Author: Rebecca

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at NASA Headquarters


We are proud to present this year’s keynote speaker for NASA Headquarters’ Hispanic Heritage Month event… Ginger Kerrick. She is the first Hispanic female flight director in the history of NASA. Flight directors play a critical role in the success of our Nation’s human spaceflight missions. They sit at the helm during a human spaceflight, responsible for the success of missions and the highly trained teams of engineers and scientists that make them possible.

Hosted by the Hispanic Outreach and Leadership Alliance (HOLA) in Partnership with the Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management Division (EODM), “One Voice, Nuestras Tradiciones” will take place on Tuesday, September 25th at 11 a.m. in the James Webb Auditorium, 300 E Street, SW D.C. Come join us as we highlight and celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture.

The event will conclude with a live performance by Pa’Gozar Latin Band and is open to the public.

Do You Require a Reasonable Accommodation?


NASA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for employees as part of our dedication to individuals with disabilities—so that you can enjoy full access to equal employment opportunities.

For more information, see: https://odeo.hq.nasa.gov/policy. Or contact Disability Program Manager Rebecca Doroshenk, (202) 358-0038, rebecca.d.doroshenk@nasa.gov.

The Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity knows: When you work better, NASA works better!

Meet ODEO’s Director of the Complaints Management Division: Richard N. Reback


Rick Reback serves as the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity’s Director of the Complaints and Programs Division. Rick brings many years of service and a strong commitment to fairness and transparency in Government operations.

Rick is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Texas School Law. He clerked for the Honorable Thomas M. Reavley, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and served at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as Counsel to the Inspector General, joining DHS at its creation. Well-versed in employment law, he also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C. Immediately prior to NASA, Rick was Acting General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, an independent commission with oversight of the safety and security of the country’s nuclear arsenal.

As Director of Complaints Management, Rick works to create an inclusive, productive environment in which our workforce will have fair, thorough, and timely complaints processing. His goal is “to better serve our clients and show them that the Agency cares about our workforce and is constantly moving toward making it a better place for all.”

Rick brings creative and innovative ideas to his work. ODEO is very excited to have him as a team member!

Kennedy Space Center Diversity and Inclusion Activities

Kennedy Space Center has had some great Diversity and Inclusion events this year, with more still to come!

Native American Heritage Initiative (NAHI):
A group of college students and their faculty advisors from Northwest Indian College and Chief Dull Knife College recently toured NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with an opportunity for an up-close look at career opportunities. All were members of winning teams that successfully flew high-powered rockets in the First Nations Launch competition.

The competition is funded by NASA and administered by the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium. It provides a chance for students to design, build and launch high-powered rockets in the annual competition at Kansasville, Wisconsin:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/first-nations-launch-winners-briefed-on-aerospace-careers.

Kennedy Networking Opportunities for Women (KNOW):
In March KNOW invited JoAnn Morgan, former Director of External Relations and Business Development Directorate, to be a guest speaker for their Women’s History Month Celebration. In the poster below Ms. Morgan is sitting in the firing room for Apollo 11 launch. (She was the only woman in the firing room for Apollo 11.)
WHM Poster 18 18×24 (005)

Asian Pacific American Connection (APAC):
APAC hosted an event, “United Our Vision By Working Together” with entertainment of music and performances.
APAC 2018 event 508 flyer

Disability Awareness & Action Working Group (DAAWG):
Temple Grandin was the guest speaker for the National Disability Employment Awareness Month event last year and KSC hosted the 17th Annual Disability Mentoring Day for local students. This year Kennedy will be having an informational fair with local vendors: https://daawg.ksc.nasa.gov/.
SP-2018-07-830-KSC DAAWG NDEAM Vendor Fair Poster

KSC’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Employees & Allies Network will be participating in a several upcoming pride parades in October including the huge parade in Orlando, “Come Out with Pride.”

And the Hispanic Outreach & Leadership Alliance (HOLA) will be hosting an event with a guest speaker for Hispanic Heritage Month in October: https://hola.ksc.nasa.gov/.
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Keep up the great work, Kennedy!

NASA Title IX Reviews Assess Grantee Equal Opportunity


Did you know that NASA plays a key role in ensuring equal opportunity and promoting diversity and inclusion in university and college science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs nationwide? NASA provides technical assistance and legal compliance assessment to the STEM programs the Agency funds across the country.

These reviews are conducted under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and NASA’s implementing regulations and policy, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities receiving Federal financial assistance. NASA conducts Title IX compliance reviews on NASA grant recipients, such as university STEM departments, to ensure beneficiaries of NASA grants have equal opportunity without regard to sex to pursue, participate in, and benefit from academic research, career development opportunities, and educational activities.

NASA assesses the Title IX coordinator’s role and functioning, confirms the existence of Title IX policy and procedures and the quality of their dissemination, evaluates Title IX grievance procedures and the effectiveness of their implementation, and reviews Title IX self-evaluation efforts of the grant recipient.

