We will take action

Diversity, equity, and inclusion at our department

July 15, 2020

We are making progress together as a department.  Today we formed a committee whose goal is to identify a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Coordinator for our department.   The committee is made up of representatives from the faculty, staff, undergraduate, and graduate students.  Importantly, this committee will first partner with our DEI Alliance to develop a DEI departmental pledge and plan that recognizes the unique insights and ideas of all community members who wish to engage.  This plan will guide the drafting of a position description that reflects the desired expertise needed to implement our plan.

Each committee member will serve as a liaison to the BME cohort that they represent.  I encourage community members to interact with their representatives to offer suggestions and hear updates on committee progress.  

I deeply appreciate the willingness of these members to serve in this important role.  I am equally thankful to those of you who nominated yourself or your peers but will not serve on this committee.  Please stay engaged through your representatives, and I look forward to sharing with you the progress of this group.  

One step forward, 

Brenda Ogle, Ph.D.
Professor and Head, Department of Biomedical Engineering


June 2, 2020

Dear BME Community,

It has been eight days since the tragic killing of George Floyd here in our hometown of Minneapolis, and the ongoing aftermath across the nation underscores the damage and pain that comes from pervasive, systemic inequity and racial discrimination. The values of our department and indeed our field—innovation, creativity, integrity, service, and compassion—demand that we directly engage in addressing the injustice in our midst.  It is not a political affiliation; this is starkly a human issue.  

To be clear, at UMN BME we stand against a criminal justice system that disproportionately targets Black Americans.  We stand against police brutality in all forms.  We hear and ally with Black communities in a vocal way because to be silent is to perpetuate harmful behavior.  We accept our own contribution to the problem and are committed to working to solve it.  Indeed, the BME field is not immune to racism.  One need look no further than the low number of Black members of our major societies, our education programs, our faculty, and our industrial leaders to know that this is true.  For a further commentary on racism in BME, please view this excellent lecture given by Professor Manu Platt at the 2017 Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting.

My delay in waiting eight days to put pen to paper reflects my desire to refrain from mere lofty platitudes.  My idea instead was to dialogue with our community and fashion short-term and long-term plans to transform good intentions into tangible outcomes—outcomes that reflect improvements in diversity, inclusion, and equity in social, economic, and healthcare spheres.  So today I propose to tap the power of our words and the fortitude of our actions.  

Words

I ask you, as part of the BME community, to stand together with me to create an environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion.  This comes by first describing the environment we espouse to create in BME.  As a simple but powerful expression, please respond to the prompt: 

“In BME, we…” using this Google form.

For example, 

In BME, we quell injustice at every turn

In BME, we embrace each other’s differences

In BME, we treat everyone with dignity and respect

In BME, GWBME (if you would like to respond as a group)

We will gather the responses and post them prominently in our physical and virtual spaces. 

Action

Our nascent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committee in BME has been working over the past year to improve the climate of our department through advancement and practice of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).  This is a difficult task to accomplish in a consistent manner without adequate resources.  Therefore, I am committing here to the hire of a group leader who harbors enthusiasm and professional training for the DEI mission, connections to the Black and other diverse communities of the metro and greater Minnesota areas, and an interest in the field of BME.   

These are concrete steps, but they are not first steps.  Indeed our BME department leaders, many of our student groups (GWBME and BMES), individual labs, faculty members, and staff members have made contributions to the cause of diversity, equity, and inclusivity for many years.  I applaud their efforts!  And our actions today are not the last steps. We build on these tomorrow and every day thereafter with renewed and persistent effort.  

Take care and be well,

Brenda Ogle, Ph.D.
Professor and Head, Department of Biomedical Engineering