NASA
took one giant leap in its
diversity, equity, and inclusion
mission.
NASA Administrator
Bill Nelson
named “diversity champions” Steve Shih and Elaine Ho as NASA’s first diversity ambassador and associate administrator for the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, respectively.
EMPLOYERS ARE LIABLE FOR DISCRIMINATORY HIRING LEARNED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: EEOC
“To be successful in our missions, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility must continue to be at the forefront,” Nelson
said
in a press release.
Shih will be charged with engaging “NASA’s partners — including across the government, private sector, academia, and non-governmental organizations — to learn and promote best practices for NASA to recruit, hire, engage, and retain the most talented individuals from all backgrounds and life experiences.”
Per a 2021
executive order
, styled “Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce,” NASA has developed a 60-page
strategic plan
to aid the “continued expansion of DEIA principles into practice.”
In honor of #WomensHistoryMonth, join us today for a special social takeover with Aurora Kesseli! Stay tuned while she introduces herself and the work she does in astrophysics. pic.twitter.com/K3ZG0cn1tD
— NASA Universe (@NASAUniverse) March 28, 2023
Nelson’s opening message in the strategic plan claims that “DEIA is critical to innovation, excellence, and mission success” and that “NASA will be a model of excellence for DEIA strategy and implementation across the Federal Government.”
For that to be the case, Nelson says, “success requires the personal commitment of every employee to our DEIA strategy.”
NASA
defines
diversity as “the entire universe of differences and similarities” and inclusion as “the full participation, belonging, and contribution of organizations and individuals.”
The space agency recently got into
hot water
after it ended a test project allowing employees at the Goddard Space Flight Center to display their preferred pronouns on their identification.
The move reportedly drew the ire of some within the agency and even more anger from astronomers like University of New Hampshire professor Chanda Prescod-Weinstein who
said
the move is evidence of Nelson’s “queerphobic leadership.”
The Biden administration has made DEI a mainstay across the federal government, with
multiple
executive orders
concerning how to implement the ideology in federal agencies.
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DEI initiatives, both inside the government and in the private sector, have become politically divisive due to their outsize focus on race and gender as opposed to skill and merit.
Republicans like former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (FL) have called to end the push, favoring equality over equity.
