WASHINGTON, January 13, 2021 — The executive leadership of the American Institute of Physics and seven of its Member Societies have joined more than 1,500 other leaders in signing the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge, recommitting their organizations to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
The pledge, currently signed by CEOs across 85 industries, was created by CEO Action for Racial Equality, a fellowship to advance racial equity through public policy. This diversity and inclusion initiative launched June 12, 2017, and is “committed to advancing inclusion of all employees and making them feel supported in the workplace, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability status, veteran status, or other aspect of diversity,” according to the CEO Action webpage.
The CEOs and leaders from AIP and AIP Member Societies who signed the pledge are:
- Susan Fox, Acoustical Society of America
- Angela Keyser, American Association of Physicists in Medicine
- Beth Cunningham, American Association of Physics Teachers
- Kevin Marvel, American Astronomical Society
- Kristin Stevens, American Crystallographic Association
- Michael Moloney, American Institute of Physics
- Jonathan Bagger, American Physical Society
- Liz Rogan, The Optical Society
“Signing this pledge along with my colleagues across AIP just as a new decade launches in January is a touchstone of our federation’s collective imperative and commitment to advance diversity, inclusion, belonging, and accessibility in the physical sciences,” Moloney said. “It is important for me and my fellow executives in the AIP community to lead our organizations down a path that cultivates empowering workplaces for our staff and welcoming communities for our members and volunteers.
“We are all committed to engaging in and promoting the challenging discussions about diversity and inclusion. Being part of the broader multisector CEO Action will allow us to share what works and what does not with others, so that we can continue to improve workplaces across scientific communities.”
“I am looking forward to working with and learning from CEOs across many different sectors to help AAPT make progress on our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals,” Cunningham said. “By participating in the CEO Diversity pledge, we are actively doing our part together to help AAPT, AIP, and the AIP Member Societies work against systemic racism and oppression, including educating ourselves to better understand and respond to longstanding racial injustices.”
“Too often, we in the nonprofit sector shy away from learning from and joining with leaders in the for-profit community,” Marvel said. “In this case, many for-profit companies are ahead of us in acting on inclusion, equity, and diversity. I look forward to learning from and contributing to this group of engaged CEOs with my AIP colleagues as we at AAS continue making progress.”
“The American Physical Society is proud to join its fellow AIP Member Societies in signing the CEO pledge,” Bagger said. “Diversity, inclusion, and respect are core values of APS, because they are foundational to social justice and essential to advance science itself. Committing to this pledge will strengthen APS and allow it to better serve the physics community, both at home and abroad.”
AIP’s overarching strategy is to advance the physical sciences with a unifying voice of strength from diversity. AIP’s federation provides the means for its Member Societies to pool, coordinate, and leverage their diverse expertise in the pursuit of shared goals. Joining together with executive leaders from a diverse set of for-profit and nonprofit sectors and organizations will allow the AIP Member Societies to broaden their impact and achieve results beyond their individual commitments to diversity and inclusion.
“This action will allow us to step forward as a welcoming community, where every member of our staff and every volunteer can bring their authentic self to the workplace each day,” Moloney said. “We, as an AIP community, are committed to diversity action as one element of our focus on the imperative of ending racial inequity and social injustice. Our broader vision is to encourage anyone, who is willing, able, and empowered, to tackle the deepest issues of racial and social justice in the physical sciences with as much responsibility as is often heaped upon our marginalized employees.”
Additional information/resources:
- AIP Diversity Statement
- AIP Member Society Diversity & Inclusion Statements
- AIP Statement on #ShutDownSTEM
- AIP Board of Directors Resolution on Diversity in Member Society Volunteer Appointments
- AIP Workshop: “How to Achieve Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Professional Meetings“
- AIP Diversity Initiatives: Resolutions, Policies & Best Practices
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ABOUT AIP
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) is a 501(c)(3) membership corporation of scientific societies. AIP pursues its mission—to advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity—with a unifying voice of strength from diversity. In its role as a federation, AIP advances the success of its Member Societies by providing the means to pool, coordinate, and leverage their diverse expertise and contributions in pursuit of a shared goal of advancing the physical sciences in the research enterprise, in the economy, in education, and in society. In its role as an institute, AIP operates as a center of excellence using policy analysis, social science, and historical research to promote future progress in the physical sciences.
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