My thanks to all of you who this month joined with members of the scientific enterprise worldwide, as well as others here in our UT community, in reflection about racial injustice and opportunities to advance equity on our campus. It took many decades, even centuries, for institutions of science and learning to develop the systems that produce exclusion, and it will take time, effort and many partners to construct a more inclusive path forward, as we must. As mentioned in earlier communications, reflection is only an initial step. I write now to focus us on the important work of the weeks and months ahead.
I am pleased to report that several of our departments and units within Natural Sciences have seen students, faculty, and staff come together for important discussions about the concerns and ideas for action within our community. All of us in the dean's office are committed to coordinating effectively with these efforts and the campus-wide efforts as we strive to be a model of inclusive leadership in everything we do in science, mathematics and computing.
Today, I ask two things of you as essential partners with us in this work.
First, please continue to voice both your concerns and recommendations for immediate and longer-term action, either in your own departmental sector or by directly contacting the dean's office using a form, sent by email to all students and employees in CNS. We welcome you contributing both concerns and ideas. Please rest assured that wherever you prefer to provide input, via your unit or here, we will pay full attention to it. There is an opportunity to register your input anonymously, and we would fully respect that choice; however, providing your name would give us the opportunity to follow up and learn more from you about your experience and your vision, as well as involve you in shaping the College's next steps. An action team of students, staff and faculty, in coordination with our standing CNS Diversity and Inclusion Committee, will advise me as the College works to synthesize the input we receive in July and implement a comprehensive plan.
Secondly, in this turbulent but inspiring time, I urge you to join me in maintaining our momentum and focus throughout the months and years ahead by remaining engaged. I expect to have a complete set of implementation details in place before our new academic year commences. Its success will rest in part on our shared determination to build better institutions of scientific research and learning for our time and for all who come after us. Gathering ingredients is an essential step. But it will only become a meaningful step when we work together to transform those ingredients into actions that have enduring impact in eliminating racial and all other forms of injustice. I look forward with keen enthusiasm to working towards this – together!
