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PPA Statement of
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility
As planetarium educators and science enthusiasts, our curiosity is as boundless as the cosmos. Indeed, there is no subject more diverse and expansive than the Universe. In the summer of 2020, in the midst of a pandemic and a country facing civil unrest and racial turmoil, we formed a working committee of PPA members to address issues of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) within our region and profession. The pursuit of an unbiased perspective forms the cornerstone of science, leading to thrilling and unexpected discoveries. So too, stepping outside ourselves to embrace new perspectives will create a foundation where a more expansive human universe can be built and celebrated. We commit ourselves to learning from and giving a platform to new and different voices, faces, experiences, and ideas. In doing so, the PPA pledges to embrace the diversity of the communities we serve.
For the PPA to grow, it’s crucial to understand perspectives throughout our region, including and especially yours.
Please take some time to reflect on the statement above, and how we can create an inclusive and diverse community. You can share those or any other ideas with the IDEA committee using this IDEA Feedback Form.
PPA IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) Committee Info:
Active as of December 2020
The IDEA committee currently meets once per month on the second Monday of each month.
Current Committee Members:
Mary Holt
Toshi Komatsu
Alby Luchko
Benjamin Mendelsohn
Emily Peavy
Tony Smith
Rosemary Walling (chair)
Resources:
IDEA-related PPA seminars
Coming Soon
From ASP 2024
At the online conference for ASP in 2024 the PPA IDEA Committee collaborated with leaders from other regional planetarium organizations to conduct a panel sharing what the different regionals have been working on in terms of IDEA topics and to assess where the needs are in the planetarium field. Links to slide decks from the panel coming soon.
From e-WAC 2021
At the 2021 Western Alliance Conference, Mark Webb gave a talk introducing the PPA IDEA Committee and introduced one of the current on-going projects from the Committee: creating an Indigenous Land Acknowledgment practice in our planetariums.
Mark shared a few resources planetarians can use to begin their personal and institutional education on
what Land Acknowledgments are and how to begin using them during our presentations:
Honor Native Land: A Guide and Call to Acknowledgment (video below from this site):
https://usdac.us/nativeland/Native Governance Center: A Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgment:
https://nativegov.org/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/Teen Vogue article: Indigenous Land Acknowledgment, Explained:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/indigenous-land-acknowledgement-explainedISSUU Allyship Toolkit:
https://issuu.com/lspirg/docs/allyship_toolkit_inside_pages_10.5x
From e-LIPS 2021:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tindktxdCQnU3P5i9qc85LnminG3IlVj/view?usp=drivesdk
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