Message from the Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinator
Making MBL a more welcoming community
In case you were not able to attend Diversity Day 2006, it was a great success. Keynote speaker Tom Windham, from the National Science Foundation, the panel discussion in which MBL was represented admirably by its new Director, Gary Borisy, and the closing of MBL Street, which offered a tent full of Sodexho hors d’oeuvres that quickly ran out while the melodic tunes of “Banda de Impanema” played on, all contributed to this educational and entertaining event. Its purpose was to raise the consciousness of our community to the work being done to diversify Woods Hole as a result of an initiative signed in 2004.
That work has not been easy. A dedicated group of 15 or so staff member from Woods Hole scientific institutions have met regularly to determine ways to work together to attract and retain a more diverse workforce. Given our locale of a cold and sometimes snowy seaside village for several months each year, where finding economical housing is close to impossible, this is not a simple task. To overcome such obstacles, we need to do the best job we can in welcoming students, scholars, researchers, employees, and visitors from all over the world into our workforce and into our lives.
What can MBL do organizationally? To expose junior scientists to our extraordinary facility so that they might want to return for year-round employment, MBL sponsors summer activities that encourage minorities to participate in science. These opportunities include the Summer Program in Neuroscience, Ethics & Survival (SPINES); the American Society for Cell Biology Summer Awards; the William Townsend Porter Scholarship for Minority Students; the William Townsend Porter Fellowship for Minority Investigators; and the E.E. Just Endowed Research Fellowship Fund. To find more minority job applicants, open MBL positions are advertised in magazines such as the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education and The Northern Diversity Schools Job Search Journal. In addition, MBL prepares a yearly Affirmative Action Report that highlights job categories where minorities are not as well represented as they should be given their availability according to census data. Once the report is prepared, supervisors who are hiring in these categories are asked to be mindful of our commitment to diversity when making their hiring decisions.
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What can you do personally? Any time you know of a job opening, encourage your minority friends to apply. Even though you may feel some hesitancy to change, act inclusively with new people on the job by engaging them in your social conversations and inviting them to lunch. While it’s hard for anyone not to have some biased attitudes, continue to question yours so that you stay conscious of any hidden prejudices. One fun way to do that is to take an IAT (Implicit Association Test). Developed by experimental social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji of Harvard University, these 10-minute quizzes help determine whether you automatically favor young, over old, for example, or prefer thin to overweight. The tests cover such topics as disabilities, gender-career, gender-science, presidents, race, religion, sexuality, and skin tone, and can be found at <https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/>.
-- Jane MacNeil
TIAA-CREF Information Session
Please contact Human Resources, x7422, if you would like to join Allen Waters, TIAA-CREF Individual Client Services Consultant for an information session titled “Developing An Investment Strategy,” on Tuesday, October 31, 2006, from 9:00 to 10:00 AM, in Candle House 104/105.
This presentation helps participants grasp some of the key aspects that go into formulating an investment strategy. The material includes a review of investment basics, asset allocation, volatility of investments, benefit of managed portfolios, selecting an investment company (comparing performance and expenses), and the “hows-and-whys” of rebalancing a portfolio.
Following this session, Allen will be available for a limited number of 1-on-1 counseling sessions (45-60 minutes each). Please contact Human Resources (x7422) if you would like to attend one of these sessions.
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