Congratulations, Clint. I hope you find Section/Branch work enjoyable as well as challenging. Your initial ideas sound super.
My experience has been that some people (political partisans and fans of a particular TV news) automatically bristle at the mention of "DEI" and stop listening. For that reason, the best advice in the ASCE Best Practices lies in suggestions such as:
· Pose questions as suggested by, "Does every member of your group feel comfortable speaking up, even when their perspectives differ from the majority, and do they feel their opinions are valued?"
· "Invite a disabled woman to present her water resources engineering work at a conference as opposed to asking her to give a talk or serve on a panel focused on DEI."
These techniques show the benefits of DEI instead of lecturing about them.
IMO, mandatory training sounds like bad-tasting medicine we are forcing someone to swallow. It may do more harm than good, even if the training is okay. Offering a reward for training works much better, in my experience.
The most successful practice is personal recruitment – seek out talented people in underrepresented groups and encourage them to volunteer, and to speak out. When they do, support them and make sure they are fully seen and heard.
Bill Mc
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William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-09-2024 11:03 AM
From: Clint Smith
Subject: DEI Practices in Your Local Section and Branches
I am the incoming DEI Chair for the local ASCE Branch and was wondering what other Branches and Sections are doing in terms of DEI. I plan to audit current events against the DEI Best Practices Guide that MOSAIC has (DEI Best Practices Resource Guide). I also want to work with our programs chair to ensure our future speakers are coming from various backgrounds and experiences or to help plan some events that are geared towards underrepresented groups in Civil Engineering (International Women in Engineering Day Panel perhaps?).
Additionally, I was planning on working with the Nominations Committee to look at how board positions are advertised as well as ensuring that there are transition and succession plans in place for positions to ensure that everyone starts on the same level for success.
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Clint Smith P.E., M.ASCE
Project Manager
Austin TX
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