NASA also evaluates the STEM department’s provision of equal opportunity regardless of gender—in student and faculty recruitment, outreach, admissions, enrollment, retention, academic advising, research participation, classroom and lab experiences, student experiences relating to parental/marital status, and physical safety of the program environment.

Promising practices associated with each of the compliance areas are also reported.

NASA’s Title IX review recommendations are designed to assist NASA grantees in furthering their efforts to ensure equal educational opportunities, regardless of gender.

To learn more about these and related efforts, visit the Agency’s MissionSTEM website at https://missionstem.nasa.gov/.

To view NASA’s latest Title IX compliance report of a NASA-funded STEM program (University of California, Berkeley, Department of Astronomy) visit: https://missionstem.nasa.gov/civil-rights-compliance-reports-title-ix.html .

Check out NASA’s New Careers Website

At NASA, we explore the extraordinary every day. The Office of Human Capital Management recently launched a new, dynamic careers site at www.nasa.gov/careers to showcase the people and careers behind our unique mission. The website serves as NASA’s main hub for public-facing talent acquisition information and provides an engaging experience for potential applicants. The site features profiles of our diverse workforce and the world-class talent they bring—allowing readers better insight into our culture and what it’s really like to work at NASA.

In addition to information on the types of careers available at NASA and guidance on how to apply, the site features a “Diversity Drives Innovation” section with information on minorities in engineering, employee resource groups, and inclusion and outreach. This page features profiles of NASA employees from different fields and backgrounds who share a passion for exploration and a desire to leave an enduring impact on humanity. Check out our careers site today and share it with your network!

Diversity and Equal Opportunity Associate Administrator Steve Shih Visits Wallops Flight Facility


On Sept. 7, 2018, Steve Shih, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Diversity and Equal Opportunity, visited the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) (an organization of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) on Wallops Island near Chincoteague, VA. During his visit, Steve had an opportunity to view the Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) launch on a NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket and learn about the important work done at WFF, including: mobile launch capability, flight services for scientific researchers and instruments, aircraft used at the facility, partnerships with other agencies and commercial companies, machine shop fabrication, and STEM engagement. Steve also learned more about the history of WFF, dating back to the days of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and later NASA’s Langley Research Center.

See photos of the ASPIRE launch on a suborbital sounding rocket: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/2018/feature/mars-parachute-test-launches-from-wallops

NASA Administrator Anti-Discrimination Policy Statement

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine issued a policy statement [https://missionstem.nasa.gov/docs/Bridenstine_Title_IX_Policy_Statement_TAGGED.pdf] today reaffirming the agency’s commitment to equal opportunity among the many educational and research institutions nationwide that receive NASA grant funding or that participate in agency-conducted programs.

This policy statement reflects a core component of the NASA mission and values that touch every state in the nation, as the agency currently awards more than $1 billion annually in grants to some 750 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs at universities and colleges, science centers and museums, research institutes, and other organizations.

Under federal civil rights laws, recipient institutions of NASA grant awards and cooperative agreements must ensure equal opportunity to their program beneficiaries. These beneficiaries include, but are not limited to, STEM faculty, staff and students and visitors to science museums and centers.

As the Administrator states:

“At the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), we are committed to achieving our missions and realizing our vision to discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity. To accomplish our missions and vision, we invest in programs and activities involving non-Federal institutions. As authorized by Federal laws and NASA civil rights regulations and policies, we are also fully committed to helping these partner organizations – that participate in NASA-conducted programs or receive funding from NASA – adhere to all applicable civil rights authorities, and refrain from discrimination on the bases of race, color, and national origin, sex (including sexual harassment), disability, and age.”

This is an especially timely statement of NASA’s commitment to equal opportunity as we witness, in many professions across the country, the impact of harassment on individuals, institutions and entire industries.

At NASA, we understand that diversity and inclusion drive innovation and mission success. The barriers created by harassment can have a negative impact on mission-critical work and the development of our nation’s current and future STEM talent pipeline. For this reason, and because it’s right, NASA is dedicated working with our grantees to prevent and effectively address harassment.

For more information on NASA’s efforts to ensure equal opportunity and promote diversity and inclusion among the agency’s grant recipient institutions, visit NASA’s MissionSTEM Web site at http://missionstem.nasa.gov/index.html and https://missionstem.nasa.gov/compliance-requirements-nasa-grantees.html.

NASA Equal Opportunity Employees attend Inclusion Summit


Three NASA Equal Opportunity employees attended the Talent Management Alliance’s 6th Annual Inclusion Summit in Atlanta, GA to examine the role and relationship of D&I with business issues such as innovation, leadership development, and team, individual and organizational performance.

This national summit is attended by a variety of Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions, and government agencies all committed to pursue D&I as a strategic imperative that supports their workplace mission and enables their workforce to be competitive and successful.