The Tinghitella lab group is committed to equity and inclusion for all people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, socioeconomic status, and other seen and unseen diversity.
We recognize that because of systemic inequality in the U.S., identity shapes the experience that each individual has before college, in college, and in a research lab--we strive to acknowledge and celebrate the diverse experiences of our lab members and collaborators. We are more inclined to think deeply about subjects when we engage with people who think differently from us. We commit to educating ourselves on issues of diversity, recognizing that this is a lifelong commitment.
We value whole selves and encourage lab members to maintain and develop the many facets of their lives throughout their tenure in the lab (beyond growing as a scientist and scholar).
Our biggest commitment is to grow by continuously listening and learning. As such, this list of concrete actions is always changing, and we welcome any suggestions of additional actions we could take as a lab.
Our concrete actions:
- Promote open discussion about diversity, mental health, and equity at weekly lab meetings where we discuss both academic and “life” goals and challenges.
- Highlight and promote work of scientists from historically excluded groups in our courses/trainings/department seminars.
- Recruit broadly including through organizations that support historically excluded students (e.g., DU's IRISE and E-STEM programs).
- Work with students to apply for support/funding for their work in the lab to minimize unpaid volunteering.
- Hold a mental health workshop each fall and spring to share tools, resources, and other support related to surviving and thriving in academia.
- Include local and diverse collaborators in our fieldwork in Hawaii.
- Discussion group focused specifically on the history of racism and other forms of discrimination in academia, evolution/genetics/behavior, and in our field locations.
- Encourage service by lab members that promotes diversity, inclusion, and equity in the sciences and academia more broadly (e.g., DU SciTech summer camp, University level hiring and mentorship committees).
- Recommend/nominate historically excluded and marginalized peers for awards.
- Make our research accessible to broad audiences through open source manuscripts, public lectures, popular press articles, and open access teaching resources using our data.