December 2022 D I and A Digest Header
Take a moment to reflect

Walking around campus this week, it’s evident another semester has ended. We, collectively, have sent another impressive group of graduates into the world to help solve society’s greatest challenges. We hope you will take a few minutes to reflect on the impact of your conversations that helped colleagues or fellow students get unstuck, gain clarity or stay in their path. We encourage you to think back on the growth you have seen in yourself and name the events or experiences that felt like a pivot point for your work, your studies or your relationships with others. In those reflections, we hope you see the mark you left this semester. You have made a difference. It is now time to recharge those batteries. Thank you for all the ways you individually and collectively contributed to DI&A at Mines this semester. This work – working toward a more inclusive, welcoming, equitable campus community – does not happen without you.

Wishing you and those closest to you a personally meaningful holiday season.

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

Content This Month
Call for workshops, recipes for the Celebration of DI&A at Mines

On April 3rd, we will set aside the day for all of campus to gather and engage in diversity, equity and inclusion learning and skill development opportunities. Two new elements have been added to the annual Celebration of DI&A at Mines this year:  

Recipes 
We aim to celebrate the diversity of backgrounds that make up Mines and are excited to provide an opportunity for all faculty, staff and students to share their favorite memories surrounding food with the Oredigger community during the keynote lunch. If you have a favorite dish you would like considered, you are invited to submit your recipe and a brief description of why the dish holds significance to you by January 23, 2023. 

Poster session 
In lieu of progress report flash talks, each department and campus unit that has a diversity implementation plan (there are nearly 40 participating depts/units!) is required to complete a poster highlighting their goals, their alignment with the Mines DI&A strategic plan and the outcome/impact of those efforts. Diversity committee members can access the poster template on the Celebrations’ webpage. These posters will be displayed during the event with a dedicated hour when they will be staffed by a dept/unit representative so community members can ask questions and explore future collaborations. Posters are due to Mines DI&A team by March 6, 2023 to meet printing deadline. 

We could also use your support drumming up facilitators for the breakout sessions. Want to lead a discussion on a timely DI&A topic? Do you know someone whose DI&A efforts help foster a greater sense of belonging on campus? Please consider or encourage others to submit a brief proposal by January 23, 2023. 

A geophysics community that learns together, grows together

Image of the Geophysics community board highlighting countries geophysics students and faculty come fromThe Geophysics (GP) department, initiated by graduate student Samara Omar, launched a community board this semester to spark conversation around and inspire commitment to diversity, inclusion and access initiatives. The rotating monthly content covers topics of interest to geoscience staff, faculty and students. Past topics included Considering Colorblindness which shared perspectives and color bar tricks for making maps and complex images more inclusive to all readers. In November, the Giving Thanks with GP board shared how other countries, some of which are home to members of the GP department, celebrate holidays like the U.S. Thanksgiving. Upcoming board themes include mental health, stress and unconscious biases. Next semester, the GP DI&A committee looks to couple the community board content with events as they commit to continue DI&A education within the GP CommUNITY.

‘Me and White Supremacy’ book club starts this spring

Are you interested in diving deeper into your DI&A work? Are you white or white passing and want to better examine how your white privilege impacts your thoughts and actions? If so, join book club host Jerilin Brewer for Me and White Supremacy starting in January. This interactive book guides participants through short readings and exercises to better understand white privilege to stop inflicting damage on People of Color.  

Who is this work for?  

Any person who holds white privilege: persons are visually identifiable as white or who pass for white. This includes persons who are biracial, multiracial or white-passing People of Color who benefit under systems of white supremacy from having lighter skin color than visibly Brown, Black or Indigenous people.  

Time commitment 

  • One hour bi-weekly meetings for seven weeks (January 20-April 24).  

  • We understand folks may not be able to make every meeting. We are looking for participants who can actively participate in this work. This means, completing the assigned readings and journal entries and engaging in conversation.  

