December NatSci DEI Newsletter

Photo by Nick Goldblatt

Welcome to the December 2023 NatSci DEI Newsletter!

In this issue

Upcoming events and sponsorships
Cultural Competency Workshops
Lifelong learning
Health and well-being
Action list
Recognitions
Contact us

Upcoming events and sponsorships

Amplify STEM is holding a video initiative this year! Help us amplify the voices of STEM professionals from underrepresented backgrounds! Create a 2-5 minute video highlighting an underrepresented STEM professional, professionals can be past or present. Creators of selected videos will also receive a free Amplify STEM t-shirt. Open to students and employees.

Information and submission link site here.

Join us for an Amplify STEM Zoom webinar

Date: February 9th 2024

Time: 11:30am-12:30pm EST

Presenter: York University's Dr. Deborah McGregor.

Link to register here.

Open to all members of the community.

Dr. Deborah McGregor, Anishinabe, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair: Indigenous Environmental Justice. Osgoode Hall Law School and Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University. Professor McGregor’s research has focused on Indigenous knowledge systems and their various applications in diverse contexts including environmental and water governance, environmental and climate justice, health and environment and Indigenous legal traditions. Professor McGregor remains actively involved in a variety of Indigenous communities, serving as an advisor and continuing to engage in community-based research and initiatives. Professor McGregor has been at the forefront of Indigenous environmental and climate justice and Indigenous research theory and practice. Her work has been shared through the IEJ project website

With support from the Honors College, Undergraduate Research, the Office for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, MSU Libraries, the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, the College of Arts & Letters, the Broad College of Business, the College of Natural Science, the College of Social Science, and Student Life & Engagement, we are excited to inform you that the 7th Annual Diversity Research Showcase (DRS) will take place on Friday, January 19, 2024 from 1:00-5:00PM ET in the MSU Union. Submissions are welcome from all MSU undergraduate students!

Students are encouraged to submit previous or in progress research on issues of diversity that advance inclusion. Awards will be presented to the top three participants in the poster presentation category and the top three participants in the oral presentation category. Thank you to our generous partners for the opportunity to increase prize money awards this year!

First prize – $800
Second prize – $650
Third prize – $500
Two additional awards of $300 will be presented to two students in the preliminary stages of conducting research

Please refer to the attached flyer and/or the below links for additional information. Questions/concerns may be sent to Isabella Figueroa (figue112@msu.edu).

DRS website
Informational workshop for students: Presenting at the DRS – November 20 @ 4:30PM, Zoom (recording will be sent to all registrants)
Presenter registration form – due 11:59PM ET on December 17
Attendee registration form

Cultural Competency Workshops

Registration is now open for the Fall 2023 semester NatSci Cultural Competency Workshops for MSU NatSci employees and graduate students! The remaining workshop is full, however we do have a waitlist you can sign up for in case someone does cancel.

Our workshops are held on:

Dec. 19th-22nd, 9-11:30am, in-person, Bessey 111
Facilitators: Jonglim Han and Kendra Pyle

To learn more about the NatSci Cultural Competency Workshop click here.

Lifelong Learning

There are many holidays in the month of December for various religious faiths.

Diversity Resources shares their 2023 interfaith calendar

Have a happy holidays!

Join MSU IT's Instructional Technology and Development team for the following workshops!

Empowering Inclusivity: Crafting Accessible PowerPoint Presentations

December 4, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (Virtual)

Removing Barriers to Learning: Improve D2L Course Usability and Accessibility with Ally

December 7, 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Virtual)

Schedule a consultation

Need assistance or advice about accessibility in your classroom? Request an accessibility consultation with the Instructional Technology and Development group.

We have created a document to assist in ordering food. This document includes availability of vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free options for many local places around East Lansing. It also includes "do's and don'ts" for ordering food for inclusive groups.

The crisis and war in Gaza has created a lot of difficult conversations on college campuses.

Here are some resources on the Israel-Hamas war:

The Israel-Hamas war has college campuses on edge. How some are tackling the issue.

A webinar being held by UC Irvine about Institutional Speech surrounding Gaza

Mental health and well-being

Please take care of your health and well-being. Please use the resources below for support.

Action list

Digital Accessibility

Did you know?

Research shows that 71% of students without hearing difficulties use captions when available for videos at least some of the time. Of those students, 75% report using them as a learning tool, and 98% report finding captions helpful (Linder, 2016). Providing captions to meet accessibility standards helps the majority of students, even those that are not hearing impaired.

Schedule a consultation

Need assistance or advice about accessibility in your classroom? Request an accessibility consultation with the Instructional Technology and Development group.

Inclusive Pedagogy

Participation in blended courses research project

Do you teach a blended / hybrid undergraduate course at MSU?
Are you interested in transitioning your course to a blended format?
Would like to be part of the study and professional development community related to blended courses?

MSU’s Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative (EDLI) is seeking instructors interested in or already implementing blended undergraduate courses in all disciplines to participate in an NSF-funded study for one or more semesters between Spring 2024 – Fall 2025.

View complete recruitment information here.

Join a learning community!

The Equitable Pedagogy: Removing Barriers to Learning community welcomes educators looking to dismantle these barriers. As a community, we will examine and discuss undergraduate student responses to academic challenge and failure. The goal for the community would be to investigate the impact of the interventions, hopefully providing community members with actionable items to take back to their classrooms. Join the iTeachMSU group for more information.

Recognitions

Two NatSci scientists, Gregg Howe and James Tiedje, were recognized by the analytics firm Clarivate on their annual list of Highly Cited Researchers. Howe and Tiedje were two of five MSU researchers to be included on this list.

InsideMSU has put out their annual DEI issue! Included are updates about MSU's successes from DEI initiatives, DEI resources, and how MSU is advancing DEI efforts.