TWS Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Awareness Working Group

06/05/2024

We and the new Disabilities, Neurodivergence, and Allyship WG are hosting next week's TWS Webinar!

How to Include People with Disabilities: Planning for Accessibility in Web-Based Meetings

Time & Location:
Thursday, June 13th, 2024 3PM Eastern Daylight Time
Registration required (https://forms.gle/nCdLH49J43ksU8RH8)
Presented virtually using Zoom

An accessibility-friendly flyer is available at https://tinyurl.com/June13-Accessibility-Webinar

Speaker:
Mark Boyden, Knowbility (https://knowbility.org, which is a non-profit organization that advocates for digital equity and provides accessibility skills training, consulting, and usability testing)

Abstract:
When you plan large meetings or online events, do you typically assume that everyone who attends is able to see and learn while using your conferencing platform? If so, you’re at risk of leaving out 20% of the world’s population – more than 1 billion people. Join Knowbility’s IT Director, Mark Boyden, to explore ways to provide fully inclusive and accessible remote meetings and events. You’ll learn what considerations to make as you choose a platform, set it up for your event, and communicate with your potential attendees. The steps to inclusion are not complex but are completely necessary in order to be sure that everyone can attend and participate equally.

Please register (required), and consider a very short survey to help us provide more similar resources and opportunities in the future, at: https://forms.gle/nCdLH49J43ksU8RH8)

04/19/2023

Only a couple of weeks left! Nominations for The Diversity Award for TWS are still being taken. The Diversity Award recognizes an individual or organization for outstanding efforts in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the natural resource professions.

*Nomination materials must be submitted by May 1st.*

For more information on TWS Diversity Award and nominations, click on the link in our bio. Please share around!

01/10/2023

Do you know someone who's given 🤩 exceptional service to the wildlife profession + part of The Wildlife Society for >10 yrs? Or an organization supporting TWS' 🚀 mission?

Consider nominating deserving people or organizations from historically underrepresented/marginalized groups!

More details can be found for these 2 respective awards at
bit.ly/TWSfellow and http://bit.ly/TWSGrp

Please and Thank you!

Nominations Due Feb 1 at 11:59 PM ET.

The Group Achievement Award recognizes an organization’s outstanding wildlife achievement that is consistent with and/or assists in advancing the objectives of The Wildlife Society. The organization selected for the award can be private or governmental. ...

12/15/2022

Happening Today (15 Dec, 2022) from 1:00 - 2:00 pm ET

TWS Webinar: Parenthood in the Field: Challenges and Advice for Raising Your Own Brood

Hosted – Women of Wildlife Community Team

How do wildlife professionals balance their career and parenthood? This career presents abnormal challenges as work schedules are not 9-5. This discussion will provide personal stories from parenthood focused on work-life balance and how to find support in the workplace. This webinar will be a follow up to a panel discussion held at the 29th Annual Conference to share what we have learned about challenges facing parents in the wildlife profession.

Register here:

How do wildlife professionals balance their career and parenthood? This career presents abnormal challenges as work schedules are not 9-5. This discussion will provide personal stories from parenthood focused on work-life balance and how to find support in the workplace. This webinar will be a follo...

11/04/2022

Will you be at in Spokane? Join us Nov. 10 7-9pm for a fun & exciting storytelling event at the conference in Spokane! Join for a night of laughs, gasps, & maybe tears as we hear personal stories from the diverse identities & experiences that make up our wildlife profession. Don’t miss it!
Image description: science journalist Nicholas St Fleur shares a story at a Story Collider event. Nicholas is seen speaking into the mic and pointing into the distance. Credit: Zhen Qin/Story Collider

11/04/2022

Out in the Field has events coming up at ! Thanks to many generous donations, there are a number of Out in the Field activities to look forward to. Like we did in Reno in 2019, we'll be kicking things off with a luncheon on Monday, and everyone is welcome to attend (LGBTQ+ and allies). We have a couple of events on Saturday (walk & dinner) just for LGBTQ+ attendees, and we'll also have a booth in the Exhibit Hall all week long! OITF organizers will be handing out our signature rainbow TWS pins throughout the conference, so find one of us wearing an "LGBTQ+ Ambassador" ribbon or stop by our booth to get one. If you've already gotten a pin, please remember to bring it with you to Spokane and wear it next week!

Image description: OiTF postcard with events outlined on Saturday, Monday, and all week. The top has a black strip with TWS and Spokane logos. The middle is rainbow background with event info (see above). The bottom has other events of interest at the conference.

