September 24, 2021

SAFS DEIJ & Community Service Recognition Award to The Dark Side of Hot Topics

Every quarter, the SAFS Equity and Inclusion Committee chooses an individual or team from within the School to receive the DEIJ and Community Service Recognition Award in honor of their significant contribution towards advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in community service, academic endeavor, teaching, or research. This summer, Yaamini Venkataraman, Kristin Privitera-Johnson, and Jenny Gardner, as the team behind the course “Dark Side of Hot Topics: The Settler-Colonial and White Supremacist History of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences”, are deserving recipients of the Summer 2021 SAFS DEIJ and Community Service Recognition Award!

Yaamini Venkataraman, Kristin Privitera-Johnson, and Jenny Gardner are three graduate students (or a recent graduate, in the case of Dr. Venkataraman) who have made meaningful contributions to DEIJ in SAFS on their own during their years as graduate students, and who would deserving of the award individually for their teaching, mentorship, and service. The work they did in creating the spring FSH 507 course, “Dark Side of Hot Topics: The Settler-Colonial and White Supremacist History of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences”, was far above and beyond what is expected of graduate students in SAFS. The class highlighted the history of structural barriers that prevent individuals from marginalized groups from having self-determination over their local ecosystems. By learning about this topic, students in the class were able to develop the knowledge and skills to advance equity and inclusion within SAFS and the fisheries field. This class is part of a critical advancement in equitable and honest teaching and in creating thoughtful and justice-oriented scientists and humans.

The team’s efforts have been transformative. The knowledge and skills gained, both by this team and by the students they taught, have the far-reaching power to advance equitable practices and cultivate belonging not only within SAFS but also far beyond the academic sphere. Efforts are underway to make this course a permanent offering at SAFS, preserving the team’s knowledge and hard work, and ensuring that students in years to come can engage critically with settler-colonialism and white supremacy in their work and studies. As the summer comes to a close, SAFS honors Yaamini Venkataraman, Kristin Privitera-Johnson, and Jenny Gardner for their hard work, service, and commitment to making lasting change socially, academically, and institutionally.

In addition, the DEIJ Award subcommittee needed to give an honorable mention to recent SAFS graduate Natalie Lowell, who had demonstrated a persistent dedication to DEIJ over the course of her years at SAFS. As a graduate student, she was instrumental in creating lasting structures for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion: the FINS Diversity and Equity Forum, the first SAFS All Hands Meeting (which led to the development of the Code of Conduct), the SAFS Equity and Inclusion Committee, and more. Natalie Lowell has been recognized for her work by the College of the Environment and deserves special mention here in SAFS as well.

To learn more about the SAFS Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice and Community Service Recognition Award, including how to nominate someone for the Fall 2021 quarter, visit the SAFS DEI webpage.