During my education from bachelor’s degree to PhD I have had the privilege to seek the education I wanted with little to no roadblocks. As a young adult I did not become aware of the problems people of underrepresented groups face, from financial disfranchisement to systematic racism, until I left the comfort of my home and moved across the ocean. I started to take more action to fight these biases as a graduate student at the University of Alabama and during my postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin.

In 2020 I joined an initiative lead by grad students, postdocs and undergraduate students to raise awareness about racial biases in departments at the University of Wisconsin. Following this I was invited to the Diversity and Equity committee at the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, to help make change possible. We have since launched several projects, including outreach opportunities with Urban Ag projects and collaborations with indigenous universities, like the College of Menominee Nation in Wisconsin. Additionally, I joined several reading groups regarding racial injustice in different areas of life and academia, offered by departments at the University of Wisconsin, as well as the postdoctoral association, in order to continue my education on social biases and justice. Finally, I furthered my teaching strategies for more inclusive classrooms through classes and seminars like “Effective Teaching in an Internationally Diverse Classroom” (Fall 2020), “Research Mentor Training” (Fall 2020) and “Applying Active Learning: Using Writing to Teach in Any Discipline” (Spring 2021) offered by the Delta program for Integrating Research, Teaching and Learning at the University of Wisconsin. All Delta classes have a high emphasis on creating an inclusive and successful learning environment for students of all backgrounds. Literature reviews and class discussions helped to further my understanding of the diversity of different backgrounds and how this can affect learning and academic success.

As a teacher and mentor, it is my responsibility to hold myself and my mentees accountable for engaging equitable practices in research and teaching. Human differences are an asset to every learning and research environment and should be celebrated as such. It is our responsibility to continuously evaluate our own practices, specifically with the help of formal and informal student evaluations, and to keep educating oneself about more inclusive practices through teaching workshops and conferences.

Academia can often push us to the border of existence. Working long hours to keep up with publication and grant writing expectations and teaching, making it harder to find time beyond the realms of our own personal and professional responsibilities. However, time we take out of our personal and professional life is time that will broaden our identities and perspectives. Not only do we owe it to the people who weren’t given the opportunity, but we also owe it to us. For the rest of my carrier I pledge to help efforts to decrease the gap of representation of underrepresented communities in academia and to help them succeed.