  • The book is broken down into days (28 total). We ask participants to read four “days” every two weeks. Each “day” is approximately 5-6 pages. While the readings are short, the most time will take reflecting on your own experiences and journaling. A good estimate would be at least 20 minutes/day to journal. This would mean reading approximately 20-25 pages and journaling for an hour to an hour and a half every two weeks.  

Books will be provided by Mines DI&A. Participants will need to purchase their own journals. If interested, please complete this quick form. Questions can be directed toward Jerilin Brewer jerilinbrewer@mines.edu.  

Fall 2022 women graduates honored at The Continuum

Portrait of graduates who attended the Fall 2022 Continuum celebrationThe Women in Science, Engineering & Mathematics (WISEM) program recognized the accomplishments of women graduates at the Continuum, a celebration of Mines women: past, present and future last week. Graduates received a signature red rose and a Mines embossed bud vase as they crossed the stage. Both are an honored tradition and a special complement to the Mines silver diploma. The semi-annual event included a Keynote address, a senior speech and individual recognition of graduating women and attending alumnae. The event’s Keynote was alumna Angelique Diaz, Deputy Director of the US Environmental Protection Agency BS ’98, MS ’03, PhD ’08 ESE. The senior speech was delivered by two graduating former Society of Women Engineers officers, Evelyn Cook and Chiang Cheng Siew. Over 180 guests were there. Interested in the backstory of this event? Read the history of The Continuum. 

Student organization spotlight: Mines Hillel

Mines Hillel is an organization that provides Jewish students on campus a place to celebrate holidays together while simultaneously providing opportunities for non-Jewish members of the Mines community to learn more about Judaism. Primarily, Mines Hillel hosts on-campus events for many of the significant holidays on the Jewish calendar. These range in purpose from the solemn Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, to the lighthearted costume parties of a holiday called Purim. Some of the organization’s main functions include on campus events, carpools to services for Shabbat, a weekly day of rest that begins each Friday evening and includes a combination prayer services and shared meals.  

For the spring semester, Hillel will continue to host events around the Jewish calendar such as Shabbat events and celebrations for holidays such as Tu B’shvat, Purim and Passover. For estimate event dates, Tu’Bshvat is on February 5th, Purim is March 6th and Passover begins April 5th. 

Nelson Angels awarded ARDC scholarship

Portrait of Nelson AngelsThe Electrical Engineering (EE) Department is excited to announce a new scholarship program for continuing students funded through the Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) Foundation. The mission of ARDC is to support, promote and enhance digital communication science and technology. ARDC has identified a critical need for high-performing scientists and engineers with new and different skills, knowledge, experiences and perspectives entering industry to solve society’s complex communication challenges.

This fall, EE awarded its first ARDC scholarship to Nelson Lee Angels. Nelson is a Junior pursuing a combined BS and MS in electrical engineering with a concentration in antenna & wireless communications. While he has been recently placed on the Dean’s List, his academic pursuits have only served to further ignite his goal of serving the community which raised him. This passion has led him to become involved with the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). He was recently elected to serve as the region VI Mines chapter chair of graduate advising, where he has worked to increase the number of culturally responsible engineers from historically underrepresented populations who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community. Specifically, this work is to increase the number of these students interested in continuing to graduate school. Nelson’s hope and vision for this work with NSBE is that by sharing his unapologetic passion for the world of electromagnetics, and with the help of ARDC, that underrepresented students might see that they too can meaningfully participate and contribute to what he believes is the exciting and deeply fulfilling world of amateur radio, digital communication science and technology at the graduate level and beyond.

Contribute to January’s Mines DI&A Digest

Help us highlight the work you or your department is doing across campus to support DI&A at Mines by submitting a brief article to January’s Mines DI&A Digest. Submissions must be received by the first week of January in order to make it into the Digest.

Save the Dates 

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

As always, we welcome your ideas, thoughts and feedback at diversity@mines.edu.
Thank you for being a member of an inclusive Oredigger community and an advocate and ally for positive social change.

Diversity, Inclusion and Access