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CERF 2019 Workshop:

Out in the Open: Identifying, Understanding, and Addressing Implicit Bias

Treda Grayson
Facilitator: Dr. Franklin Trimm, University of South Alabama

Date: Sunday, 3 November
Time: 1:00 – 4:00 PM
The registration fees for this workshop are offset by an award from the National Science Foundation

About this Workshop:

CERF is committed to broadening participation at all levels of the Federation, and is taking several steps over the next few years to achieve the goal of a diverse and inclusive organization. The society’s 2017–2022 Strategic Plan, “Visions IV,” and the Broadening Participation Comprehensive Plan outline diversity goals, actions and activities, several of which were initiated at the 2017 Biennial Conference. Conference attendees were supportive of these efforts, recognizing the value that diversity brings to the society and the coastal and estuarine science community. Attendee feedback identified the need for tools that people can employ to help themselves and others be more aware of diversity and consider it in academic and professional settings.

This three-hour workshop is intended to dive deeper into diversity issues, and provide tools and strategies to assess, address and overcome implicit bias. Expert speakers will facilitate discussions and exercises that help participants explore and become aware of social stereotypes that form outside of our own conscious awareness, known as implicit or unconscious bias. These biases can lead to unfair prejudices or favor of or against individuals or groups, setting up constructs of exclusion rather than inclusion. Understanding underlying biases will allow participants to recognize how challenging them is a critical step in moving beyond the barriers to diversity and inclusion in CERF and the coastal and marine science discipline.  

About the Facilitator: 

Dr. Franklin Trimm, University of South Alabama

Franklin Trimm, MD is Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.  Franklin has 30 years experience working with diverse communities as a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician and has held several national leadership positions in medical education organizations in which he has been able to promote equity, diversity and inclusion.  Training leadership and staff about unconscious bias is a key component of Franklin’s current work within the College of Medicine and the Mobile and medical education communities.

Treda Grayson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water

Treda Grayson is the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Program Manager at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water, where she supports and carries out EPA's Trustee responsibilities for ecosystem restoration in the Gulf of Mexico following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. She also chairs the CERF Broadening Participation Council, which guides the development and implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion activities and initiatives for the society.