It doesn't take a PhD: Graduate Students as Change Makers

How many times has someone asked a question that you had in class or colloquium? Have you ever been in a conversation where the concerns being discussed were the same as those you had?

We are usually not alone in our questions, concerns, observations, and ideas. Vocalizing these with the intent of improving the community has brought about meaningful change in the George Washington University (GWU) physics department.

This talk will be about why and how graduate students are involved in improving the GWU physics department through the creation of the Graduate Student Community (GSC) and Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee. By working with the department, graduate students have taken a larger role in the policies and practices that impact them throughout their tenure, like providing feedback on new annual check-in policies or centralizing resources for new students. In the JEDI Committee, graduate students have become an informed and persistent force for positive change, and keepers of institutional knowledge needed to benchmark progress.

This talk is situated in my experience and identities and can be a testament to the power that graduate students can wield when working collectively to improve their physics departments and the larger physics communities.