Community in the Department of Biological Science
Department of Biological Science Core Values
The faculty, staff, and students of the Department of Biological Science are committed to making our department and discipline more inclusive and supportive, providing a welcoming and accepting community for everyone. We are committed to valuing, celebrating and leveraging the differences and similarities within our community to create a fertile environment for problem-solving -- one that is both inventive and compassionate. We share a collective responsibility towards each other's well-being and are dedicated to preventing all forms of discrimination, harassment, and misconduct. We strive for a cohesive and collaborative culture focused on excellence in research, teaching, mentoring, and service. The Committee’s mission is aligned with FSU’s Strategic Goal Committing to Inclusive Excellence & Civil Discourse. This goal focuses on “creating rich experiences and opportunities for all populations within a respectful and united community.”
Department of Biological Science Community Committee
The Department of Biological Science Community Committee is composed of students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and staff who are united by an interest in fostering a supportive community and making the department a better place for everyone. The committee consists of volunteers rather than elected members and anyone is welcome to join or work on community-building projects.
Organization:
The Community Committee is open to everyone in the department. Participation is organized around working groups focusing on specific tasks. A steering group oversees the Committee to ensure that working groups remain active, provide feedback on project proposals, complete organizational tasks for the committee, and coordinate with the department Chair as needed. The steering group does not tell people what to do, but rather facilitates and keeps track of what people want to do, as well as participating in some of the working groups. We believe building and maintaining a supportive departmental community must be a grassroots effort.
Working groups are organized around strategic goals, such as graduate student mentoring or departmental community-building. These groups develop proposals for actions they want to see happen in the department. Proposals are then taken to the appropriate policy-making or policy-implementing entity (e.g. faculty, department chair, the graduate student organizations). The Committee welcomes the formation of new groups and is always accepting ideas.
How to join:
If you want to join or have questions about how to join, email the Community Committee: community_committee@bio.fsu.edu. We welcome undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, faculty, staff, and other members of the department. Interested individuals can either join an existing working group or start a group focused on a new project. Joining a working group means committing to spending time working on the issue, and we request a commitment of a year, or until that particular project is finished. If you want to help but have only a small amount of time to give, we suggest focusing that time on participating in departmental events held by the Community Committee.
Major ongoing working groups:
Departmental Dialogues
This group organizes intergroup dialogues with the overall goal of achieving new levels of understanding, action, and support within the department. Members have received training in dialogue facilitation. Department wide dialogues were initiated in spring 2021 and continue approximately once or twice per semester.
Welcome Team
This group plans and hosts welcome events and training opportunities for incoming graduate students to ensure they have support before, during, and after their arrival on campus.
Supporting Mental Health/Wellbeing
This group provides resources and support for mental and emotional health of all department members by disseminating information and organizing mental health trainings.
Graduate Mentoring
This group is focused on improving faculty mentoring, clarifying mentor-mentee relations, providing professional development for a variety of careers, and improving student mentoring experiences. This group has designed and implemented professional development for graduate students, organizes graduate student and faculty training opportunities, and encourages best practices for mentor-mentee relationships.
Undergraduate Success
This group works to improve recruitment and success of undergraduates from all backgrounds. Current projects include supporting the ESA SEEDS group for undergraduates, and collaborating with TCC to improve outcomes for transfer students through the HHMI funded “Inclusive Excellence 3” initiative.
Department Community Survey Committee
This group administers an annual anonymous survey of current (and recent) graduate students and postdocs, faculty, and non-faculty staff to assess the department atmosphere and areas for improvement. Survey results are summarized and shared in a written report and at an annual departmental meeting.
Social Team
This group organizes opportunities for cross-department social interactions including fall Field Day and weekly Bio Lunches, building bridges between our graduate areas and between students, faculty and staff.
Steering Group
This group organizes meetings of the Committee, provides the point of contact, makes sure that working groups continue to function, collects updates from working groups, invites participation by new members, provides feedback and support for working groups, etc.
Feedback and Questions
Contact us if you have any questions or suggestions, or want to volunteer: community_committee@bio.fsu.edu
Resources
● Report incidents or concerning behavior happening in the Florida State University community: https://report.fsu.edu
● Report activities that involve potential misconduct or violations of FSU policies and procedures, regulations, or state and federal laws: https://secure.ethicspoint.com/domain/media/en/gui/32441/index.html
● FSU’s HR page on equal opportunity compliance and engagement: https://hr.fsu.edu/sections/equal-opportunity-compliance-engagement
● FSU Counseling and Psychological Services: https://counseling.fsu.edu/
● FSU Department of Student Support and Transitions: https://dsst.fsu.edu/
● Office of Accessibility Services (advocate for FSU students with disabilities https://dsst.fsu.edu/oas)
● FSU Center for Global Engagement (support for international students and intercultural training; https://cge.fsu.edu/)
● FSU Registered Student Organizations- search here for Grad student organizations on campus: https://nolecentral.dsa.fsu.edu/organizations?query=Graduate
● FSU Faculty Connections: https://facultyconnections.fsu.edu/
● Department of Biological Sciences graduate student groups: Ecology and Evolution Research Discussion Group (EERDG; https://www.bio.fsu.edu/eerdg/), The Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Student Association (TCGA), the Neuroscience Graduate Student Association (NGSA)