March 31, 2009

WHOI Diversity Committee Meeting Minutes
MINUTES OF MEETING NO. 23
March 31, 2009
MRF 204, Quissett Campus

Committee members present:
Alessandro Bocconcelli, Whitney Bernstein, Tom Farrar, Judy Fenwick, David Gaylord, Kerry
Heywood, Lonny Lippsett, Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Maya Yamato

1. Review of Diversity Week plan
Instead of a “diversity week”, three 1-day events are planned for June, July, and August. The
plan for the June event involves a speaker and discussion. The August event is expected to
be timed to coincide with the conclusion of the PEP summer school.

2. Discussion of brochure
The latest version of the brochure was examined and discussed. Judy and Lonny plan to
meet with Tina Betti (HR) to revise wording and will work with Katherine Joyce (Graphics)
on further minor edits.

3. Discussion of committee goals
There was a discussion of the goals of the committee for the coming year. Two specific
goals were discussed:

(a) To help measure WHOI’s progress in improving diversity and the current status relative
to other, similar institutions, we need to make an effort to quantify diversity at WHOI and
other institutions. This would require gathering of data on other institutions. Since
institutions may not make information relevant to diversity publicly available, one
approach might be to seek information from members of analogous committees at other
institutions.

(b) One action that might lead to tangible improvements in WHOI’s diversity would be to
seek funding from NSF or other agencies for hosting “WHOI Diversity Fellows”.
Although no concrete plan exists, one idea would be to award fellowships to professors
from historically black colleges or universities for a three-month visit to WHOI, with an
attractive stipend. The motivation is that these visits would lead to lasting relationships
between the professors, their students, and WHOI staff, which might lead to a more
diverse applicant pool for WHOI’s educational programs. The Mellon Foundation was
mentioned as another potential funding source.

4. New working groups
Some subcommittees were formed:

(a) Diversity movie night: Kerry Heywood and Whitney Bernstein
(b) Diversity data collection and analysis (to address goal 3a above): Bernhard Peucker-
Ehrenbrink and Tom Farrar
(c) Publications committee (and brochure): Judy Fenwick, David Gaylord, Lonny Lippsett,
Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink

5. JoAnn Moody visit
Dr. JoAnn Moody of the Norhteast Consortium for Faculty Diversity will visit and give a
presentation on May 12.
Meeting closed.
(Minutes recorded by Tom)

Last updated: May 3, 2010