The USAAAO acknowledges the roles that systemic racism has played in shaping our society and the academic enterprise. We believe that Black lives matter, and we want to build an organization where all members of our team, coaching staff, and competitors are treated equitably and with respect. Our mission is to promote astronomy and astrophysics education for everyone. We acknowledge that we have had a lack of representation from Black students and students from underrepresented groups both in our competition and on our team. We plan to make USAAAO anti-racist, by ensuring that our competition and training are not just fair, but equitable. Toward that goal, we are implementing the following steps:
- All volunteers with the USAAAO will be required to do implicit bias training upon joining the group, and all current volunteers are required to complete training by July 3rd, 2020.
- We will search for a publicity volunteer to help us expand our reach to groups under-represented in astronomy and astrophysics (https://usaaao.org/call-for-publicity-officers/)
We look forward to expanding our efforts toward equity in astronomy and astrophysics education and using our reach as astronomy educators to work toward a better future.
We hope you have a Happy Juneteenth!
USAAAO 