10/26/2022

Repost from
•
"Diversity is intersectional. As a woman/ female as well as Hispanic and Latina, I am an underrepresented individual. While I was an undergraduate, I felt there were lots of spaces where I was the only woman, the only Latina—or both!" In the latest Wildlife Vocalizations, we hear educator Masi Mejia discuss one challenge she faced in the wildlife profession and how she surmounted it.⁠ Link in bio.⁠
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Image descriptions: ⁠
⁠
1: A headshot of Masi. Credit: Masi Mejia⁠
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2: Majia educates eighth grade students on East Foundation Ranchlands during a “Skins and Skulls” presentation at their annual “Behind the Gates” event in 2017. Credit: East Foundation⁠
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3: During a seminar at the Texas Association for Environmental Education Conference 2019, the group Artist Boat took urban youth out into the Galveston Bay to learn about seagrass and the benefits of the land around them. Credit: Masi Mejia⁠
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Wildlife Vocalizations is a collection of short personal perspectives from people in the field of wildlife sciences. Learn more about Wildlife Vocalizations and read other contributions via link in bio or at https://wildlife.org/tag/wildlife-vocalizations/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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10/14/2022

For scientists trained to be objective, it can be a challenge to inject their own opinions about their research. It can be even harder to think about their feelings about their work, and harder still ...

09/23/2022

Repost from
•
All are welcome to my online seminar on “Creating a more inclusive classroom.” See bio of registration link. Sponsored by and

Dr. Erim Gomez
Assistant Professor of Wildlife Biology
University of Montana

Thursday, September 29, 2022
1:00pm MT/2:00pm CT/3:00pm ET
Zoom Meeting
This workshop is geared toward college and university educators and P*s in natural resources, ecology, and related fields. Participants will learn to incorporate land acknowledgments and create an inclusive classroom and lab environment. They will also learn about the challenges underrepresented students face in college and the natural resources profession along with approaches to address these challenges.

Free, simple registration for the Zoom link: https://go.unl.edu/pzyg

09/14/2022

Have you seen the latest issue of The Wildlife Professional from ? Check out this article (authored by April Conkey, , Jesse Alston, & Sara Schweitzer) highlighting lack of among TWS keynote/plenary speakers from 1994-2021 + next steps.

Image descriptions:
1) a screenshot of part of the first page of the article. The title reads “Problems and Progress in TWS Plenary Speakers.” Below that is an image of Carolyn Finney on the left and the beginning of the article’s text on the right.
2) a plot showing year on x axis and % female speakers on y axis.
3) The front cover of this issue of The Wildlife Professional.

09/08/2022

🌈 ’s Out in the Field (OiTF) LGBTQIA+ initiative is happy to announce their first ever travel grant program for LGBTQIA+ wildlifers! 🌈

Thanks to generous donations by TWS and 15 other TWS organization units (listed below) to fund various OiTF activities and events during the 2022 TWS annual conference in Spokane, OiTF was able to create a travel grants program for LGBTQ+ wildlifers. This year’s program will provide up to two travel grants for $500 each to LGBTQ+ members of TWS (students and professionals eligible) to offset conference attendance costs.

Visit the link in our bio or scan the QR code in the image for more details and to apply. Applications are due by 11:59pm on SEPTEMBER 24, 2022.

Thank you to generous donations from: , , , , Southeast Section, Urban Wildlife Management WG, Central Mountains and Plains Section, College and University Education WG, Northeast Section, Northwest Section, Washington Chapter, Oregon Chapter, & Wisconsin Chapter.

Image description: a light rainbow background with white clouds throughout the image. In the middle is a large white cloud with gray text that reads “TWS OUT IN THE FIELD LGBTQIA+ TRAVEL GRANT NOW OPEN!” The cloud also has the OiTF logo on the left and the TWS 2022 Spokane conference logo on the right. A smaller cloud to the bottom left reads “apply by Sep 24” and contains the Twitter handle for OiTF (). Another small cloud to the right contains the url (https://bit.ly/3QmFiHS) and the QR code.

08/16/2022

Repost from
•
"I decided to pursue further education in wildlife and natural history after high school, despite the difficulty I faced from my family’s expectations and cynicism....I have now been a wildlife biologist for 10 years, which has brought me to five countries and 37 states, and I don’t plan to stop." In this week's Wildlife Vocalizations⁠, we hear a graduate student and wildlife biologist, Zeinab (Rose) Haidar, discuss experiences when her cultural background clashed with prevailing wildlife science and management. Link in bio.⁠
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Photo 1: Rose smiles for the camera while wearing a head lamp. The hand of another person is held out in front of her and it's holding a red bat. Haidar studied the phylogenetics and biogeography of red bats as part of her thesis research. Credit: Zeinab (Rose) Haidar and Duncan Schanz⁠
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Photo 2: Haidar with a nighthawk during a bat blitz at Great Basin National Park , where she surveyed bat presence and absence. Credit: Zeinab (Rose) Haidar and Duncan Schanz⁠
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Photo 3: A head shot of Haidar. She has dark, slightly curly hair and brown eyes and is wearing a green top. Trees are shown in the background. Credit: Zeinab (Rose) Haidar and Duncan Schanz⁠
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Photo 4: Haidar hikes at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, while conducting spring vegetation surveys. She's wearing a sunhat, tan shirt, and blue jacket and there are cliffs in the background. Credit: Zeinab (Rose) Haidar and Duncan Schanz⁠
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Wildlife Vocalizations is a collection of short personal perspectives from people in the field of wildlife sciences. Learn more about Wildlife Vocalizations and read other contributions via link in bio or at https://wildlife.org/tag/wildlife-vocalizations/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