Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

at Delaware Sea Grant

Values Statement

Delaware Sea Grant believes that prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) is both a moral imperative and an organizational benefit, improving the well-being of its staff and stakeholders and the quality and value of its work. Diversity and the commitments to justice, equity and inclusion that it entails are core values and guiding principles of Delaware Sea Grant and its staff.

Diversity and the Delaware Sea Grant Mission

Delaware Sea Grant is dedicated to serving the state’s communities in the four focus areas of the National Sea Grant Program: Healthy Coastal Ecosystems, Resilient Communities and Economies, Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development. Because all of Delaware is defined as coastal, Delaware Sea Grant strives to serve communities throughout the state that have needs falling within those focus areas. When considering how issues of DEIJ should inform its work, Delaware Sea Grant seeks to work with a representative demographic of people in the communities it serves and also works in an intentional manner to find opportunities to support traditionally underserved communities.

Background

As with all Sea Grant programs across the country, Delaware Sea Grant is a part of multiple larger organizations, which makes available a robust web of guidance and support for DEIJ efforts. Specifically, the Delaware Sea Grant College Program is part of the National Sea Grant Program—which is within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—and the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE)—which is part of the University of Delaware (UD). Delaware Sea Grant affirms the diversity visions of each of those parent organizations and strives to identify the aspects of their plans that the staff of Delaware Sea Grant can help to enact.

The National Sea Grant Program, in particular, has a 10-year Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Vision that lays out specific roles for state programs, and Delaware Sea Grant is committed to following that guidance in its own DEIJ efforts. That 10-year DEI vision plan was developed by representatives from throughout the national Sea Grant network, including four members of Delaware Sea Grant.

While the statements of UD, CEOE and NOAA are not as explicitly proscriptive, Delaware Sea Grant nonetheless draws inspiration and guidance from their views. We are proud that UD’s “Inclusive Excellence: An Action Plan for Diversity at UD” was developed during the tenure of President Nancy Targett, former Delaware Sea Grant director, and find that its definition of diversity as “recognition and appreciation of all human difference” provides the appropriately broadest view of the word’s meaning. UD’s emphasis on the need for being intentional in our efforts also emphasizes a necessary and oft-overlooked aspect of DEIJ work.

In seeking to define its own role within the University’s DEI efforts, CEOE acknowledges “the urgency to act now and the importance of continuing to make consistent progress.” We at Delaware Sea Grant affirm the need for immediate and urgent action that is nonetheless pursued in a steadfast manner. Some changes can be made quickly, and others will take time. We must strive for both.

As our final parent organization, NOAA provides a strong, simple message, namely that improving diversity and inclusion requires everyone in an organization to take responsibility and incorporate support for DEIJ throughout the organization’s culture, starting with treating everyone with dignity and respect. NOAA also acknowledges that creating an inclusive environment is difficult, even for those who are trying to do so, because it requires embracing what is different from oneself, challenges one’s own viewpoint, and necessitates constant self-assessment and adjustment.

 DEIJ Goals

Understanding that change requires an intentional approach and specific, timely, achievable goals, Delaware Sea Grant has identified the following priorities to make progress on advancing DEIJ issues in its work:

In Administration

  • During annual reviews of membership of its Sea Grant Advisory Council, Delaware Sea Grant will ensure invitations for new members include people from underserved communities
  • Delaware Sea Grant will recruit at least one person from an underserved community to serve on the biennial research proposal review panel
  • Delaware Sea Grant will review job descriptions and qualifications to ensure they emphasize backgrounds and life experiences valuable to its work as well as prior relevant education and work experience

In Education and Research

  • In selecting students for internships, Delaware Sea Grant will recruit students representing underserved communities
  • Research PIs funded by Delaware Sea Grant will be encouraged to interview students from an underserved community for the graduate assistantship funded by the program
  • Teacher trainings will be promoted to educators of color or teachers in schools in underserved communities

In Outreach

  • Resources will be invested in marketing all open positions in a targeted way to underserved communities
  • In marketing other events and products, Delaware Sea Grant will focus paid advertising on underserved communities directly
  • Photos on the Delaware Sea Grant website will reflect the diversity of our state and program
  • 15 Second Science will recruit presenters from underserved communities

Delaware Sea Grant Program DEIJ Approach

Delaware Sea Grant is fortunate to exist in such a thoughtful and supportive environment of academic and governmental efforts. We affirm and support each of the documents referenced above. But we must also address what diversity, equity, inclusion and justice means in detail for our program, at this level—the connection between the federal government, state universities, and local communities.

