The Masters of the Environment Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee recently participated in a strategic planning session with Program Director Joel Hartter to gather ideas and provide feedback regarding the ways in which we as a community can create a more welcoming, inclusive, and sustainable landscape for future students who enter this program. During this session, students from both the DEI committee and MENV student council helped to refine how the program defines its vision, purpose, and values through an open forum that welcomed new ideas and promoted dialogue between program administration and current students. Discussions surrounding strategic imperatives were also facilitated during this meeting, as both student groups shared ways in which MENV can build upon its core initiatives in professional development, community engagement, DEI, and environmental sustainability. This was a wonderful opportunity for current students to contemplate their own experiences in MENV and translate them into concrete ideas and actionable items that can create measurable change within our program and ultimately within the greater environmental sector as students graduate from MENV and enter the job force. This strategic planning session also set the stage for future collaborations between MENV students and administration to ensure that student voices are heard and amplified throughout our quest to maintain the boundary-pushing quality of this graduate program.
“We are changemakers. We believe in possibility and are bold in pursuit of innovation. We embrace new ways of thinking and strive for a resilient, regenerative, and just future.”