Culture and Inclusion Committee

Purpose | Projects | People | Subcommittees

Purpose

The W.K. Kellogg Biological Station’s Culture and Inclusion Committee—CIC—was formed in 2017 to coordinate resources, trainings and other opportunities for growth in areas related to inclusion.

To help create an atmosphere where all feel welcomed and comfortable to work, study, live and play, the CIC seeks to continuously impower and improve KBS community—through research activities, educational programming, outreach efforts, and hiring and professional development practices.

Charge

We strive to:

Recruit people and partners from all walks of life, by:
- Developing relationships with community organizations to create recruitment opportunities
- Providing input on personnel searches (or any hire that requires a search committee)
- Publicizing and promoting training in hiring practices
Empower people who are here so that everyone’s voice is valued, by:
- Making sure that different groups at KBS have proper representation on all relevant committees (graduate student, post-doc, faculty, academic staff, non-academic staff)
- Using annual climate assessment to gauge community priorities/issues and develop procedure for them to be heard by and responded to from the community
- Advocating for annual community assembly meetings

Create a physically and emotionally supportive environment for everyone at KBS to foster a sense of community belonging, by:
- Providing input on new and existing KBS policies that may impact community efforts
- Advocating for ADA improvements to KBS buildings
- Disseminating resources on local mental health services
- Increasing awareness of community concerns throughout all university operations from marketing, student recruitment, faculty hires, programming, facilities, culture, and services.

Build our community’s capacity to advocate for all voices across our unites so that all levels feel informed and trained, by:
- Advocating for mandatory trainings for the entire KBS community
- Offering additional voluntary workshops or trainings
- Pursuing internal and external funding opportunities
- Seeking recognition for members of the KBS community

Projects, initiatives and events

Past initiatives

2025

Maintaining the KBS gear library
Upgrading KBS welcome documents
Created a centralized community calendar and bulletin board
Facilitating cross-unit communication on housing safety, maintenance, and accessibility
Hosted a “Lunch and Learn” for grad students to learn about fellowships and assistantships
Improved restroom accessibility by converting a gendered restroom to all-gender while we wait for new facilities to be built
Hosted a “Trans and Gender non-conforming Field Alliance (TGFA)” workshop to provide advice and resources to make field work safer for trans and gender non-conforming researchers

2024

Published diverse applicant advertising list
Facilitated cross-unit communication by reserving colloquium spots for non-academic unit updates
Created KBS activities bulletin board
Hosted a “Beyond the Land Acknowledgement” workshop led by MSU’s Dr. Emily Sorroche
Offered a FieldFutures training on preventing RVSM in the field
Offered a 4-part mentorship training to new mentors of undergraduate students, led by in-house certified Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) trainers
Hosted a KBS Town Hall to discuss and solicit suggestions and feedback on the topics of KBS infrastructure, inclusion, diversity, RVSM, and tension between units; disseminated feedback to relevant groups at KBS

2023

Hosted two ADVANCEGeo trainers at KBS for an Improving Workplace Climate training
Offered a FieldFutures training on preventing RVSM in the field
Created the KBS Gear Library to provide free outdoor gear for undergraduate and other field researchers
Shared report on KBS Culture and Inclusion Survey with KBS community
Updated the KBS Culture and Inclusion Committee’s purpose and charge
Received an MSU Creating Inclusive Excellence Grant (CIEG) to fund our field methods workshop geared towards broadening participation in field research

2022

Received the Organization for Biological Field Station’s 2022 Advancing Equity Award
Received the MSU Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award
Administered the 2022 KBS Climate Survey to all employees
Received an MSU Creating Inclusive Excellence Grant (CIEG) to fund DEI trainings and purchase new field safety gear

2021

Sponsored a training on creating an inclusive culture, in June
Supported an online Cultural Intelligence Training, presented by Brook Wilke in March
Updated the KBS Code of Conduct
Furthered previous CIC recommendations on hiring practices by organizing a seminar on inclusive interviewing and hiring and applying recommendations to the faculty hiring process

2020

A December bystander intervention training was led by Sophie Walters and Lydia Weiss of MSU’s Prevention, Outreach, and Education Office
In March, KBS policy changed to require RSVM training for all staff, including temporary and on-call employees
Melissa McDaniels and Judy Brown-Clark presented a faculty mentor training in late January
Cultural Intelligence, or CQ, training presented in early January by Brook Wilke and Danielle Zoellner.

