Town Hall Introducing the New AAS Climate Site Visit Program

At the 233rd AAS meeting in Seattle, WA, the Site Visit Oversight Committee (SVOC) will hold a town hall at 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm on 8 January (session 220), in which they will outline the new program of climate-assessment site visits, discuss the program's launch, and explain how departments might benefit from a site visit. Please see the event description below for more details; hope to see you there!

Town Hall description: The AAS has established a program of visits to departments and institutes to assess the workplace climate, particularly as it relates to members of marginalized groups. To set up and oversee the program, the Board has appointed an SVOC. This program will be a powerful asset to sites seeking to prioritize and demonstrate a commitment to equity and inclusion in astronomy. Hosting a site visit provides institutional value and assures potential students, faculty, and research staff that their future place of work has sought the tools to improve workplace climate. Department chairs and site administrators will be empowered with external recommendations from a team of professionals and astronomers thoroughly trained on topics such as implicit and explicit bias, emotional intelligence, marginalization, and inclusive climates. In this town hall, members of the SVOC will present the practices that it recommends to promote climates that are inclusive for all, describe the procedures it has developed for conducting site visits, and seek input from the community.