Dr. Graham on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

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When I started my engineering career with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Savannah, GA, there where seven african american engineers in the section I was working in and only one african american female. There was only one african american department manager and he recruited all seven of us from an HBCU. 

The term “equity” refers to fairness and justice and is distinguished from equality: Whereas equality means providing the same to all, equity means recognizing that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to imbalances. The process is ongoing, requiring us to identify and overcome intentional and unintentional barriers arising from bias or systemic structures. The National Association of Colleges and Employers 

When I started working in Frankfurt, Germany with the US Army Corps of Engineers there were four african americans and only one african american female working in four different sections out of approximately 1200 employees. There was very little organization inclusion for us among the greater working population.

When I worked in private industry, my first job was at Hughes Aircraft (now Hughes Research Laboratories) in El Segundo, California and there were four african americans and only one african american female. You can imagine how I belonged in the organization.