Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

DEI

Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at CIRES

Hillside field of flowers with mountains in the distance
The Tetons tower above a cluster of Indian Paintbrush flowers in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.
- James Mothersbaugh/CIRES

Vision

Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values at CIRES. Our lived commitment to these values shapes our work culture and is essential to how we practice excellence and integrity in environmental research. 

Mission

CIRES will advance justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in these ways:

  • Inclusive Workplace Culture: Fostering an inclusive, respectful culture that recognizes and embraces the diversity of our communities.
  • Diverse Workforce: Building capacity to successfully recruit and hire a diverse workforce.
  • Authentic Partnerships: Creating authentic partnerships with those who are most impacted by our work and with organizations that serve underrepresented and marginalized groups in environmental sciences.

At CIRES, we work to foster an inclusive, respectful culture that recognizes and embraces the diversity of our communities. 

Our goals include:

  • Enabling and encouraging inclusive supervision and mentoring
  • Building responsive feedback mechanisms
  • Offering responsive programming that supports the development of inclusive work environments
  • Supporting employees in documenting their DEI work annually
  • Annual reporting on the workplace culture and retention data

Employees can engage in the following activities, which can be included in their Annual Summary of Accomplishments (ASA). 

  • Connect for individual or group consultations on inclusive workplace strategies such as creating group norms or inclusive events. Related handouts are available on Inside CIRES
  • Complete an online module on Inclusive Workplace Culture which is housed in the CIRES Canvas community course (Available April 1, 2024). 
  • Join monthly virtual Inclusive Community of Practice meetings from August to May on various topics related to equity and inclusion in the workplace. Slides for past events are available on Inside CIRES, and upcoming meetings can be found in the events tab

Graduate students, post-docs, and early-career scientists can join workshops in the Equity-focused Dialogic Workshop Series, a new program designed in collaboration with the Masters of the Environment Graduate Program. 

At CIRES, we are building capacity to successfully recruit and hire a diverse workforce. 

Our goals include:

  • Increased use of inclusive hiring strategies
  • Broadened recruiting efforts and strategic partnerships with minority-serving institutions (MSIs)
  • Engaged partnership with CU/NOAA affinity groups and developing CIRES employee resource groups 
  • Monitoring the outcomes of our recruiting, hiring, and retention efforts

Employees can engage in the following activities, which can be included in their annual summary of accomplishment (ASA). 

  • Access inclusive hiring trainings and handouts created by the CIRES HR team. Related materials are available on InsideCIRES
  • Connect for individual or group consultations on inclusive hiring practices or creating rubrics for hiring committees
  • Explore information about Society of Latinxs/Hispanics in Earth and Space Science (SOLESS) and other affinity groups at CU and NOAA
  • Get involved with the CIRES Road Show, more information coming soon!

At CIRES, we strive to create authentic partnerships with those who are most impacted by our work. 

Our goals include:

  • Improved awareness regarding cultural differences and effective relationship building with external communities
  • Education and engagement efforts that are culturally sensitive and broad-reaching
  • Collaborations with local communities that use our research to build environmental justice policy 
  • Regular trainings for science communicators on inclusive language and digital accessibility

Employees can engage in the following activities, which can be included in their Annual Summary of Accomplishments (ASA). 

  • Attend CIRES DEI Guest Speaker events. Read about a recent event on this CIRES Admin blog post
  • Contact the CIRES Communications Team for trainings on conference presentations and interviews 
  • Those who run student programs can join the Student Program Network, which meets every other month to share ideas and collaborate
  • Apply for the CIRES working group on community-engaged research, coming May 2024

CIRES DEI Events

Please see information below on our recent CIRES seminar series focused on Leadership in Tribal Engagement Learning, designed by our CIRES Tribal advisor James Rattling Leaf. 

CIRES employees and their NOAA colleagues can contact James Rattling Leaf (jamesrattlingleaf@colorado.edu) to discuss these events and/or their tribal engagement work. 

"Utilizing Cultural Intelligence to Advance Tribal Engagement and Partnerships." The session provided recommendations for working with Tribal communities based on the knowledge that long-term relationship-building with these communities is the foundation upon which educational programs, research collaborations, and other initiatives must be co-created. Sharing the Cultural Intelligence framework will define effective practices in building relationships and clarify a process for establishing and maintaining effective collaborations with Tribal communities that respect sovereignty and self-determination.

You can watch the video or view the slides

As part of our commitment to be a workplace where every employee is valued and included, all CIRES employees were asked to complete the Institutes Culture Survey in October 2023. The Institutes Culture Survey is designed to gather data about employee experiences in the academic and workplace environments at CIRES. You can read more about this survey on this CIRES News blog post.

CIRES employees can view unit-specific data (NOAA, NSIDC, CU campus units) on the InsideCIRES DEI page.

News