Leadership
working to improve the climate of inclusivity in Life Sciences.
Tracy Johnson
Dean of Life Sciences
Equity and Inclusion are necessary foundations for science and science education to be at their best. Life Sciences has focused its attention on creating a more inclusive educational experience for our amazing undergraduates…
For nearly a decade, Life Sciences has focused its attention on building the foundations we need to create a more inclusive educational experience for our undergraduate students, addressing inequities in science education at the university level.
I hold a deep appreciation for our former dean, Victoria Sork. It was her leadership, and teamwork with dedicated Life Sciences faculty, that laid important groundwork for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion within Life Sciences (e.g. establishing a Diversity Advisory Committee, the Mentor Professor Initiative, CEILS, Inclusive Excellence Institute, COMPASS, LS Scholars). These foundations and the establishment of a culture that values DEI is what allows me to advance us even further. While there is much work to be done, and it will be a process, we have a dedicated team of faculty and staff who are leading us in creating an environment in which everyone in the division can thrive.
In August 2020, then Dean Sork and I convened the Life Sciences Anti-Racism Taskforce in response to listening to Black members of Life Sciences community. The Taskforce was represented by undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, staff members, and faculty. Together they provided a core foundation of understanding, identifying our strengths, and where and how we might focus our efforts to improve equity and inclusion, both within our division, and also more generally at the university.
As I came into the role of Life Sciences Dean in Fall 2020, in collaboration with CEILS, our Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences and with initial funding from Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Life Sciences initiated a program called Out of the Box, to provide the training and tools for Life Sciences faculty to create the best online learning experience possible, easing both instructors and students back into virtual classrooms, and creating classrooms that are more inclusive and thoughtful of the needs of all our students in the unprecedentedly difficult circumstances brought on in 2020.
In Winter 2021, we expanded Out of the Box to include instructors in Physical Sciences and initiated Life Sciences’ Dialogues series to provide a local forum for instructors, and staff who were interested, to build community and deepen their understanding around issues of equity and inclusion in academic biology.
Now as we move forward, we are ever grateful to CEILS for continuing to offer faculty training workshops that promote best-practices in STEM teaching that create more equitable, anti-racist and more inclusive learning environments. Our graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty are also being trained in best practices in mentoring to learn best practices in mentoring our diverse undergraduate student body.
Anna Lau
Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence
I see this role, of Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence, as an opportunity to help Dean Johnson execute her vision to foster a climate of belonging and support that allows everyone to maximize their potential in the Life Sciences.
While my first job is to listen to, and collaborate with, members of our community on their priorities and goals, my own hopes for positive change are to see policies, at the division and campus levels, that reform incentive structures for service, equitable teaching practices, and high-quality mentoring; also, to see investments in data-informed accountability systems that help us identify and target inequities and the mechanisms that maintain them.
In your role, what might be some challenges to advancing DEI across Division of Life Sciences?
In the wake of our collective national reckoning with racial injustice, I’m hoping we’ll be able to harness momentum and catalyze change. Many are now working hard now to identify actions they can take to address DEI goals. But there may be an impulse to install new practices or initiatives that don’t necessarily involve institutional changes that dismantle the structures that perpetuate inequity. A big challenge is acting on low-hanging actions that help with specific problems, while also doing the deep work of transformation.
In promoting DEI, could you share initiatives or people you are proud of in Life Sciences?
I’m so proud to work with colleagues and students who share values, make noise, and give of themselves in service to DEI goals. I’m particularly inspired by students who speak up and take action, even when they feel vulnerable within the power structure of their labs, programs, and departments. I’m grateful to the members of the Life Sciences Anti-racism Task Force who invested so much energy and time to provide constructive recommendations for how to make progress on multiple fronts.
As it relates to DEI, what have you been involved within the division that makes you most proud?
