Tag: anti-harassment

Thank you for tuning in for ODEO’s blog regarding NASA’s anti-harassment efforts! In February, NASA embarked on an Anti-Harassment Campaign for 2018. NASA seeks to proactively prevent harassment at NASA and promptly correct harassment when it occurs, as this effort dovetails with our goals to assure the safety and effectiveness of NASA’s workforce and mission.

NASA defines harassment as any unwelcome conduct, verbal or physical based on an individual’s race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, status as a parent, genetic information, or gender identity, or retaliation for making reports or allegations of harassment or providing information related to such allegations when: the behavior can reasonably be considered to adversely affect the work environment, or an employment decision affecting the employee is based upon the employee’s acceptance or rejection of such conduct.

What focus would you like to see NASA consider, as we move forward on this initiative? What challenges do you believe we face, in attaining this mutual goal? What alliances can be fashioned or strengthened to ensure mission success?

Thank you, in advance, for your ideas on these and other issues.

Steve Shih, Esq.
Associate Administrator
Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity

Thank you for tuning in for the first-of-several blog posts regarding NASA’s anti-harassment philosophy and efforts! As Administrator Jim Bridenstine stated at his first NASA Town Hall meeting, “This is an agency where we want to make sure that inclusion and diversity continue… as long as I’m at the helm of this agency, there will be no discrimination based on race, religion, sexual identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, or anything else.” In that vein, ODEO held an Agency-wide Anti-Harassment Forum on May 15-17 at Johnson Space Center in Houston. The Forum, a key part of the NASA Anti-Harassment Campaign, brought together the Agency’s anti-harassment community of practice, including all 10 Center Anti-Harassment Coordinators, as well as legal, HR, and EEO leaders from across the Agency. The Forum was designed primarily to provide participants with an opportunity to raise current issues and concerns, share promising practices, and contribute to the continuous improvement of the program at their Centers and potentially Agency-wide.

Program highlights included a keynote address by Dr. Lilia Cortina, one of the Nation’s preeminent researchers on sexual harassment in the workplace, who recently served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Study of Sexual Harassment in the Sciences, as well as a presentation by D&I thought leader and author of The Loudest Duck, Laura Liswood. The Forum group also heard from a number of senior leaders including Krista Paquin, former Deputy Associate Administrator, and Melanie Saunders, Acting Deputy Associate Administrator, and myself, among others.

As a safety culture, NASA takes anti-harassment seriously; when any among our workforce feel unsafe, there exists the potential to detrimentally affect NASA’s mission.

What are your thoughts on anti-harassment? It’s nexus with our mission? Are there additional areas you would like to see NASA address?
I invite you to join the conversation!

Steve Shih, Esq.
Associate Administrator
Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity