The Department of Global Health is committed to action to end racism and white supremacy in our department, at our institution and throughout society. We stand in solidarity with organizations and movements that share these goals.

In September 2020, DGH developed the Action Plan to Address Racism and White Supremacy to outline specific actions that the department would take to fight racism within our institution, as part of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) goals. These actions were developed jointly by the DGH leadership team and the DGH DEI Committee, with input from DGH students, faculty and staff. In September 2021, the DGH DEI Committee revised the Action Plan to reflect evolving priorities and needs. Building on the first action plan, the revised plan aims to:

a. Strengthen antiracist leadership within DGH.
     i. Establish antiracist leadership competencies.
    ii. Annually work with DGH leadership to assess those competencies within DGH leadership.
   iii. Develop targeted anti-racist training plans with DGH leadership based on competency assessment.

b. Prioritize strategies to ensure that DGH curriculum and teaching methods are antiracist, anticolonialist, and represents diversity in methods, identities, and perspectives.
     i. Ensure that curriculum reviews are thoughtfully integrate student feedback as part of continuous quality improvement.
    ii. Ensure faculty accountability for course reviews to integrate DEI values.

c. Increase access of department-wide antiracism training and learning opportunities.
     i. Track DEI trainings for faculty and staff to integrate into performance reviews.
    ii. Incorporate evaluation of DEI contributions in faculty and staff merit reviews.

d. Amplify student advocacy to ensure environments within and outside of the classroom foster and allow for productive conversations around race, equity, diversity and social justice.

a. Increase diversity BIPOC faculty, staff and students in DGH.

b. Identify creative ways to diversify faculty.

c. Identify and address barriers to diversifying new faculty hires.

d. Increase availability of resources in DGH to support our BIPOC colleagues.

e. Assess leadership structures and staff composition across DGH to understand and address power dynamics in the workplace.

f. Support leadership in administering and addressing findings of annual climate surveys to ensure that faculty, staff, and students thrive at DGH.

g. Integrate recognition of antiracist, anti-colonial and anti-oppressive efforts into faculty promotion metrics.

h. Reduce amount of unpaid student labor in support of DEI work.

a. Advocate to divest from Seattle Police Department and reimagine the UW Police Department.

b. Work with leadership and facility management to ensure access to all gender bathrooms in DGH spaces.

c. Ensure that DGH community is aware and follow a protocol if ICE enters our campus.

d. Ensure that departmental policies reflect a DEI lens.

a. Promote respectful and equitable partnerships with our collaborators.

b. Advocate for research methodology that center communities and community members.

c. Increase transparency and shared decision making at all levels in DGH.

d. Advocate to eliminate vaccine apartheid and medical harm.

There is a DGH DEI Committee comprised of faculty, staff and students who advise DGH Leadership on how to integrate and implement action plan objectives into programming. In addition to finding opportunities within and outside of the university that you find meaningful, DGH will provide other opportunities for getting involved in DGH DEI work throughout the year to faculty, staff and student listservs. 

Click here for DGH DEI Committee information, anti-racism resources and highlights/updates.