$15,000 women in mining scholarship awarded to Kellan Gillis 

Kellan Gillis in the fieldSSR Mining selected undergraduate student, Kellan Gillis (Mining, 2023) as a recipient of the Women in Mining Scholarship. The scholarship aims to encourage gender diversity in the mining industry and have the recipient serve as an ambassador in promoting diversity in the industry. As a junior, Kellan said she could not love mining any more. The classes have kept me interested all these years. There are so many different aspects to mining engineering that every class is almost entirely different. All my extracurriculars are still within the mining department, including being a member of the Mining Competition Team and the Vice President of our SME Student Chapter.

When asked how this award will help her as a student, Kellan said, This award has made my academic year much better for me as I work part-time in addition to being a student. This award takes a huge financial weight off my shoulders. It has also shown me just how important gender diversity is not only in the mining industry, but in all industries. I plan to make my own impact on every job site I work on, especially regarding gender diversity. 

Mines DI&A captures attention at the annual Geological Society of America conference

Graph of student enrollment compared Fall of 2020 to Fall of 2021. Number of female students increased by 30%. Number of URG students increased by 22%

Mines DI&A Research Analyst, Heather Houlton, presented at the national GSA conference last month in Portland, Oregon. During her technical talk, Building the Workforce of the 21st Century: Understanding Diversity, Intersectionality, Ethics, and Inclusivity in the Geosciences and Implementing Transformative Change in Our Culture, she highlighted key projects Mines has underway to increase diversity, foster inclusion and ensure access to the institution. She provided contextual information on Mines enrollment and employment demographics, the genesis of the Strategic Plan and dove into three of Mines’ impactful DI&A projects: Hiring Excellence, Annual Report and the DI&A Ambassador program, all of which have implications for building our geoscience workforce. This is the first time Mines DI&A has been featured at this conference and provided and avenue for Mines to be recognized by the broader community in our efforts towards building a more diverse, inclusive and accessible institution and STEM workforce. The GSA community remains an important collective to reach due to Mines’ earth science focused mission: Earth, Energy and Environment.

MLK Luncheon & Awards Ceremony January 18, 2022 11:30 am to 1 pm Student center grand ballrooms

Come celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. The event will feature speaker Papa Dia, CEO of the African Leadership Group, and the awarding of the Martin Luther King Jr. recognition award.

REGISTER

Nominations now open
Nominate a Mines community member (faculty, staff, and students) for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recognition Award. This award honors individuals who are exceptional in their appreciation for diversity and understanding of its value on the Mines campus.

NOMINATE SOMEONE TODAY

Save the Dates 

Hyperlinks = virtual meeting access information. All times are Mountain Daylight Time.  

  • 12/9 @ 10:00-10:30 AM Bi-weekly Unconscious Bias & Microaggressions Bystander Learning Community  
  • 12/13 @ 9:00 AM Mines DI&A Council Monthly Meeting-General. Open to all Orediggers.  
  • 12/15 @ 5:00-7:00 PM The Continuum, a celebration of women graduates- past, present, future. Friedhoff Hall. RSVP by 12/8. 
  • 1/18 @ 11:30 AM MLK Luncheon. Student Center Grand Ballrooms.
Diversity, Inclusion and Access