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SCS DEI Update 12

Apr. 2, 2021

Today is the fifth day in the trial of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, and our minds once again return to the murder of George Floyd last May. The whole world is watching the trial, anticipating its outcome and remaining hopeful that justice will prevail.

However, once again this week we witnessed more acts of violent hate against Asians — this time a brutal attack on a Filipino woman in New York City, all while security guards stood by and failed to intervene. To our Asian community, we stand alongside you, in your defense, in protest and in solidarity. We will not stand for violence and hate directed against you. The trauma of these events can make us feel powerless and unsupported, and this disturbing trend highlights the need for us all to become better allies against hatred.

Among the many opportunities listed below, please make use of the resources compiled by CFA — listed later in this document — that support the defense of our Asian community within CMU, the greater Pittsburgh region and beyond. If you feel threatened or witness behaviors that threaten others, use the Report It resource detailed below. And if you have any additional suggestions for programs or events that you believe may be helpful if hosted for SCS audiences, share them with a DEI committee member from your department or email SCS-DEI@cs.cmu.edu.

Upcoming Events / Deadlines

  • Seminar Series on DEI in CS, Kelauni Jasmyn: “Black in Tech” Thursday, April 1, 4:30 p.m.
    In case you missed it, you can watch a replay as we kicked off the Seminar Series on DEI in CS with Kelauni Jasmyn, founder and executive director of Black Tech Nation (aka #DigitalWakanda) — a digital network of Black technologists, innovators and entrepreneurs headquartered in Pittsburgh. She’s also the founder & CEO of Olivia Wayne, a Black tech talent and recruiting agency, and one of three general partners at Black Tech Nation Ventures. She serves publicly as the vice chair of the Policy and Entrepreneurship Committee for IEEE-USA, the largest tech organization in the world.

  • Grad Students and Postdocs: Apply to RISE by April 5
    Graduate students and postdocs are encouraged to apply to 3M’s Raising Influence in Science and Engineering (RISE) conference, to be hosted virtually this June. RISE introduces emerging female and/or underrepresented doctoral/postdoctoral students in science and engineering to a wide range of rewarding careers in research and development at 3M. Ideal applicants are expected to complete their graduate degree or postdoctoral appointment within 18 months of the RISE conference. Learn more and apply by April 5.

  • LeaderShape's Courageous Dialogue Sunday, April 25, 12 - 2 p.m. EDT
    This program provides a framework to engage in meaningful and impactful conversations around the issues of values alignment, racial inequality and creating stronger communities. CMU and LeaderShape have partnered to offer a CMU-specific version of their training. Register to save your seat! We can accommodate 100 undergraduate or graduate students in the program and aspire to enroll everyone who expresses interest via our form. We will collect registrations until noon on Monday, April 19, and will confirm attendance with registrants that day so we can share the Zoom link and calendar hold.

    To learn more about LeaderShape, visit their website. This program is hosted by SLICE and the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion. Questions? Email SLICE at slice@andrew.cmu.edu.

Support / Groups

  • Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion: Report It online anonymous reporting platform
    All reports will be documented and evaluated to determine if there should be any follow-up actions. Regardless of incident type, the university will use all shared experiences to transform our campus climate to be more equitable and just. Email questions to csdi@andrew.cmu.edu or call 412-268-2150. Reportit.net username: tartans; password: plaid

  • Counseling and Psychological Services (CaPS)
    For those in need of immediate and/or individual support, CaPS offers free, confidential services to help you manage personal challenges.

    • Information and resources are located at http://www.cmu.edu/counseling/
    • Immediate support is always available (24/7): 412-268-2922
    • Resolve Crisis Network: 888-796-8226

