OWL is committed to diversity and inclusion of all people.
We are committed to fostering an environment that is supportive of people of all identities, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, class, religion, language, national origin. We value and welcome ideas that may be different than our own or the popular belief, to cultivate important discussions that can bring about change. We want our research, teaching, and mentorship to take an intersectional approach and help address the needs of the broader community. We seek to create a culture that fosters collaboration over competition in our research ethics. Where we encourage a multidisciplinary approach to these issues by integrating research from psychology, women’s and gender studies, feminist, law, and clinical perspectives.
The study of psychology is historically built on a small subset of privileged voices and is not representative of the vast diversity of people that make up the world. We believe in order to produce high-quality science, we must make a conscious effort towards ensuring our research is Anti-racist, and includes people of diverse backgrounds. Diversity must be top of mind when designing, conducting, and communicating research.
OWL is committed to better understanding how phenomena such as objectification, sexual violence, and gendered norms affect women and other marginalized groups. We seek to provide insights that may shed light on these issues and can inform efforts to improve the quality of life for those subject to these phenomena. OWL explicitly is taking action to increase diversity in our lab by:
1) Seeking out the work of researchers from underrepresented or marginalized backgrounds to read, share, and cite. (e.g., consulting resources that highlight the work of BIPOC scholar such as this BIPOC-author psychology papers spreadsheet)
2) Engaging in the department- and discipline-wide conversations about equity and inclusion (e.g., presenting at departmental brown bags and creating resource material such as CB3 Club (July 27th, 2020): Being actively anti-racist in our teaching, research, and mentoring and Ways to Improve and Incorporate Inclusivity in our Teaching Practices).
3) Taking our privilege and positionality into account when approaching research (e.g., including reflexivity statements in our writing where appropriate), teaching (e.g., encourage perspective-taking in our courses), and mentorship (e.g., conscious consideration of power dynamics at play in these relationships).
4) Amplifying diverse perspectives in our teaching (e.g., decolonizing our syllabi, inviting guest lecturers who study and/or are from marginalized groups)
5) Creating research protocols that are identity-affirming and inclusive (e.g., using inclusive demographics questions, avoiding lab protocols or requirements that are prohibitory to certain identities, creating inclusive spaces for research assistants and research participants).
6) Decentering typically studied populations to focus on understudied identities. (e.g., using targeted sampling strategies, not collapsing minority identities into an “other category”)
7) Working toward making research more accessible and available (e.g., participating in open science practices, practicing effective science communication by writing for a broad audience and sharing our work widely, having a diverse research team).
These are just a few approaches that we are taking but we are constantly learning and working to take a proactive stance towards diversity and inclusion. We welcome feedback from the community, including research participants, peers, students, or collaborators, on how to improve.
If you would like to provide any feedback and comments about the lab, please feel free to either email us as owlab.unl@gmail.comor go to our Anonymous Feedback google form to provide your feedback anonymously.
Community Resources
This is a directory of Women’s Shelters in Lincoln, NE and nationwide
Lincoln’s crisis center for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and related forms of abuse.
Voices of Hope’s primary focus is on the provision of 24-hour-a-day crisis intervention, advocacy and prevention services for domestic violence, sexual assault and incest.
Fresh Start is a transitional program that serves homeless women who do not have children in their custody
Fresh Start provides for basic needs such as food, clothing and housing while offering case management and supportive services.
Friendship Home exists to support, shelter and advocate for victims of domestic violence and their children.
Friendship Home exists to support, shelter and advocate for victims of domestic violence and their children.
Lincoln’s primary homeless shelter, providing emergency and transitional housing to both men and families (including single mothers).
Assisting victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and stalking and their children to achieve safety and empowering them to lead self-determined lives.
Click for OWL home page 