AIBS Diversity Leadership Awards

AIBS is no longer accepting applications for the 2008 Diversity Leadership Award. Please visit in the fall for information about the 2009 Diversity Leadership Award.

The Diversity Leadership Awards have been established to promote best practices and disseminate successful strategies to broaden participation of women, persons with disabilities, and under represented minorities in the biological sciences. The award is given each year to recognize programs that demonstrate outstanding creativity, commitment and effectiveness in promoting diversity in biology. Diversity Leadership Award winners will be featured on the AIBS website and in BioScience.

Call for nominations

AIBS encourages nominations from scientific societies, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, government entities and non profits as well as other biological institutions such as museums, botanic gardens, field stations etc. Nominations are encouraged from members and non-members of AIBS, and self-nominations are encouraged. Programs receiving this award will be selected on their merits (as outlined in the evaluation criteria below), and awardees will not necessarily be affiliated with AIBS member societies and organizations.

Click here to download the nomination form.

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria for Assessing Education Programs/Practices

Questions/Criteria	Exemplary	Promising	Not ready to adapt/scale
1. Were expected outcomes defined before program launch?	Yes	Soon after	Sort of/vague
2. Are outcome data attributable to the program intervention?	Far exceeded original expectations	Exceeded original expectations	Failed to meet expectations
3. Does it demonstrate excellence, which requires equity? - i.e., did it increase the diversity of the target population?	Chief outcome achieved and documented (positive trend)	Chief outcome implied	Equity at core of program design, not an add-on
4. What was the value added of the experience to the target population?	Related outcomes that move treatment group to next competitive level	Majority (but not most) of individuals in treatment population enhanced	Gains for some individuals that can be attributed to treatment
5. Is there evidence of adaptation/ institutionalization, i.e., multiple sites?	Explicit scale-up strategy w/evidence	Attempt to implement strategy and evaluate	Confined to a single site
6. How long has it been in place?	Self-sustaining (10+ years)	Majority soft money (3-10 years)	New (<3 years)

This table "Evaluation Criteria and Design Principles" is taken directly from the "Bridge For All" (Table 2) document by BEST (Building Engineering and Science Talent) and serves as the basis for our criteria. The report is available on the web as a PDF.

Underrepresented minorities in the biological sciences include African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. In addition, AIBS wishes to recognize programs that strengthen opportunities for participation in biology among persons with ADA-recognized disabilities.

Contact

Brian Stagg
Education Program Associate
American Institute of Biological Sciences
1444 I St. NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005

202-628-1500 x249