[bioundgrd] Department DEI Officer

[Alan D Grossman]

Dear colleagues,

I’m writing with exciting news that Hallie Dowling-Huppert will join the department as our DEI Officer. Hallie will join the department on June 1 this year. She is currently employed at Emory University's Center for Civic and Community Engagement where she leads DEI Initiatives such as the Emory Votes Initiative, a program focused on civic and voter engagement, in addition to several other Community Engagement programs. Hallie is also responsible for creating and maintaining materials focused on trainings to help build inclusive communities. Prior to Hallie’s current position she served as Retention Coordinator in the Office of Latino Students Services at Georgia State University. Hallie holds a Masters of Education in Community Engagement and Higher Education Administration from Merrimack College, and is looking forward to coming back to New England and joining MIT.

Hallie emerged from a group of strong candidates and an in-depth interview process. The finalists went through ~10 interviews, including Biology faculty, DEI Council representatives, Biology administration, and representatives from MIT’s Institute Community and Equity Office (ICEO) and MindHandHeart. Based on the input and feedback we received from all, there was a very strong consensus and support for Hallie.

As the DEI Officer, Hallie will work directly with students, postdocs, staff, and faculty to identify and implement mechanisms and programs that support and promote equity and inclusion, all with the goal of making the Department a more welcoming, supportive, and vibrant place to work. She will partner with the Department’s DEI Council and faculty DEI committee, and other organizations and groups within the Department and across the Institute that have similar missions.

We already have Mandana Sassanfar and Zella Pirello focusing on outreach and diversity. Mandana has been spearheading many of these efforts for students for almost 20 yrs, most notably virtually all aspects of MSRP-Bio, the Quant-Bio workshop, our high school programs, and other efforts too. Hallie will largely focus on equity and inclusion while Mandana and Zella continue to focus on outreach. Although they have separate positions and roles I expect that Hallie will learn a lot from Mandana and their efforts will be synergistic.

Hallie accepted our offer almost immediately after we sent it to her! I think from all the interviews, she was primed and ready. She was really impressed by those she met during the interviews, and Helene and Rebecca were strategic about understanding her expectations and we were able to match or exceed those in our offer.

Many thanks to those who were involved in the interview process and provided valuable input.

Best wishes,
Alan




Alan D. Grossman
Professor and Head
Department of Biology
Building 68-530
M.I.T.
Cambridge, MA   02139

adg at mit.edu<mailto:adg at mit.edu>
Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/my/alandgrossman

Please note: There is no need to respond to my emails outside of traditional work hours.






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