About

The CfA APS-IDEA team is made up of members of both SAO and Harvard including scientists, graduate students, postdocs, staff, administrators, and faculty that share leadership roles and who will work with the APS network of physics departments and labs on best practices of cultural change. Though our ultimate goal is a long term implementation plan for the CfA as a whole, we recognize that short- and medium-term steps are also necessary to maintain momentum. We will pay close attention to where such actionable steps may fit into our plan. We will ensure that we have appropriate data to motivate our path forward such as how to re-evaluate our hiring practices as well as making our facilities accessible. We welcome contributions from all members of the CfA community.

Guiding Principles and Goals

Smithsonian Institute's Secretary Lonnie Bunch spoke to the CfA on 16 May 2020 regarding his hopes for the future of the Smithsonian as a whole, of which he considers the CfA an important part. He encouraged both Harvard and SAO staff to imagine new solutions to the situation in which we all find ourselves: "Build on great traditions, but do not be held captive by them." Equity, diversity, and inclusion are fundamental to this vision. In the leadership of Secretary Bunch, we find unprecedented support for EDI and educational efforts at Smithsonian-affiliated institutions. With this guiding principle in mind, we aim to bring fresh ideas to the CfA and advocate for meaningful institutional and cultural change.

Based on input from the CfA community, we have identified specific goals for this group:

Move away from a hyper-focus on diversity and toward fostering inclusivity. There is a large disconnect between the pride many CfA faculty feel regarding the diversity of the graduate student body and the graduate students' sense of belonging. By solely focusing on diversity, we run the risk of reinforcing "biases and deficit-based assumptions about the capabilities of staff members of color," (Padamsee & Crowe, 2017) and may inadvertently push out members of our community.
Create a culture of inclusion Center-wide. The Center for Astrophysics is an institution that contains two parts -- Harvard and Smithsonian -- which have unique cultures. We will work on fostering a greater sense of open inclusive community and interconnectedness between the two institutions, and all members of their staff.
Develop a culture of transparency. This includes open lines of communication between leaders and staff and transparency in policy construction and implementation.
Intentionally collect relevant data that will motivate our path forward. Our collection of EDI data has been sporadic. In order to make informed decisions about our long-term goals, we need to implement a data collection plan, and develop evaluation metrics to mark our progress.
Re-evaluate our hiring practices. This is a major area of concern for many at the CfA. We need to develop clear protocols which span every step of the hiring process to ensure our EDI standards are met.
Making our facilities accessible. The main CfA campus is an old facility, with many entrances in- and outside the building that are not accessible to those with limited mobility. Looking forward, the CfA will need to make sure that accommodations are made for these individuals, and clearly communicate that they are a welcome and valued part of the CfA community.
Ensure that all of the above are implemented at CfA satellite campuses. The CfA has several satellite campuses that all operate under the same leadership. In order for our efforts to be successful, the strides we make at the main CfA campus must be maintained at the remote sites as well.

May 29, 2020 Letter of Support from CFA Director Charles Alcock (pdf)

Membership

Membership on the committee is for single year terms in order to maintain forward thinking and action. We meet monthly to maintain forward focus and report back to the APS community on progress.

Subcommittees meet as necessary and report back to the IDEA members about progress. Each subcommittee involves the CFA wide community as needed to achieve its goals. Please visit the subcommittee pages to learn more.

For a listing of our current members of the CFA APS-IDEA please visit this google sheet.

Contact Us

We welcome and encourage new members who are engaged in these topics or who have positive ideas for how to move our initiatives forward. You can contact us at our main email idea-comms@cfa.harvard.edu or by contacting anyone from our current membership list.