It’s been almost four years since ARCS Oregon began its journey to become a more inclusive organization. Although this may seem like a long time, it is a mere blink in time considering how long it took our culture to get here.  

I wanted to take a moment to share some of the actions taken and resulting accomplishments of the work we’ve been doing over the past four years. Our first step was to form a standing committee, called Inclusive Excellence, the term most often used by scientific endeavors implementing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). In this committee, we have been learning and learning and learning some more. If there is one thing I’ve grasped, it's how very long it takes to unlearn and relearn the behaviors, language, and practices that create and support a more equitable society.  

While we continue our Inclusive Excellence journey, we have made good progress to date. Below are some of the results of our work so far: 

• We conducted a member and scholar survey to better understand the need for and support of DEI work in our Chapter. This led to thoughtful discussions and the development of a statement of commitment to Inclusive Excellence for our Chapter. It’s a good statement and I encourage you to have a look at it! 
• We reviewed and edited our bylaws, committee charters, and many of our policies, procedures, and forms to remove inequitable and exclusive language and weave in DEI concepts. 
• We sponsored several educational programs and panel discussions on topics related to Inclusive Excellence, such as “The Future of Affirmative Action in Higher Education” last fall.   
• We overhauled our membership program to remove barriers to engagement and are currently testing a fee structure that is more accessible for new members. Our membership form and process has been significantly modified to be more inclusive and more accessible. 
• We developed, in collaboration with our investment advisors, an investment policy that includes an environmental, social and governance (ESG) overlay to ensure we manage funds in a way that aligns with DEI principles and does not cause further harm to our environment.
• We engaged scholars and alumni in our committees, so their perspectives are included in future planning as well as current activities. 
• We updated our site visit forms, which now include a question about how the university programs are supporting DEI for their students. A DEI discussion is included in all site visits to better understand how we can become more inclusive in the future. Based on these discussions, legal permanent residents are now eligible for ARCS awards! 
• We included questions about DEI in our latest community survey, which validated the need for our Chapter to continue this important work. 
• We engaged in continued growth, education, and conversations to understand various topics regarding the complexity of identity, the various local and global dynamics of power, conscious and unconscious bias, privilege, and so much more. 
• We are committed to continuing to explore and dismantle systemic barriers to inclusive excellence that hinder good scientific research and to always embrace our core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.  

To be sure, this is not an exhaustive list and there is a lot more to do as we continue to become a more inclusive organization. I hope that wherever you are on your own DEI journey you will remain open to new ideas and how they might integrate into the day-to-day operations to continue to improve ARCS Foundation Oregon!  

By Meleah Ashford 
VP, University Relations Committee 
Member, Inclusive Excellence Committee