Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in our Societies | Science Societies
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in our Societies

Diversity TreeThe core values of ASA, CSSA, and SSSA guide our efforts and commitment to strengthening our scientific community to ensure creativity and innovation in our sciences. We are proactively building an inclusive culture in which every person can develop and apply their limitless potential in the agronomic, crop, soil, and environmental sciences to positively impact our world and the planet.

This commitment is represented in the strategic plans of the Societies and advanced through the work of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in ASA, CSSA, SSSA Committee (DEI Committee). The committee is comprised of members dedicated to enhancing equity within our sciences, inclusion throughout our Societies, and increasing diversity in people and perspectives. This is accomplished through the implementation of the overall Societies’ DEI initiatives as informed by members, the Board of Directors, the elected leadership and staff. The committee also works collaboratively with leaders across the programs and activities of the Societies.

In March 2021, the three Boards of Directors approved and unanimously supported a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement that affirms our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our Societies and our sciences.

 

View the Statement

Recommendations report

Using survey information, member conversations, and research-based studies from literature, a DEI Recommendations Report was developed and the ACS DEI Committee submitted the recommendations which were approved by the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Boards of Directors. The work of the committee is guided by these recommendations which may be viewed in the sections below.

 

View the Recommendations Report

Information from the DEI member survey indicated that members have experienced discrimination and harassment in the Societies and at the meetings. While many noted that this has happened in the distant past, reports do indicate that it still occurs in various forms. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA have zero-tolerance and are committed to creating expectations that lead to zero experiences of discrimination and harassment in our Societies. We also recognize our responsibility to educate members on acceptable behaviors - both within our activities/programs and as members of the greater society. 

As a first step, the committee established a Society-wide DEI and Safe Space Advocate program ensuring that reporters of harassment at the CANVAS meeting are safe and have the needed support. The program brings in a third-party who is experienced in receiving and investigating discrimination and harassment reports during and after the meeting. Our advocate is present in-person from Sunday-Wednesday and provides an aggregated report to the committee. In addition, a leadership program is conducted for those in leadership roles at the meeting about how the program works.

A Report a Concern form has been created so anyone in our Societies may provide feedback, concerns, ideas, and suggestions on DEI issues and may be done anonymously. 

At the CANVAS meeting, and for 30 days after, you may reach our DEI and Safe Space Advocate:

  • Please send a message to Ann Edahl with any questions or concerns so they may be addressed.

 

The ACS-CSSA-SSSA Ethics Committee is a collaborative group dedicated to creating a safe and welcoming environment in ASA, CSSA, and SSSA. The purpose of the Committee is to guide the Societies’ efforts to continue fostering a culture of integrity, appropriate conduct, and accountability within the Societies. Learn more and access the ethics statements, codes of conducts, and processes on the Ethics Webpage.

 

The education/training working group of the committee develops webinars of relevant topics informed by input from the membership. If you have suggestions, please send a message to Jamie Nix.

Previous webinars include (links to YouTube recordings):

Mentoring is one of the most fundamental assets the Societies can offer members and is crucial for establishing an environment of inclusivity.

The DEI Committee’s Mentoring working group diligently detailed member needs, system requirements, conducted a pilot program and has provided recommendations (including ongoing assessments) to Society staff for a program launch in 2025!

The Mentoring group has developed and compiled the following resources to help mentors and mentees grow and maintain successful relationships:

Ready to get started? View the Mentoring Program here (full launch in Fall)

A working group of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee was charged with assessing progress to date on the initiatives within the Recommendations Report. This Measuring Success Progress Report reflects the work and assessment of the group over 2025 and was presented to the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Boards of Directors. The report succinctly:

  • Summarizes the approach for leading with inclusion first,
  • Provides an overview of demographic trends for gender and ethnicity,
  • Analyzes responses to the 2024 DEI survey,
  • Showcases accomplishments of working groups, and
  • Highlights programming from 2021-2024

The report concludes with recommendations for continuing forward progress, based on this assessment, and includes continuing the robust collection of demographic and survey data, developing DEI core principles for staffing and membership, improving DEI Committee recruitment and resilience in leadership, and solidifying Working Group plans by year’s end to finalize formal updates to the DEI Recommendations Report for 2026-2028.

Data for the report was generated through a Power BI program developed by Society staff. The program generates reports for each Society (ASA, CSSA, SSSA) both collectively and individually across membership, leadership areas, awards (nominees and recipients), reviewers, and meeting attendees. With the exception of membership and reviewers (which is updated annually), the data is generated in real-time when running reports. The reports are broken out overall numbers, gender, and ethnicity for each area. All data is reported in the aggregate.

The Power BI report is available for use here:

Demographic Analysis: Power BI

 

The committee and Societies leadership believe it is important to communicate around issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Current content and information regarding DEI and Inclusivity:

Assessing DEI across ASA, CSSA, SSSA

In the spring of 2021, a cross-Society DEI survey was developed and conducted. This survey was an opportunity to provide a roadmap for the next phase of the initiative to bring long-term actions to support DEI in our science community. View the 2021 ASA-CSSA-SSSA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Survey Report.