It was a privilege to serve on Search Committees that recruited Mentor Professors – excellent scientists with deep experience in programmatic efforts to diversify the scientific pipeline. These amazing faculty members have elevated the stature of Life Sciences at UCLA and enriched our community enormously. I am proud to be involved in the Entering Mentoring Training program led by Dr. Diana Azurdia which disseminates best practices in mentoring to faculty across our division. Finally, I’ve been a member of the LS Diversity Advisory Committee since it was formed by Dean Sork. This group has been the source of so many creative and important initiatives over the years.
Paul Barber
Equity Advisor
The Equity Advisor works with Life Sciences departments and the Dean to promote DEI goals in the faculty search process, and to help advance initiatives within Life Sciences that are more broadly focused on DEI.
In your role, what might be some challenges to advancing DEI across Division of Life Sciences?
A challenge in advancing DEI across the division is that each department has unique cultures, so one size doesn’t always fit all. And sometimes, advancing DEI across for Life Sciences requires changes at higher institutional levels that we can’t change unilaterally.
In promoting DEI, could you share initiatives or people you are proud of in Life Sciences?
UCLA Life Sciences has been a real campus leader in DEI. We’ve adopted holistic admissions policies (most of our departments don’t use the GRE anymore). Our faculty helped lead efforts to adopt a College undergraduate diversity course requirement. Through the creation and efforts of CEILS, we’ve been on the forefront of advancing inclusive education. Our efforts to diversify our faculty, through the creation of Life Sciences’ Mentor Professor Initiative, are being modeled not just by other UCLA divisions, but also other UC campuses. Our faculty have a track-record of being dedicated to actively promoting DEI: since 2014, 11 LS faculty/staff have received the Academic Senate DEI award.
As it relates to DEI, what have you been involved within the division that makes you most proud?
Life Sciences has been extremely proactive in working to diversify our graduate student population by eliminating biases in our admissions processes and by being proactive in creating partnerships and pipeline programs. In 2014, only 14% of our graduate students came from underrepresented backgrounds, and in 2020, that number was nearly 30%! At the same time, we’ve increased the diversity and success of Life Sciences undergraduate population as well. We are laying the foundation for transforming and diversifying the life sciences workforce.
Rachel Kennison
Executive Director of CEILS
The CEILS (Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences) Director promotes, advocates for, and leads initiatives that transform the culture of STEM teaching to be equitable and inclusive.
What might be some challenges to advancing DEI in STEM teaching?
Advancing DEI means changing the culture and addressing cultural norms that are barriers to inclusive and equitable teaching and learning environments. Shifting people’s mindset to embrace change and new ways of thinking can be very challenging, but also inspiring. My goal is to provide programming and resources that meet folks where they are at and validate and support each instructor’s lived experience and diverse perspectives.
In promoting DEI, could you share initiatives or people you are proud of in Life Sciences?
The many instructors who have stepped up this past 18 months to embrace the challenges of pivoting to remote teaching, who have committed to deep, personal self-reflection and self-education about their identities and racism, those who took action to implement equitable course design, assessments, and shifted their thinking about how to engage all students, and some who are using their voices and power to address institutional change. The undergraduate and graduate students whose resilience, perseverance and challenges continue to push us to do better.
As it relates to DEI, what have you been involved with in the division that makes you most proud?
I’m incredibly proud of the CEILS team and their immediate response, in summer 2020, to transform our workshops and programming to becoming explicitly anti-racist. This included the development of the 2-part CEILS workshop, “Becoming an Anti-racist Educator”, which created a brave space for dialogue around identities, privilege and racism. And in partnership with Dean Johnson, and with initial HHMI-funding, we also developed the Out of the Box initiative which provided incentives for faculty to develop and implement equitable and anti-racist strategies in the classroom.
What would you like to see in the future, as it relates to DEI in LS?
With the brave leadership of Dean Johnson, this leadership team and the incredible dedication and commitment of the LS faculty students and staff, the LS will continue to push the boundaries of innovation and be the model for change and excellence in teaching for the campus.
