10 Ways to Build Inclusivity at Ph.D. Granting Institutions

Rachel Levy, MAA Deputy Executive Director, @mathcirque:

I’m always on the lookout for guest posts for the MAA Math Values Blog. Recently I noticed a series of posts on Twitter by Dr. Benjamin Braun that closely align with the Math Values of inclusivity and community. (Did you know that Ben coordinated an effort for the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences to draft an Active Learning Statement, which was then signed by the Presidents of the member mathematical sciences societies?) I invited Ben to share his ideas for faculty who work in academic departments that award doctoral degrees.

By Dr. Benjamin Braun, University of Kentucky

Every professor or instructor who holds a Ph.D. has spent time in an academic department that awards doctoral degrees. Thus, such departments play an important role in the math community. Given the influence and authority in the community that comes with this role, I and other faculty in these departments have an obligation to not only expand our collective mathematical knowledge through research but to be connected and responsive to the larger mathematical community which our degree programs serve and support. I believe that to fulfill this obligation, we must strongly emphasize in our departments and programs fundamental human qualities such as empathy, compassion, and understanding. With this as motivation, I share in this post examples of actions I believe we should be taking to change the general culture of doctoral-granting programs. This blog post is specifically addressed toward faculty who are tenured in PhD-granting departments, though I recognize that the examples I provide can be meaningful in a broad range of institutions. This list is meant to be incomplete, serving as inspiration rather than prescription, in the hope that we can collectively create a mathematical community based on respect and support rather than judgment and trauma.

1. Remind ourselves every day that one of the responsibilities that come with tenure is to prioritize the people doing math over the math being done, especially people who are not in positions of power and/or authority.

2. Practice listening without judgment. We are trained to be experts in our field, and we are expected to professionally evaluate the mathematical learning of others. However, often the source of a barrier to mathematical achievement for a student or peer is not directly related to mathematics, and we can only understand this by listening and believing others.

3. For example, directly ask graduate students how much they are sleeping. Chronic sleep deprivation is associated with a range of mental and physical health problems, including anxiety and depression. Ask students about their strategies for making time for family, hobbies, and personal health, and share your strategies if they are interested. Take time during graduate courses, especially for first-year grad students, to talk about ways to stay healthy. A few minutes every week or two is enough to have a significant impact on the lives of our students. This is equally important as the mathematics, so it is equally deserving of class time.

4. Email all the faculty and graduate students a link to the book Living Proof published by AMS and MAA. At department tea, ask students if they read it and what they thought about the stories it contains.

5. If faculty in your department are not paying attention to the community-wide discussion about diversity statements and hiring, send an email to the faculty with a link to the AMS Notices letters to the editor on this topic and to insightful blog posts on the issue, such as those by Isabella Laba, Matthew Ando, Lior Pachter, and Piper H. Ask your department chair and/or hiring committee chair how the department will address the topics of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in hiring processes and decisions.

6. In your graduate courses, start at least one class per week by telling your students about mathematicians who have earned recognition but are often unrecognized. If you need a resource for ideas, begin with the book Power in Numbers by Talithia Williams.

7. Ask graduating Ph.D. students if they would be willing to share their thoughts on the ups and downs of their grad student experience. Listen to what they say with the goal of understanding, not judging. Thank them for sharing their stories with you. Do this even if they have an official exit interview with the department.

8. Keep a box of Kleenex on the desk or table where students sit to meet with you. If someone is holding back tears when talking with you, tell them "if you need to cry, you are welcome to cry, that's why I have Kleenex." If students start crying, be patient and let them cry. Don't check your email or phone, and don't rush them. Honor their feelings, and then when they are ready to continue, let them lead the conversion in the direction they need to go.

9. If you are the organizer for your local research seminar, start each semester with a land acknowledgment statement to normalize it for your colleagues and graduate students, and explain why it is important to do this. Resources can be found at https://native-land.ca/territory-acknowledgement/ and  http://landacknowledgements.org/. If you are not the organizer, do this when you give a talk in your seminar.

10. Learn more about the reality of our diverse culture and history of mathematics. Seek out examples of how mathematics can be practiced in ways that authentically recognize this reality. As starting points, reflect on these slides from Federico Ardila Mantilla’s 2020 JMM talk “TODXS CUENTAN Difference, Humanity, and Belonging in the Mathematics Classroom” and read the Preface and Chapter One of The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics, 3rd Edition by George Gheverghese Joseph.