Key take-aways which informed the report were:
  • 73% agree that the DEI initiative should be a top priority
  • The Societies are not strongly viewed as providing programs/resources to foster the success of under-represented groups in our membership and our sciences
  • Of the Societies’ programs and activities, there is no one category with a ranking of 46% or greater in which the Societies are doing well or very well in integrating DEI
  • Implicit and gender bias was most prevalent for those experiencing discrimination within the Societies
  • There is strong support for more action and support in program development and less on conversations/research
  • There are both proponents and detractors for the DEI Initiative within the Societies along with a group that believe there are no DEI-related concerns within the Societies

Recommendations report

Using survey information, member conversations, and research-based studies from literature, a Recommendations Report was developed in 2021. The ACS DEI Committee submitted the recommendations which were approved by the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Boards of Directors. The work of the committee is guided by these recommendations which are listed in priority order. View the Complete Recommendations Report (2021).

SSSA

The SSSA Representation and Recognition Task Force developed a report (2018) on recommendations for enhanced gender recognition and representation in the Society, which was presented to the board of directors and served as a resource in the development of the Recommendations Report. The SSSA Inclusivity Committee (previously the SSSA Representation and Recognition Task Force) then expanded on the gender report with a lens towards ethnicity in the Society. This report was also presented to the SSSA Board of Directors and DEI Committee as a resource for their work.

ASA

The ASA Representation and Recognition Task Force provided a report (2019) on enhanced gender recognition and representation in the Society, which was presented to the ASA Board of Directors and served as a resource for the development of the Recommendations Report.

Membership

  • Member Hub Circles connect members through human interest areas-beyond our technical science. We’re expanding to enhance the social connections of members to speak to the social fabric across our agronomy, crop science, and soil science communities.
  • Awards, scholarships, and grants are available across a wide spectrum of opportunities – particularly for students (graduate and undergraduate) and early career members. The objectives are to ensure opportunities for participation, building careers, and recognition.

Publications

Efforts to enhance DEI contributes to well-rounded publications, for example, by encouraging diverse representation on editorial boards and as peer reviewers. This also includes ensuring accessibility for our published content. We have three objectives:

  1. Evaluate existing programs and policies to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion
  2. Enhance diversity within our reviewer pool, editorial boards, authors, and featured research
  3. Communicate progress with regular updates; enhance the accessibility of resources to diverse groups

Some examples of our ongoing work include:

  • Societies Move to 'Expects Data': The Data Policy of ASA, CSSA, and SSSA expects the storage and availability of data necessary to understand and evaluate phenomena reported in our publications. Data should be stored or archived in domain repositories and archiving should follow best management practices for metadata and data curation.
  • Outreach in China: As a result of a dedicated campaign, five editorial board members from China have been recruited. A brochure and set of videos, translated into Chinese, details our publications and submissions requirements.
  • Plain Language Summaries: Most of our journals now request or require Plain Language Summaries (PLS) to be submitted and published with each research article – to reach new audiences (scientists in other fields, undergraduate and graduate students, and readers not fluent in English).
  • Peer Review Mentorship Program: The ASA, CSSA, SSSA Peer Review Mentorship Program provides training and guidance to early career scientists.
  • Color Figure Policy: Adopted author guidelines for figure preparation that accommodate individuals with color-blindness.
  • Gender-Neutral Honorifics: Added the honorific “Mx” to the ScholarOne system
  • Author Pronouns in Published Articles: Authors may add pronouns to the byline their articles. They may also add them retroactively to previously published articles without correction statements or coauthor consent (for their own pronouns).
  • CRediT Taxonomy: Improve transparency and accessibility of research contributions
  • Wiley Author Name Change Policy: Makes it easier for authors to change their name on published papers

Certification

Certified Professional Soil Scientist (CPSS): The Soils Certifying Board requires one ethics credit per each CEU cycle (1.0 CEU in ethics as part of the 30.0 CEU requirement for CPSS/CPSC).

 

The ASA, CSSA, SSSA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee focuses its activities on key areas that inform and grow more diverse, equitable, and inclusive Societies. The committee is guided by the 2021 Recommendations Report and its activities are advanced by working groups specific to each of the recommendations. The committee welcomes feedback and suggestions for future programming. To reach the committee chair and staff, please login to view the roster. Interested in volunteering for the committee? Sign-up here.

The DEI Committee has been focused on the first three prioritized recommendations and developing programming for the Annual Meeting. View their Annual Committee Reports for updates and reports from the working groups.

Member Hub
Submit DEI feedback & report a concern

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Policies

ASA, CSSA, SSSA Code of Conduct

ASA, CSSA, SSSA Statement of Ethics

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Meeting Code of Conduct

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