As my Fall 2021 semester begins to wind down, I have had a few brief moments to reflect on these past few months. While the majority of my teaching was still online this fall, I had one in-person physical geology lab each week. Despite my own trepidation of returning to the classroom amidst the continuing swirl of pandemic impacts, that weekly meeting has been my saving grace. It has been wonderful to reconnect with students; to see those light bulb moments as they compare rhyolite, andesite, and basalt; to watch their creative ideas to mitigate erosion in the stream table yield unexpected results; to have those impromptu conversations about food and family and holidays and their futures that strengthen relationships and a sense of belonging in our academic environment. Many students have said they are glad to be back and are enjoying the camaraderie, but still struggle with motivation and focus. I would love to hear from our membership about your pandemic experiences during this academic year so far—what has your teaching experience been like? Are you glad to be back in the classroom? How are your students faring?

This also plays into another area where I have been spending time. We know that the pandemic has not affected all communities equally, and I am contemplating those consequences in the context of the larger conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education and specifically, the geosciences. Last spring, I participated in the URGE program with a pod of two-year college faculty, and we developed a wonderful resource document that was highlighted in the last issue of Foundations. You can also read about our continued efforts elsewhere in this newsletter. This semester, I am participating in a book club on my campus, reading Black Minds Matter by J. Luke Wood. This text has been a fascinating read with a focus on identifying various examples of systemic racism toward Black males in the U.S. education system from K-12 through graduate studies. Wood encourages his readers to bring more compassion and embed love in education to address these deeply ingrained biases. I also listened to Season 2 "Seeing White" of the podcast Scene on the Radio during recent hours logged on the interstate. Recommended by our Geo2YC colleague, Kristie Bradford, I cannot emphasize how well this work lays out the argument for identifying racism as a purely social construct. Based on these experiences, I am thinking of changes I will affect to my classes next semester, primarily via more embedded one-on-one interactions with my students. Again, I would love to hear from our membership—how are you addressing DEI efforts in your geoscience classes or departments? Did you participate in URGE and if so, what was your experience like?

Please email any comments or ideas you would like to share to me at klayou@reynolds.edu. I hope that we will be able to share some of your responses in future issues of the newsletter.

Wishing all a lovely winter season, and you'll hear from Geo2YC in the New Year!