The Diversity Committee is a coalition of faculty, students, and staff working on a range of efforts across the Allen School. You can email the full committee at diversity@cs.uw.edu.

Committee Members

  • Faculty

    • Tadayoshi Kohno - Associate Director for Diversity & Inclusion (2020-2021)

    • Byron Boots

    • Lauren Bricker

    • Richard Ladner

    • Ed Lazowska

    • Kevin Lin

    • Jennifer Mankoff

  • Staff

    • Kay Beck-Benton

    • Jan Cuny

    • Chloe Dolese Mandeville

    • Elise Dorough

    • Kate Gayle

    • Kristin Osborne

    • Les Sessoms

  • Graduate Students

    • Naveena Karusala

    • Pratyush Patel

    • Marissa Radensky

    • Yasaman Sefidgar

  • Undergraduate Students

    • Christopher Kang


Graduate Student Members

Role

We are volunteers who facilitate graduate students’ involvement in DEI work and advocate for their voices in such efforts. Specifically, we serve the following roles:

  • Support the PhD Recruitment and Retention Specialist, Les Sessoms, in pursuing DEI projects related to the graduate students. 

  • Regularly communicate the status of DEI efforts and opportunities by sending out meeting notes of monthly DEI Committee meetings.

  • Obtain input/feedback from the student body by monitoring emails and administering surveys, among other things.

  • Report student input/feedback to the DEI Committee and advocate for student voices (e.g., making sure student perspectives are addressed in various initiatives).

  • Support and monitor relevant RSOs and student-led grass-roots initiatives (e.g., by presenting initiatives to the committee and coordinating support).

If you are interested in becoming a graduate student member of the DEI committee, please look out for the Graduate Student Volunteer (GSV) sign-up in the spring, which asks for volunteers to fill a variety of graduate student roles including being on the DEI committee. That said, being on the Diversity Committee is certainly not the only way to get involved in DEI efforts! If you are interested in getting involved or initiating a new DEI project, reach out to us and we will put you in contact with the relevant people or advocate for your ideas. Also, keep an eye out for emails that call for your engagement in various projects (e.g., PAMS or K-12 outreach).


Contact

You can reach out to us at dei-grads@cs.washington.edu. You are welcome to contact the full DEI committee (faculty, staff, undergrad and graduate students) directly as well at diversity@cs.uw.edu. 

Contacting us may be helpful if you are a graduate student who would like support in advocating a point to the DEI committee or support for a student-led grass-roots initiative. 

The graduate student members seek to coordinate with the G5PAC and other student committees rather than duplicate their efforts. If you are unsure of which group to contact, you can contact either, and we’ll make sure that the right group will follow up.


Current Grad-Related Projects

  • Working with Anna Karlin, Associate Director for Graduate Studies, on creating a seminar for new graduate students to develop helpful PhD skills such as keeping up with research papers, seeking funding, and dealing with the emotional challenges of being in graduate school.

  • Working with PhD Recruitment and Retention Specialist, Les Sessoms, on setting up a pool of graduate student volunteers across research areas who help answer prospective students’ area-specific questions.

  • Reviewing PhD applications for students committed to diversity and equity in their work and service. 

  • Working with Dr. Lauren Bricker on K-12 outreach.