About PsyVersity

Target audience

Psychology students, faculty, staff, as well as members of the wider community who are interested in issues related to diversity

Content can include (but is not limited to):

*Editor's preface

*Op-eds on relevant issues of concern, or topics of relevance

Personal narratives, stories (this can include stories that is significant for particular cultural groups; discussions/narratives on current political movements/events that can affect those that are connected to them; essentially, these are personal narratives of anything we “identify with”: races, cultures, ethnicities, sexual orientations, genders, gender-identifications, abilities, and socioeconomic statuses)

Interviews with community members on an identified theme (relevant issues or current topics, such as: education on diversity and racism in the psychological and neural sciences; Black history month, hispanic heritage history month, pride month etc.)

*Recommendations (books, research articles, outside sources of multimedia such as podcasts, talks that centers around anti-racism, history, narratives and inclusivity, that facilitate discussion and encourage education on the topic of racism and diversity in science)

*Celebration of experiences of community members (this can be celebrations of published articles or accomplishments, but can also include “small happiness” events like successfully baking a cake, adopting a pet, participating in a protest, speaking out, having an inspiring discussion with a community member, connecting with a group etc)

*Content that each issue will always include is marked with an asterisk. 

Content that will NOT be included is:

Content such as bias reports or statistics on diversity or bias incidents, since there are existing resources for this available on the department website (here), but blog will provide links and highlight available resources

Opinion articles that DO NOT promote inclusivity or acknowledge diversity, including but not limited to narratives that are blatantly racist, transphobic, homophobic etc. 

Frequency and format

Format of the content will take a traditional written blog form that updates on a rolling basis, and we value quality over quantity. Currently the blog does not including multimedia content like videos or podcasts. Newsletters will be sent out every month summarizing the newly published content of the previous month/update.

Responsibilities

Per update the main editor will contribute one op-ed that centers around a current issue/topic; editor (or team) will also be in charge of reaching out to various members of the community to gather narratives and opinions on any given issue that one may feel passionate about. (Each issue can have its own theme which the narratives and articles center upon, but can also be a collage of different topics if the material gathered do not fit into one theme.)

Narratives can be gathered via personal submission on this Google form, then edited (while in communication with the original author). In some cases, if a writer/contributor strongly wishes to remain anonymous their identity can be omitted in the final publication.

Collaborations

The blog can collaborate with other organizations or individuals who are interested in issues related to diversity and the BIPOC, LGBTQ+ community etc. This can include inviting guest writers, or interviewing guest speakers etc.

Evaluation

Feedback will be gathered at every update, distributed with Google forms sent through the departmental announcements. 

Contact

For more questions, please contact Ariel Li (lxiny@uw.edu)

For questions regarding the Diversity Steering Committee, please contact: psychdsc@uw.edu