2019

Dr. Angela Hall, associated professor in MSU’s School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, presented implicit bias training to the KBS community in November.
Brook Wilke and Danielle Zoellner attended Cultural Intelligence Center’s CQ Train-the-Trainer workshop for training and certification to conduct the Developing CQ workshop.
Submitted a list of recommendations for faculty hires to the KBS interim director and faculty committee.
Developed an email listserv of KBS Active Employees, intended to improve communication within our institution.
KBS was a sponsor of the 2019 Diversity Forum at ESA SEEDS‘ annual meeting.
As part of summer 2020 programming for undergraduate students, created affinity groups for women, LGBTQ+ students, interfaith and science, people of color and first-generation students.
Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct, or RVSM, training held in May, presented by MSU’s Prevention, Outreach, and Education Office.
Shared report on KBS Culture and Inclusion Survey with KBS community.
January workshop presented by Dionardo Pizaña, who gave a cultural competency training aimed at improving workplace culture.

2018

Organized KBS’s Inclusive Science Series (November 2018), which focused on identifying opportunities for increasing diversity and improving KBS academic programs based on lessons from other institutions. Workshops were facilitated by Deborah Johnson, director of MSU’s Diversity Research Network, and instructed by Checo Colón-Gaud, University of Southern Georgia; Deborah Goldberg, University of Michigan; and James Nieh, University of California–San Diego.
Created and administered KBS Culture and Inclusion survey. Responses represented almost 65% of the full- and part-time employees and students at KBS.
Awarded a Creating Inclusive Excellence grant from MSU.

People

Current members and representative areas

Anne Bronikowski
Faculty | she/her

Brook Wilke
Specialist | he/him

Morgan Clark (co-chair)
Graduate student | she/her

Sam Stynen (co-chair)
Graduate student | he/they

Cristal Lopez Gonzalez
Academic staff | she/her

Alexa Guerrera
Postdoc | she/her

Past members

Carol Waldmann Rosenbaum (2023-25

Robin Waterman (2022-25)

Nameer Baker (2020-24)

Cinnamon Mittan (2022-24)

Andy Fogiel (2023-24)

Christine Sprunger (2022-23)

Mir Zaman Hussain (2022-23)

Kyle Jaynes (2021-23)

Alisha Shah (2021-22)

Cara LaLumia (2020-22)

Lisa Duke (2020-22)

Ekrem Ozlu (2021-22)

Elena Litchman (2020-21)

Lindsey Kemmerling (2019-21)

Holly Vander Stel (2019-21)

A. Carter (2020-21)

Nick Haddad (2017-19)

Ally Hutchens (2017-19)

Robert Logan (2017-19)

Sarah Evans (2018-20)

Caro Córdova (2018-20)

Sarah Reimer (2018-20)

Brook Wilke (2018-20)

Danielle Zoellner (2019-20)

Subcommittees

Accessibility

Create a structure for sharing resources for accessible design and remediation for virtual and physical spaces, supporting accessibility-related projects, and helping to communicate suggestions for accessibility-related improvements.

Welcoming

Develop and share resources to support new employees during the transition to working at KBS.

Hiring

Offer resources and make recommendations for implementing inclusive hiring practices.

Funding

Seek out and apply for funding opportunities to enhance and expand KBS diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Summer Undergraduate Programs

Implement new application review practices, expand application pool for programs, host trainings on inclusive hiring and interviewing and on research mentoring.

Panoramic view of an agricultural field with a strip of grasses and forbs planted down the center.

Purpose | Projects | People | Subcommittees

In loving memory of Andy Fogiel, whose passion for community touched so many lives. Your commitment to KBS is an inspiration to us all. Your kind heart and friendship will be forever remembered.