At the 2020 Access Assembly, a subset of attendees formed a semester-long working group to discuss how departments can hold themselves accountable in creating equitable learning and research environments. This group met regularly to articulate their vision for an “ideal” departmental community, and through an asynchronous and anonymized process, invited Access members and alumni to contribute their ideas as well. Ten distinct individuals submitted one or more characteristics of their ideal department. The working group sorted the responses they received into common themes, which are summarized in the attached document, “Envisioning an Ideal Departmental Community.” We hope that this collection of perspectives can be used to prompt discussions at home institutions, within Access, and within academia at large.
This article was very well written and great research. I am glad we had a team work on this issue. Can’t wait until further research is completed!