An Introduction to Ally Skills for Natural History Collections Professionals

Abstract

Natural science collections are, by their nature, collaborative and cumulative and benefit from the inclusion of diverse people with varied experiences and backgrounds. Yet many of us recognize that our workplaces, and STEM at large, are not welcoming to all, even after decades of efforts. It is increasingly clear that one of the challenges is that we lack training in turning our shared values into action. In this paper, we introduce allyship skills as a path to change, discuss both preemptive and responsive allyship efforts, and share some simple daily actions you can take to get started.

Student‐focused, career‐driven exploration in natural history museums through experiential education and mentorship: A model to intentionally increase the racial and ethnic diversity of students

“…Connecting students to mentors and potential role models also supports engaging students from marginalized backgrounds (Table 1) in science (Farmer, 2003;Hurd & Sellers, 2013;Rasheem et al, 2018;Zappo, 1998). In addition to semester-long opportunities, this model has been applied to short-term opportunities (e.g., conferences or internships) that encourage students to explore STEM fields at different stages in their careers (Corwin et al, 2015;Harrison et al, 2011;Mraz-Craig et al, 2018;Phillips, 2020Phillips, , 2021Sorensen et al, 2018) and longer projects such as summer internship programs (e.g., Phillips, 2021). This paper outlines the model of an undergraduate INH course that uses authentic experiential opportunities in NHCs coupled with mentorship to help develop students' science identities.…”