OOS 38-2 - Student perspectives on inclusive ecology education and 4DEE

Addressing human-environment interactions as one of the ESA 4DEE pillars must include grappling with barriers for broadening participation. Using the 4DEE framework, this presentation provides an overview of how RCN-UNIDE seeks to increase participation in undergraduate ecological education by elevating students' perspectives, especially the voices of underrepresented students. RCN-UNIDE (unidecology.org) is a network-building grant oriented toward increasing racial diversity in ecology by intervening in what it means to train ecologists in the field and in the classroom. Essential to this network is the Student Advisory Board (SAB), which is comprised of 12 undergraduate and 3 graduate students from underrepresented groups, and from 13 different universities across 10 states as well as Guam and Puerto Rico. The SAB provides a unique opportunity for the faculty Steering Committee to learn directly from marginalized students’ perspectives. Through this dialogue the importance of increasing the visibility of people of color already in ecology and increasing the visibility of ecology for people of color has emerged as key issues, tasks that include challenging what counts as ecology. In conjunction with leading to the development of student-led activities, these discussions have resulted in an assessment of the 4DEE framework in terms of its capacity to meet the needs, desires, and interests of students of color. This presentation provides first-hand perspectives from members of the SAB on the overlaps and discrepancies between 4DEE and DEIJ objectives. In illuminating both the affordances and limits of the current 4DEE framework, key takeaways students pose to educational practitioners include the importance of (1) translating DEIJ objectives into the 4DEE framework, especially in terms of core ecological principles (2) linking cross-cutting themes to human-environment interactions and (3) developing ecological practices that integrate scientific and social science perspectives and approaches.