While diversity is the embrace of all human difference, we are called to pay particular attention and provide care to serving communities that have been underserved historically or struggle to obtain the same support as others today. To advance not just diversity, but justice, equity and inclusion, Delaware Sea Grant must collaborate with underserved communities to design programs to meet their needs in Sea Grant’s focus areas.

Black and indigenous communities, along with other people of color and non-English speakers, have been underserved by Delaware Sea Grant in the past. Historically, the program’s efforts have concentrated around the southeastern part of the state, where our estuaries meet the ocean, a region whose population is largely white. In recent years, Delaware Sea Grant has begun to seek out opportunities to work in more diverse communities throughout the state, from urban areas alongside tidal waters in northern Delaware to small inland towns with depressed economies. We will continue to do so, and while, due to its importance to our mission, some of our work will continue to occur in geographies and activities that are not traditionally diverse, we will look for ways to bring DEIJ concerns to those audiences and to encourage the further inclusivity of those spaces.

Beyond seeking to expand diversity, equity and inclusion in those ways, Delaware Sea Grant recognizes the need to embrace environmental justice as an organizing concept, a way to identify areas where the program should look for projects, to determine which projects to support, and to evaluate how the program is allocating its time and resources.

While Delaware Sea Grant’s current focus on DEIJ efforts is to increase engagement of Black, Hispanic, and indigenous populations, we also recognize and remain committed to the inclusion of all diverse communities, including the disability community, LGBTQ+ residents of the state, and other groups who find themselves marginalized as a result of aspects of their identity.

 

Partners' Role (Organizational collaborators, advisors)

Delaware Sea Grant is much more than its small staff of extension agents, educators, communicators and administrators. Our program is only able to accomplish its mission of using science to serve coastal communities by partnering with many people throughout the state, from non-profit organizations to a host of industries, as well as resource managers at federal, state and local levels. We are working to diversify membership in our Delaware Sea Grant Advisory Council and to find ways to gain informal advice and collaborate with underserved communities.

Research and Other Proposals for DESG Funding

Delaware Sea Grant has also begun to seek ways to formalize increased attention to DEIJ issues through the research and internships we sponsor. For those submitting proposals for research funding, panel review will address attention to DEIJ on three levels:

  1. Does the proposed research affect an underserved community?

    • How does the research team plan to work with that underserved community, as opposed to just working in that community?

  2. Are there underserved people who need the information the research will create or discover?

  3. How does the proposal plan to recruit research assistant candidates from underserved communities?

To begin to think through these questions, researchers should consider the demographics of people impacted by their work and of those living in communities near the study site(s). Not all research questions will have direct connections to underserved communities, but all proposals should display careful thought about these topics, providing specific answers that illustrate outreach to communities during proposal development.

 

Resources and Approaches to Increasing DEIJ in Research, Education and Hiring

Increasing diversity in our students, partners and staff will not happen by accident. Likewise, we must be intentional to achieve greater inclusion in the stakeholders we serve and the projects we undertake. This section will collect information and tools Delaware Sea Grant feels may be helpful to its staff, partners and students.

Seven Ways PIs Can Counteract Systemic Bias Right Now

 

Know of other resources that we missed? Please let us know!

When Hiring

The list below is a start for resources to reach out to diverse candidates when you have opportunities. You might also start by reading this article, “10 Ways to Attract and Hire Diverse Candidates.”

Consider posting opportunities on social media using hashtags geared to particular groups, like these widely used on Twitter:

  • #BlackInMarineScience
  • #BlackInGeoscience
  • #BlackAndSTEM
  • #BlackInSTEM
  • #BrownInSTEM
  • #HispanicInSTEM
  • #LatinxInSTEM
  • #LGBTQinSTEM
  • #IndigenousInSTEM
  • #MinoritiesInSTEM