[Geoldept] Message from the Chair

[Susan DeBari]

Dear students,

It is with heavy heart that I write this email to you. Events of the past days and months have been disheartening and, for some, traumatizing. I acknowledge how these events have disproportionately affected our Black student and faculty/staff colleagues. The institutionalized racism that has plagued our country, and the perpetual everyday realities of marginalization, discrimination, and racial violence must come to an end. If there is ever a time that we need to come together in support and work towards a solution, this is it.

This is hard to do in isolation, but know that faculty and staff in the Geology Department are here to help and to listen. If there is any way we can better support you, please let me know, whether it be offering advice on how to request academic supports/extensions, or advice on how to reach campus-based emotional support resources. Or to just listen - to your suggestions, your concerns, your fears.

I will have virtual office hours from noon - 1 pm this Thursday via zoom: https://wwu-edu.zoom.us/j/868249163
but am also always available via email.

If you have extenuating circumstances that are keeping you from succeeding in your courses, please be sure to reach out to your instructor or to me about the possibilities of incomplete grades or deadline extensions.

Our department still has some work to do to that was interrupted last quarter. We still have an all-hands meeting as a priority. Doing that in an online format hasn't seemed satisfying. However, we will do that important work together in the coming months, even if it has to be in a less-than-ideal format.

Heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you for being part of this community.

Sue



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Susan DeBari, Ph.D., she/her/hers
Professor and Interim Chair, Geology Department, MS 9080
516 High Street
Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA 98225

Phone:  360-650-3588
https://cse.wwu.edu/geology/debari







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