Diversity Steering Committee Updates

The Diversity Steering Committee (DSC) is an umbrella organization of predominantly graduate students, faculty and staff members that oversees diversity-related events and initiatives within the psychology department. 

Summer & Fall 2022 Highlights: 

The DSC’s Syllabus Review Team consults with instructors in the Department to improve inclusive teaching practices in their courses. The Syllabus Review Team is now piloting a syllabus rubric for undergraduate courses. Faculty are encouraged to send their syllabi to uw.psych.dsc.syllabus@gmail.com if they want feedback on their UG course syllabi. The Syllabus Review Team is currently working with the IASystem to explore options for adding course climate questions to end-of-quarter course evaluations. 

Over the past year, the Climate Survey Team has developed, disseminated and analyzed the 2022 Diversity Climate Survey. The Diversity Climate Survey aims to track and identify points for intervention by understanding perceptions of, experiences with, and outcomes of the department's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) climate. During summer and fall, the Climate Survey team compiled and sent out a summary of results from the 2022 survey and are preparing next year’s survey to launch in early Winter 2023. The team plans on working with Department administration to implement actionable next steps based on the results. 

Other exciting developments include launching a new working group to support international grad students in the Department. DSC members are also partnering with the Q Center to coordinate LGBTQIA+ inclusive trainings for faculty, staff and students this upcoming year. In September, the DSC held its second annual virtual graduate student recruitment event with more than 175 participants from colleges and universities across the country. The goal of this event is to demystify the Psychology graduate application process and provide prospective students with information about the UW Psychology doctoral program. 

We thank all the members of the DSC for working to make our Department a more inclusive and welcoming place for all of us to learn, work and do research.