10-year Plan Development

Authors: CfA IDEA 10-yr Plan Committee; Gabriella Alvarez, Warren Brown, Rebecca Charbonneau, Rutuparna Das, Jeremy Drake, Rosanne Di Stefano, Lina Pulgarin Duque, Kari Hayworth, Stuart McMuldroch, Bryan Terrazas, Erika Wright.

Acronyms: 

CfA = Center for Astrophysics

DEIA = Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility

HCO = Harvard College Observatory

HR = Human Resources

SAO = Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

STEM = Science Technology Engineering Math

Executive Summary:

The CfA’s demographics and research environment are a reflection of the injustices that are prevalent in our modern world. As a leading institution, we seek to reflect a better world where we can meet the needs of our researchers, students, and staff, and change the policies that perpetuate injustices within. We present this document to provide action items that we believe will strengthen and improve our research, workplace environment, and relevance to society as a whole. 

We worked through this document considering what policies and actions could be taken to increase racial diversity, equity, and inclusion at the CfA. Due to the interconnectedness of our issues, these items also benefit DEIA of women, differently abled individuals, and a variety of other marginalized communities.

Hiring practices are a critical element of change, as is improving our workplace culture.  Increased accountability and transparency build and strengthen community and trust in the institution. Promoting the success of all members of the CfA, including traditionally underrepresented groups, strengthens individuals, our sense of belonging within the institute, the CfA’s research stature, and our public reputation. 

As we work through these items, more actions that we can take to improve the CfA will become apparent. They should be pursued with the same urgency as those below. 

Improve culture: Cultivate and support a healthy and inclusive environment to promote the retention of a diverse workforce.

1. Adopt policies that improve working conditions for everyone and enable all types of people to work at the CfA, beginning with:

   1. Paid parental leave

   2. Flexible/alternative working schedules

   3. Telework opportunities

   4. Part-time schedules

   5. Mental health resources and support

   6. On-site daycare

2. Ensure there is a clear and adequate code of conduct that creates a safe and healthy working environment for all. This code of conduct should:

   1. Establish an easily accessible and transparent pathway to report breaches.

   2. Establish institutionalized responses and consequences for any breaches.

   3. Integrate code of conduct into performance evaluations to ensure accountability.

3. Incorporate DEIA efforts into performance plans and employee evaluations, requiring this for those who are in positions of power. Metrics for evaluation could include:

   1. Adhering to and upholding the Code of Conduct.

   2. Participating in DEIA activities such as working groups and public engagement

   3. Adopting practices that encourage mentorship at all levels, including peer-to-peer mentoring.

   4. Faculty and senior staff providing formal and informal mentoring of students and postdocs.

   5. Supporting attendance at DEIA events, conferences, and trainings by providing funding and counting the time spent as official work hours.

4. Create more inclusive gathering spaces

   1. Events where all staff can gather and socialize (more regular than once/twice a year, like the BBQs)

   2. Physical spaces (eg., non-departmental lounges, kitchens, etc.) where all staff can gather to have coffee/eat lunch/etc. 

   3. Recognize, support, and encourage affinity groups and community building for historically marginalized groups. Ensure this includes all staff members that work at the CfA, not only scientists and engineers. The CfA should assist in their maintenance and creation both in terms of organization and finance.

5. Create a dedicated endowment or protected funding stream to support DEIA efforts. If direct support is needed, fundraising efforts should be made by the CfA. These funds could be used for:

   1. Financial support for students from marginalized and low-income backgrounds to attend conferences/professional development events held by groups like the National Society of Black Physicists or the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science.

   2. Funding crowdsourced DEIA initiatives that are proposed by members of the CfA through an application process. The implementation of these initiatives would be led by the DEIA Director to ensure they are impactful and effective.

   3. Supporting EIJC by hosting visiting speakers.

6. Ensure that the CfA is accessible to people of all abilities. This includes all physical and digital spaces. Actions to achieve this include:

   1. Allocate funding to make the CfA more accessible.

   2. Designate an accessibility liaison.

   3. Place Americans with Disabilities Act compliant signage to increase accessibility

   4. Support digital accessibility (web and digital presence), including requiring all websites to go through automated testing for accessibility.

   5. Ensure and promote policies that prioritize mental health and well being. Train supervisors to be knowledgeable about resources available for ensuring mental health is not a barrier to access.

   6. Conduct audit to identify further necessary accessibility improvements

Hiring and Retention: Reduce and mitigate bias in hiring at the CfA, and improve the diversity of its staff at all levels.

1. Make hiring processes and criteria transparent to the CfA community.

2. Track hiring demographics and make these public every 2-3 years. 

3. Modify candidate screening processes to bring diverse candidates of potential interest to the attention of the hiring committee.

4. Ensure new hires are committed to contributing to the CfA’s vision, both scientifically and through mentorship and support of DEIA.

5. Thoughtfully re-balance the ratio of temporary to permanent positions at the CfA.

6. Improve recruitment of diverse candidates and establish standardized recruitment paths. 

   1. Establish a mutually beneficial relationship with universities that have large populations of underrepresented students.

   2. Advertise all job postings on websites that reach underrepresented people (e.g. Society for Women Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, National Society of Black Physicists).

   3. Provide options for remote positions to provide access to a broader workforce, as this mitigates location and financial barriers.

