Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Resources
The Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) is a nationwide community of faculty from more than 200 colleges and universities dedicated to facilitating equity in undergraduate biology education. GEP provides curriculum, training, resources, and mentorship to empower faculty to provide their students experiential learning and Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) in genomics and bioinformatics. GEP celebrates the diverse types of institutions and students represented by our faculty and is committed to recruiting and mentoring faculty at institutions especially well-poised to serve students from historically underrepresented groups.
We welcome faculty and students of all identities into our community. For several reasons, we are intentional in our commitment to values of collegiality, compassion, diversity, equity, inclusion, integrity, and justice. Equitable access to research and the associated career development opportunities can help build a more inclusive and representative biomedical community, one that is fair and just. Research experiences create a sense of belonging, which is critical to reversing the attrition of underrepresented students in STEM. In fact, such experiences have been shown to increase retention in STEM disciplines. Cultural diversity is a key factor in our ability to innovate and compete in a global economy. We remain dedicated to increasing equity and inclusion within the nation’s scientific workforce.
Podcasts, Webinars, & Videos
- Legacy of Henrietta Lacks
- The Voices of STEM: a podcast highlighting the stories of marginalized students on their journey to become STEM professionals
- Science Is For Everyone — Until It’s Not
- Code Switch: fearless conversations about race hosted by journalists of color tackling the subject of race with empathy and humor and explores how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food, and everything in between.
- Verizon + BUILD Series’ “Proud of My Hair” Short Film: live interview series recorded at Soultry Scissors hair salon in West Orange, New Jersey with some extraordinary folks for a real conversation about authenticity and hair
- Overcoming Ableism: What You Don’t Know As An Able Bodied Person by Naty Rico at TEDxUCIrvin
- POWER NOT PITY: A podcast for disabled people of color everywhere that centers and celebrates the lived experiences of disabled people of color.
Literature & Publications
- Are Africans, Europeans, and Asians Different “Races”?: a guided-inquiry lab for introducing undergraduate students to genetic diversity and preparing them to study natural selection
- Signaling Inclusivity in Undergraduate Biology Courses through Deliberate Framing of Genetics Topics Relevant to Gender Identity, Disability, and Race: Instructors may potentially enhance retention of students of diverse backgrounds in biology through careful consideration and crafting of how human differences are described and connected with principles of genetics
- Native American Health Disparities, what can be done? This case explores the state of Native American health and the significant health disparities that exist between Native Americans and other populations.
- The Origin of Blond Afros in Melanesia: Research helps deconstruct a Eurocentric view of the world in thinking about where blond hair comes from
- Striving towards inclusion in academic biology: initiative focused on promoting awareness, understanding and commitment to change academic biology environments to be more inclusive
- Race Matters – Dr. David Asai
- Race Matters: commentary on changing the culture of science by putting inclusive diversity at the center
- Excluded: essay on pivoting from exclusion to inclusion
- Race REALLY Matters (slides)
- Global trends on fears and concerns of genetic discrimination: a systematic literature review
- (Re)defining disability culture: Perspectives from the Americans with Disabilities Act Generation
- The Politics of Ableism
- What is White Privilege?
- Ten Simple Rules For Supporting Historically Underrepresented Students In Science
- Handelsman, Jo, Sarah Elgin*, Mica Estrada, Shan Hays*, Tracy Johnson, Sarah Miller, Vida Mingo*, Christopher Shaffer*, and Jason Williams. “Achieving STEM diversity: Fix the classrooms.” Science 376, no. 6597 (2022): 1057-1059.
*GEP members including Founder Sarah Elgin - Structuring Courses for Equity
- Beyond the Biology: A Systematic Investigation of Noncontent Instructor Talk in an Introductory Biology Course
- Toward a more humane genetics education: Learning about the social and quantitative complexities of human genetic variation research could reduce racial bias in adolescent and adult populations
Books
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (Amazon)
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander (Amazon)
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD (Amazon)
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Amazon)
- The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein (book web page)
- The Story of Life by Sean B Carroll (book web page)
- The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium by Joseph L. Graves Jr. (Amazon)
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (book web page)
- Black, Brown, Bruised: How Racialized STEM Education Stifles Innovation by Ebony Omotola McGee (Amazon)
- Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, & Identity by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi
Other Reads
- Advancing Positive Change: A Toolkit for Equity and Empowerment
- A Toolkit for Black Lives Matter, Healing Justice & Direct Action
- Black Lives Matter, Black Power, and the Role of White Allies
- Action Strategy: a how-to guide
- Power Mapping Your Way to Success
- The Ella Project: created to ensure that girls have a hero to which they can identify that has a background and passion for STEM and entrepreneurship
Movies & TV Shows
- 20 great movies for families to watch in honor of Black History Month: movies that depict the lives of African-American heroes and the ongoing quest for greater human decency, all of them appropriate for kids (in some cases, older kids) and families to watch together
- 10 Kid-friendly Black History movies that tackle racism: titles deal with African American characters and encounters with prejudice or racial issues, which makes them great conversation starters
- 13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
- Malcom X (director: Spike Lee) — Netflix
- 12 years a slave (director: Steve McQueen) — Amazon Prime
- The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.)
