About the Committee

Inclusion, diversity, equity, and are core values of the University of Florida and the Biology Department. The goal of the Biology IDEA Committee will be to celebrate, support, and empower all members of the department by sharing and implementing best practices related to diversity, equity, and inclusion along numerous axes, including (but not limited to) race, religion, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexuality, ability, social diversity, and their intersections.

The committee will work towards this goal by:

• Providing resources and guidance on best practices for recruiting and supporting diverse individuals at all career stages in academia and STEM. These resources will be distributed via email and archived on a dedicated page on the department website.
• Organize regular trainings for the department on allyship and how to be a positive and effective ally.
• Support diversity-focused groups and initiatives within and outside the department (e.g., WiSE: Women in Science and Engineering; SACNAS: Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science; and NRDI: the Natural Resources Diversity Initiative in WEC).
• Work with the CLAS Diversity & Inclusion Committee and UF Office of Multicultural & Diversity Affairs to ensure that Biology is actively engaged in developing and promoting a culture of inclusion on the UF campus.
• Committee members will also serve as points of contact for members of the department interested in discussing diversity related issues.

Contact

The IDEA Committee is currently in transition between years, so meeting times are in flux. If you’d like assistance with something IDEA-related, please contact us at idea-committee@biology.ufl.edu, keeping in mind that project turnaround may take a week or longer, depending on the request.

Several sets of resources have been compiled by the committee and are available on this website, please refer to them when contacting the committee.

(Updated December 2 2022).