Dean's Community Message
September 4, 2020
Dear College of Engineering Community,
People of color — especially Black people — continue to face incredible loss and abhorrent treatment across the United States. We are all reckoning with what racism and bias are in our individual lives and in the institutions of our society. To borrow from Lin-Manual Miranda, “This is not a moment, this is the movement.”
This learning and growing is a lifelong evolution. It is only by reflecting on our role in society that we can begin to understand where gaps exist. This is particularly critical in engineering. Our unique experiences and backgrounds allow for the creative and innovative thinking required to engineer solutions to society’s greatest challenges.
People of color encounter significant roadblocks in engineering, as they do in other disciplines, at every stage of scholarship. In engineering, we know work benefits from diverse contributions, but we are immersed in a system that makes these contributions difficult to make and, often unintentionally, difficult to hear. Our job is not only to dismantle the roadblocks, but also to identify them in the first place.
Without contributions from all people, the task of developing true solutions is nigh impossible. I encourage you to reflect on your classes, meetings, organizations, disciplines. Where are the accessibility gaps? Who is missing from the table? What can you do to elevate the voices of people who have been marginalized and ignored? How can you be a better ally?
People are in different places of understanding these issues, and we aim to help everyone advance their knowledge. This is not something to put on the back burner. Reflect. Research (you can get started here and here). Listen. Attend the second installment of the Toward Racial Equity Penn State roundtable series, which will be livestreamed from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8. You can also watch the video from Claude Steele’s visit to Penn State, hosted by the College of Engineering in 2018.
And then, reflect more. We can identify and acknowledge the bias, racism, and discrimination in our personal lives, and take the steps to personally grow and advocate for systematic change.
With the added tensions of a global pandemic, the turbulence of an election year, and our individual trials, empathy is of the utmost importance. It takes so little effort to be kind, yet the effects ripple out exponentially.
As we head into the holiday weekend, I encourage you to connect with one another (socially distanced and safely!) and to take the time to go outside. With a myriad of walking and biking trails, as well as the Penn State Arboretum and state parks, you can safely enjoy the last summer-weather days this season. Remember, this weekend could be an inflection point on how this semester evolves. Please wear a mask, social distance, and avoid large gatherings. By working together, we protect each other.
And, as always, you can connect with me on LinkedIn or by emailing me directly at dean@engr.psu.edu.
Be well!
Justin Schwartz
Harold and Inge Marcus Dean, College of Engineering
