Workshop: FIELD2: Exploring Issues of Culture and Inclusion in Field Experiences for Minority Students with Faculty and Administrators: Bellvue, CO - July 2020

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

Part 1 In this workshop, issues associated with the field experience will be explored by facilitated discussion from the perspectives of faculty, station directors, and others who design and implement field-based courses, REUs, or other experiences. Participants will work together with other participants to design frameworks to address harassment and cultural bias in the field, first in a mini 4-hour-workshop in conjunction with a professional meeting where many field station directors and administrators, such as from the Ecological Society of America, are present. A smaller group of participants from the mini-workshop will be invited to a longer fall retreat designed for faculty and directors of field camps, stations, and informal experiences to address issues of inclusion and harassment. The selection process will be based on faculty who have scheduled field experiences for the 2020 spring/summer semesters. These experiences can be formal (at a field station) or informal (such as road trips or camps). Early career faculty will be encouraged to submit field practicum ideas for consideration. Part 2 The FIELD2 workshop will expand on the theme to specifically address the perspectives of both students and field leaders using a "Design Develop" model where participants first discuss and outline designs for diversity and bias issues in existing field experiences and then develop a curriculum for student experiences that brings diversity and inclusion stories and issues into a positive field experience. Project evaluators will also chart progress of faculty perceptions on diversity, bias and inclusion in the field sciences from the first mini-workshop through the fall retreat. The broader impacts include greater inclusion of minority students in positive field experiences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.