Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Beginners

In recent years, efforts surrounding issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have come to the forefront of discussions within the Physics community. In order to best serve a rapidly diversifying student population and to attract and retain the best available talent to Physics, it is crucial that faculty take pro-active steps to make our classrooms as welcoming and accessible as possible to a wide variety of students. Achieving this is, of course, easier said than done and spending time thinking about and addressing DEI issues can at times seem at odds with completing other tasks that have bigger professional repercussions (e.g. grant writing). Furthermore, the rapidly evolving nature of the DEI discussions can make stepping into this territory seem daunting. In this talk, I present some simple, proven strategies with which faculty that want to make their classrooms more welcoming and accessible but are not sure where to start can begin to address DEI issues in their classroom. An emphasis will be placed on approaches that are easy to implement and require minimal time to prepare and implement. I will also highlight some resources where faculty can stay abreast of the latest research surrounding DEI issues in the Physics community without spending a lot of time doing a deep dive into the relevant literature.