Equity and Inclusion Program (EQUIP)

Our Equity and Inclusion Program (EQUIP) aims to equip all departmental faculty members with the tools to foster and support inclusive excellence in the Department of Genetics. EQUIP recognizes that professional success of faculty is vulnerable to many factors beyond their control, including prior exposure to grant-writing, access to leadership opportunities, specific family and medical leave obligations and more. The goal of EQUIP is to provide support for all faculty where needed so as to provide an equitable platform for scientific and professional growth.

EQUIP offers scientific and professional support in a variety of ways. These include support for grant-crafting and editing through our Office for Strategic Research Development, leadership skills training through the Yale School of Management, as well as individual professional coaching sessions.

EQUIP is built around four central pillars:

1. Increasing opportunities for leadership:
   
   We offer access to leadership building through networking, sponsorship, and 1:1 career coaching, as well as the opportunity to take formal leadership courses.
   
2. Citizenship as impact; burden as a barrier:
   
   We are developing a process to assess and communicate the roles, responsibilities and reporting structure associated with key administrative positions in the department, as well as standard operating procedures designed to streamline every-day processes like event organization, graduate admissions and faculty searches. The aim is to develop clear guidelines and expectations so that each faculty member contributes the intended amount to each role and is held accountable for their performance in line with these expectations. We also include an evaluation of burden as part of the annual review process.
   
3. Work and non-work balance:
   
   We are working to define and make public policies and procedures to promote healthy attitudes towards work. These include restricting departmental meetings and functions to core business hours wherever possible, and the use of flexible working options and a locum PI model for parental leave supported by our Office for Strategic Research Development. We also work to reduce stigma associated with use of these policies and normalize life outside of work as a healthy and important priority.
   
4. Education, sensitivity and awareness:
   
   We engage faculty in seminars, workshops, anti-bias training and other educational forums to create community-wide partnership committed to ending bias, discrimination and harassment in academic medicine and research.

EQUIP is directed by the Vice Chair for Diversity in Genetics. For more information including how to access these opportunities please contact Genetics.admin@yale.edu.