   4. Evaluate these pathways regularly to ensure they are effective in reaching diverse candidates.

7. Make the CfA an attractive place for diverse candidates to join and have fulfilling careers.

   1. Ensure that financial compensation, especially for entry level positions and internships, is not a barrier to recruiting underrepresented groups

   2. Maintain competitive wages with similar institutions and work towards increased equity with the larger labor market. 

   3. Ensure growth opportunities in HCO and SAO that are comparable, both to each other and to opportunities in the outside market

   4. Offer competitive benefits (leave, insurance, workplace flexibility, etc.) compared to other institutions and industry positions.

   5. Simplify and streamline onboarding of new staff. 

   6. Provide uniform information and simplify guidance so that new staff can make informed decisions at hiring time, improving hiring equity. 

   7. Assign onboarding counselors whose role is to independently advise potential hires.

8. Review postdoc positions at CfA; increase to 5 year terms wherever possible. 

9. Review the status of all staff during the next 2-3 years to identify and rectify inequities in grade and salary.

Increase accountability and transparency: Promote open lines of communication within the CfA in order to ensure that DEIA goals are achieved.

1. Tie the Director’s compensation and/or an element of their annual performance plan to agreed upon metrics of diversity and inclusion.

2. Establish a DEIA Director with authority to accomplish items in this document.

3. Establish baseline metrics of diversity and inclusion, and set standards for departments to meet at all levels

   1. Track change over time to help increase accountability every year. Do this at the departmental level and ensure these are in agreement with CfA-wide institutional plans.

   2. Reassess, evaluate, and report on progress towards this 10 year plan through a CfA-wide climate survey conducted by an outside source every 3 years. Reports and anonymized data should be made publicly available shortly after.

4. Make power structures at the CfA transparent to all

   1. Create and maintain a CfA wide organization chart specifying the different organizational elements. Identify those in charge and the decision makers within them. 

   2. Clearly define and document easily accessible paths for reporting incidents of bias and or harassment. Protection from retaliation and of privacy is a must.

5. Require meaningful DEIA education and training for all CfA members 

   1. Develop specific trainings for those in management and other decision-making, influential, or supervisory positions.

   2. Ensure training covers the full depth/breadth of DEIA initiatives.

   3. Revisit trainings to make sure they are relevant, effective, and regularly updated.

6. Increase inclusion of community input into DEIA efforts.

   1. Create a permanent DEIA committee that advises the Director

   2. Establish a public anonymous forum for all at CfA to voice suggestions and opinions about decisions, budgets, space etc. 

   3. Task the DEIA Director with advising the CfA Director on DEIA initiatives and solutions.

7. Make DEIA related budget information public.

8. Create an equitable and inclusive fundraising and development plan (what money are we taking, and how do we ensure that money coming into the CfA respects the identities of all connected to the CfA)

Celebrate our success: Ensure diverse members of our community are recognized internally and externally for their achievements.  

1. Broadly promote, through press releases and public engagement, the activities of all people at the CfA, with special attention to underrepresented groups.

2. Nominate people from all parts of the CfA for high level recognition, with special attention to underrepresented groups.

3. Engage local communities, especially underrepresented groups, so that we can support them and their STEM learning needs, and build a dialog that promotes diversity and inclusion at the CfA.

4. Start an internal newsletter that welcomes new hires, highlights scientific, DEIA, and other milestones around the CfA, and celebrates the successes of all staff.

Prioritize sustainability: Uphold our responsibility to future generations  by adopting practices that reduce our impact on the environment that disproportionately affect marginalized communities.

1. Perform surveys and gather data to make informed decisions about how to address issues related to sustainability.

   1. Review and implement sustainability measures resulting from the energy audit performed by Eversource in Nov 2020.

   2. Perform transportation survey and carbon offsets requirement for business travel.

   3. Perform surveys of hazardous waste, electronic waste, and water usage.

   4. Perform a CfA commuting survey to potentially organize carpool matching.

2. Obtain certification from the Harvard Green Office.

3. Make changes to the CfA building infrastructure to allow for more sustainable practices. 

   1. Introduce composting facilities to the CfA

   2. Introduce battery recycling to the CfA

   3. Install more car chargers for electric vehicles.

4. Invest in the local ecosystem by supporting the proliferation of native biodiversity and healthy soils.

   1. Reduce lawn mowing and chemical fertilizing that suppressed the amount of organisms present in the soil. 

   2. Replace parts of monocrop lawn areas with native plant gardens to increase biodiversity and encourage native pollinators and support ecosystems.

   3. Plant native deep-rooted ground cover and shrubs to create a natural and sustainable method for reducing water runoff.

   4. Support the maintenance of the CfA garden and look into expanding this initiative to build a planted roof.

   5. Determine whether parking lot pavements are eco-friendly (water-permeable, painted without harmful chemicals) to determine whether it would be beneficial to upgrade them.

5. Eliminate diesel landscaping machines like mowers and blowers which can harm biodiversity and increase particulate matter pollution.

6. Draft sustainability criteria for catering at the CfA. These may include:

   1. Reducing paper and plastic waste from cutlery, plates.

   2. Ordering catering from environmentally responsible local businesses

   3. Choosing a greater proportion of vegetarian meals etc.

   4. Reduce consumption of bottled water and instead ensure there are adequate free-standing water filling stations.

7. Create reference documents for all CfA members to engage in sustainable practices. These would address:

   1. How to recycle different kinds of office supplies such as printer cartridges, batteries, monitors, etc.

   2. How to reduce carbon footprint from running code, sustainably use desktop computers.