ISU Prof. Honored with 2024 Broadening Participation Service Award by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
February 1, 2024
An Idaho State University professor is being recognized for her commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.
Recently, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) named Devaleena Pradhan, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, one of the group’s winners of the 2024 Broadening Participation Service Award. The honor highlights the winners’ "outstanding commitment to and promotion of DEIJ in integrative and comparative biology.”
“It means so much to earn a vote of appreciation from a society that has contributed to shaping my career for almost 15 years,” said Pradhan. “I specifically owe a lot to the lectures and workshops that have been offered, especially through the Broadening Participation committee, that have empowered me and helped me overcome my own struggles and insecurities as a woman of color and an immigrant in academia.”
The winners were selected by SICB’s Broadening Participation Committee and featured in the group’s Fall 2023 newsletter. Pradhan received her award in January at SICB's annual meeting in Seattle, Washington.
Last summer, a paper co-authored by Pradhan was published in the journal Hormones and Behavior and outlined recommendations for “fostering racial equity in the US academic community.” In the manuscript, Pradhan and her colleagues lay out action strategies those working in universities and academic societies can use to “explore how to enact change” and also calls “on fellow academics at all career stages to reflect on how they can leverage their individual power to help achieve the goal of a racially equitable academia.”
“Prioritizing the incorporation of multiple views helps bring a range of perspectives that lead to novel solutions and innovation,” Pradhan said. “In an increasingly diverse world, the only way to advance science and education is to build an institutional culture that recognizes and nurtures multiple ways of knowing.”
For more information on Idaho State University’s Department of Biological Sciences, visit isu.edu/biology.
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