DEI Initiatives 2023-2024
DEI INITIATIVES BY THE MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT 2023-2024
In 2023-2024 the Math Department implemented the following DEI initiatives (partly guided by the DEI plan set forward in 2021):
Ashland Brandeis Connection (ABC).
In this new outreach initiative, Brandeis students (and one postdoc) volunteered to tutor underserved high school students in Mississippi. This program builds on a historic relationship between Brandeis and Ashland, MS that dates back to the Civil Rights era. Distinguished Brandeis alum Roy DeBerry advocated for this program and the math department kicked off the pilot version in Spring 2024. We have a general description and a write up in Brandeis Stories.
Pedagogy Workshop.
One of the goals of our anti-racism plan is to make our pedagogical practices more inclusive. We held a workshop in Fall 2024 in which we discussed one of the four Math Department Norms identified by Lucca Raabe (B.S. '23) in her senior honors thesis for the sociology department titled, "Rationalizing Racism: Racial Structure and Individual Racial Sense-Making in Mathematics Education".
Instagram Account.
The math department started an Instagram account to facilitate communication and build community. Our UDRs Dakota Lichauco and Bhakti Parwani did an excellent job of announcing events and opportunities.
Met with DEI Office.
Becci Torrey, as chair of the math DEI committee, was interviewed in summer 2023 by Sanchita Dasgupta, a PhD student in sociology on behalf of Brandeis’ Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion to better understand ongoing DEI efforts at the university.
New events in Fall 2024.
Subcommittees of the math DEI committee did a lot of behind-the-scenes groundwork for two exciting new events in Fall 2024:
- A Taste of Math (ATOM) – we will engage a group of Waltham high school students in some fun math activities, providing insight into what math beyond high school entails in hopes of exposing students who might not otherwise know about opportunities in our field to what we love about this subject.
- Pamela Harris – we will bring this engaging speaker to campus on October 29, 2024 to give the second annual Science, Society and Culture seminar.
Math Mentoring Program.
The Math Mentoring Program created in Spring 2022 ran again during the Spring 2024 semester.
https://www.brandeis.edu/mathematics/undergraduate/mentor-program.html
This program aims at helping undergrad students successfully navigate the Math Major/Minor, and make the department as inclusive as possible. The mentoring consists of weekly meetings between a mentee and a more experienced undergraduate student serving as their mentor. The mentoring serves several purposes for the mentees: getting to discuss the math curriculum, learning strategies, and long-term goals, as well as getting to meet some of their peers, and developing a lasting support network.
Textbook buying initiative. The Math department is buying 2 copies of every math textbook required in math classes to be left in the Math Community Room for free consultation (the math textbooks cost was identified as one of the barriers of entry to the math major). Started Spring 2022.
New entry level class. The Math department ran the course Math 9b: Math puzzles and games for the second time in Spring 2024. This class serves as an invitation to mathematics for undergraduate students with limited prior exposure to mathematics.
Outreach opportunities: A list of outreach opportunities is compiled here:
https://www.brandeis.edu/mathematics/dei/outreach-dei.html
Additional actions:
- Some Math faculty have participated in the Brandeis Posse program by offering a Math workshop to the entering class of Posse students during their summer visits to campus in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
- The Math department is organizing orientation meetings for undergraduate students every semester and office hours for orientation and curriculum advice every week. Started in 2021.
- We run an annual survey of undergraduate students in mathematics to learn more about their experiences, with an eye toward identifying and better understanding areas where we need to improve. Started in 2022.
- We run an annual survey of graduate students, and subsequent town hall to address concerns of students in a timely and efficient manner.
- We increased the number of community building events, and other occasions for students and faculty to meet. In 2023-2024 UDRs organized several very successful events, including a boba tea event and a barbecue.