Official endorsement of “Values and Expectations for Graduate Students in Physics”

[Johnston-Halperin, Ezekiel]

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to let you know that both our graduate students and faculty have nearly unanimously endorsed the document “Values and Expectations for Graduate Students in Physics”, which is now posted on the Climate and Diversity website (physics.osu.edu/climate-and-diversity-committee<https://physics.osu.edu/climate-and-diversity-committee>). I would like to first thank everyone who participated in the drafting, revising, and endorsing of this document. As noted in the preamble, it is exactly this discussion that the document is intended to germinate. On behalf of C&D I would encourage all of you to continue this discussion within your own research groups, with peers over lunch, etc.

Second, I would like to share that as part of our review process we shared this document with the Graduate School. They were so enthusiastic about our work that not only did they encourage its endorsement in Physics, they asked to circulate it to other graduate departments at Ohio State as a template for “best practices”. Along similar lines, if you will indulge me in a personal anecdote, I just returned from giving a research seminar at one of our peer institutions. During my visit I happened to meet with the department chair (who works in my area of science) and he asked me if I knew anything about “this document on professional conduct” that another chair at their university had found on our website and circulated around in an effort to spark interest in doing something similar in their college.

As noted in my email earlier this week, none of this means that we have solved all issues related to climate, or that we in any way should stop working to make our department more accessible to all of the members of our community. Serious challenges remain. I do think that it is worth noting the hard work that all of you have done, however, in striving to make our department a better place to live and work. Thank you.

Best wishes,
Zeke Johnston-Halperin
on behalf of the Climate and Diversity Committee
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