SSSA Diversity Trailblazers Receive SSSA Presidential Award

Each year, the SSSA Presidential Award is given to an individual or group of individuals who have influenced soil science or the practice of soil science so greatly that the impact of their efforts will be enduring on the future of our science and/or profession. Their work may have influenced any aspect of soil science in the agricultural, environmental, or social science fields as a researcher, educator, or practitioner; but the fundamental criterion is that their influence be such an important one that their impact will be long lasting.

At the Annual Meeting last fall, I bestowed the 2023 SSSA Presidential Award on the SSSA Diversity Trailblazers, those members who were the first or among the first women, people of color, indigenous, and LGBTQ+ scientists to take on leadership roles in our Society.

During the presentation of the award, I asked all of the Trailblazers in attendance to stand. It was awesome to see so many faces beaming back at me. Through heartfelt conversations and emails, I learned how meaningful this award was to the recipients and to the broader membership.

Many have asked to see a list of names (see box) of all of the Trailblazers and asked how they were identified. I used our membership database, which dates back to 1980 and has demographics information such as gender (male and female) and race (American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Black/African American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Other, White, or no response). I looked for the first three women, people of color, and indigenous scientists who were president, a member of the Board of Directors and which division/group they represented, a division chair, and editorial board member of the Soil Science Society of America Journal and Vadose Zone Journal, and SSSA Fellow. I also identified leaders in our LGBTQ+ community.

There are limitations to our database, and I may not have identified all of our Trailblazers. Some of the limitations were that demographic records were not kept prior to 1980, and race/ethnicity data does not adequately describe the true diversity of our members. I apologize if I have failed to identify any Diversity Trailblazers. If so, please forgive me. But also please contact both me (carrie.laboski@usda.gov) and Sara Uttech (suttech@sciencesocieties.org), so we can make additions to the list of award recipients.