    • CAPs has several open groups accepting new members:
      • Connections:
        • When My Heart Isn’t in the Work, Thursdays, 4:15 - 4:45 p.m. EDT
          This space is for students to come together in community and to share and process the different ways we navigate our experiences within White-dominant spaces. This will be a consistent space, free of judgment and expectations. Come every week or come when you can: we will be here. Join Zoom Meeting ID: 942 1035 408
        • Immigrant Connection Hour, Fridays, 1- 2 p.m. EDT
          Join us in this weekly connection hour, hosted by immigrants for immigrants! This event is open to all members of the CMU community. Join Zoom Meeting ID: 969-6481-1810
      • Trainings:
        • QPR: Question, Persuade, Refer, Monday, April 12, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. EDT
          QPR is a two-hour suicide prevention training designed to educate the audience on warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to respond. The process follows three steps: (1) question the individual's desire or intent regarding suicide, (2) persuade the person to seek and accept help, and (3) refer the person to appropriate resources.
        • Kognito
          Kognito is interactive role-play simulation for students, staff and faculty and builds awareness, knowledge and skills about mental health and suicide prevention. Users are introduced to a virtual coach to learn about physiological distress, how it impacts a person and how to intervene when appropriate. You can access the link as many times as you need and do not have to finish the simulation in one sitting. The simulation takes less than one hour to complete.

Recruiting Conferences

  • The SHPE Technical Achievement and Recognition (STAR) Awards recognize those in STEM who are changing lives through their community outreach, work and research. We encourage you to nominate those you feel represent the best in STEM and embody the SHPE vision. Winners will be announced in the fall and celebrated in November during the 2021 SHPE National Convention in Orlando. Completed nominations are due July 15.

  • SCS will partner with CIT for the upcoming National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) 47th Annual Convention. There are two parts to our participation:
    • The portion on April 7 provides an opportunity to interact with and recruit middle school and high school students for our undergraduate programs (tentative time 3 - 6 p.m.)
    • We’ll recruit for graduate programs during the annual career fair April 8-9, noon - 5 p.m.
    • The event is virtual and Jenn Landefeld will coordinate volunteers to hold office hours via Zoom during both recruiting events. Reach out to her if you are interested in participating.

CMU’s First Annual BIPOC Literary Journal

This community-based journal, created by Melina Castillo and Jamie Espinosa, fellows in the Center Fellowship Program under the Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion, and in collaboration with CMU Wellness and SALSA will be the first of its kind at CMU. The journal seeks to collect and share original multimedia works by BIPOC students, faculty and staff with the mission to uplift and amplify BIPOC voices to work toward a change in CMU's PWI culture, and to build solidarity between our diverse communities.

Submissions will be accepted in various media forms: writing, drawings, comics, photography, film, etc. Submit your new or previously created work — anonymous submissions are accepted. The theme/content is entirely up to you so long as it is original. To submit, upload works to the Google submission form or email them to mcastill@andrew.cmu.edu.
Submission deadline: April 10 at 11:59 p.m.

Submit art for the cover! (Note your artwork is for the cover in the Google form/email.) The student whose art is selected receives a wellness gift basket valued at $60!

Accessibility Training

The Office of Disability Resources is working to provide the campus community with as many resources as possible to ensure that digital materials are accessible to all, and has recently made available a series of training videos of the digital accessibility presentations that were held last fall.

If you are developing digital content (documents, websites, videos, webinars or other multimedia), check out the Digital Accessibility Training Videos for guidance on how to make your materials accessible to all. Recordings of the virtual trainings are offered by Perkins Access, digital accessibility strategists and consultants.

Contact Catherine Getchell, Director of Disability Resources, with any questions.


Ph.D. Student Dean's Advisory Committee

Leadership and expertise are essential to bringing about real change toward a more inclusive SCS. As computer scientists, we also need to bring in the expertise of those who are trained in institutional diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work. SCS plans to hire an executive director for DEI who will be just such a professional and has committed to beginning a search for this role immediately after appointing an associate dean of DEI. While the associate dean announcement has been delayed for several months, we anticipate a forthcoming announcement and commencement of an executive director search.

This week, we would like to highlight a study from 2019 that finds that despite a growing number of conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion, there remains slow growth in actually achieving the goals universities set forth. The Ph.D. Advisory Committee calls on SCS to stay on track with planned initiatives.

"There are a multitude of reasons which should compel us to prioritize DEI issues but I believe the most important one is because it is the right thing to do." – SCS Staff

The committee is maintaining an SCS DEI progress tracker to map progress relative to the Toward Anti-Racist Change letter, where we outline steps toward a more inclusive SCS. To date, four items have been completed, five are on track, 40 have been acknowledged and one has been refused.

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