- Selma (Ava DuVernay)
- American Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix
- Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu)
- Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix
- I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc)
- If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) — Hulu
- Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton)
- King In The Wilderness — HBO
- See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol) — Netflix
Anti-Racism
- White Anti-Racist Culture Building
- Anti-Racism Resources for White People
- Anti-Racism Resources from the University of Houston
- Toolkit: Becoming Anti-Racist: 23 Things You Can Watch, Listen, Do
- Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources
- Effective Teaching Is Anti-Racist Teaching
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Culturally Responsive Education
Eugenics
- Advice and resources for teaching eugenics history in a genetics class: A summary of the May 26, 2020 TAGC 2020 Online workshop, “Raising a Woke Generation of Geneticists: How and Why to Include Eugenics History in Genetics Classes.”
- The Misuse of Pedigree Analysis in the Eugenics Movement: human pedigrees were first popularized in the U.S. by proponents of eugenics, the pseudoscientific social movement aimed at improving the genetic quality of the human race, and the misuse of pedigree analysis during the eugenics era may serve as a cautionary tale for those who are now harnessing the latest genetic technologies to solve complex problems
- Understanding our eugenic past to take steps towards scientific accountability: a unique classroom project for exploring the eugenic history of the population genetics field
- History and Eugenics in Genetics
- Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Biology of Skin Color
- Out of Africa – What skin color tells us about human evolution: Examining the genetic diversity underlying differences in skin pigmentation can reveal a great deal about human evolution and population migration patterns
- The Evolution of Skin Color: Explanatory framework of the evolution of skin pigmentation in modern human beings
- Skin Color and Human Evolution
- HHMI BioInteractive Workshop on Promoting Dialogue About Social and Health Inequities Using HHMI BioInteractive’s Biology of Skin Color Resources
Biology & Identity Instruction
- Thomas and Sally: The Interplay of Scientific and Historical Evidence
- Did Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, have children with his slave Sally Hemings? This PowerPoint clicker case explores this controversial question as students consider the evidence for Jefferson as the father of Eston Hemings, as well as the limitations of that evidence. In the process, students learn about Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA and how they are passed down through generations. They also learn about the role of genetic tests in examining family lineages. In addition, the case serves to illustrate how science cannot always provide a direct and definitive answer and how conclusions often must be based on a mixture of scientific and historical (or other) evidence. The case was designed for an introductory biology course for non-majors but could easily be adapted for a majors’ course or for the introductory portion of a genetics course. Students should have some prior knowledge of chromosomes and heritability.
- Evidence-Based Teaching Guides: Inclusive Teaching CBE Life Science Education
- How Science and Genetics are Reshaping the Race Debate of the 21st Century: blog, opinion by Vivian Chou
- Bad Blood: A Case Study of the Tuskegee Syphilis Project
- Sickle Cell Disease and Malaria: Testing a Hypothesis (Biointeractive classroom resources)
- LGBTQ Resource List
- Understanding Non-Binary People: How to Be Respectful and Supportive
- Understanding Transgender People: The Basics
- Supporting the Transgender People in Your Life: A Guide to Being a Good Ally
- Questionable Questions About Transgender Identity
Gender
- Gender-Inclusive Biology
- Sex redefined Nature News Article: The idea of two sexes is simplistic. Biologists now think there is a wider spectrum than that
- Understanding Non-Binary People: How to Be Respectful and Supportive
- Understanding Transgender People: The Basics
- Supporting the Transgender People in Your Life: A Guide to Being a Good Ally
- Questionable Questions About Transgender Identity
- Pronouns Matter: Building LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in STEM
Disability Justice and Anti-ableism
- Overcoming Ableism: What You Don’t Know As An Able Bodied Person by Naty Rico at TEDxUCIrvine
- Ableism and Language
- 10 Examples of Walking Privilege That All Walking People Should Acknowledge
- (Re)defining disability culture: Perspectives from the Americans with Disabilities Act Generation
- The Politics of Ableism
- POWER NOT PITY: A podcast for disabled people of color everywhere that centers and celebrates the lived experiences of disabled people of color.
- It’s Perfectly OK To Call A Disabled Person ‘Disabled,’ And Here’s Why
- How “Differently Abled” Marginalizes Disabled People
- Ableism Is the Go-To Disguise for White Supremacy. Too Many People Are Falling for It
- Where Are All the Disabled People in the Body Positivity Campaigns?
- Time To Talk: Tips For Talking About Your Mental Health
Accessibility
- Accessible Conference Guide: This document contains information for organizers of academic conferences who wish to make their events as accessible as possible, so that everyone can participate fully, including people with disabilities and sensory or neurological differences.
- Describing Figures: examples and guidance on writing good descriptions for common types of computer science figures and offers pointers to further reading
- Making Your Conference Talk Accessible by Richard E. Ladner
- How to Make Your Presentations Accessible to All by W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
Misc. Resources
- 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge
- Ethics of Genomic Data PPT
- What We Learn From 50 Years of Kids Drawing Scientists
- System of White Supremacy and White Privilege
- #ShutDownAcademia #ShutDownSTEM Resources: As scientists and academics, we know that in order to solve a problem, we first need to understand it. This is just as true for structural racism and anti-Blackness! It’s also important for non-Black folks to not rely on Black folks for this education.
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate
- Sickle Cell Resources for the Classroom (presented at TAGC 2024) © 2024 by Personal Genetics Education & Dialogue (pgEd) and the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Inclusive Teaching
- It’s in the syllabus . . . or is it? How biology syllabi can serve as communication tools for creating inclusive classrooms at a large-enrollment research institution. Adv Physiol Educ 45: 224–240, 2021.
- Building an Inclusive Classroom. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education 16, no. 3 (2018): A268-A272.
- Supplemental content provides an example syllabus
- Page Last Updated: July 23, 2024