Diversity, Inclusion, and Acknowledgment

Diversity, equity, and inclusion

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) strives for research excellence by sustaining a community rooted in equity, diversity, and inclusion. We believe that a diverse research community is a prerequisite to conducting the foundational innovation necessary to achieve our mission. Our research can only be as strong as the diversity of our Center.

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment that welcomes and supports everyone. We value the contributions of every member of GLBRC and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich our community.

GLBRC is led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison with Michigan State University (MSU) as a major partner. We support the strong commitments that both universities have to diversity, equity, and inclusion. You can read more on UW–Madison’s commitment and initiatives here and MSU’s commitment and initiatives here and here.

UW–Madison and MSU provide implicit bias training opportunities to all of their employees and students. GLBRC requires all of our members to adhere to their institutions’ diversity principles and practices.

Land acknowledgment

UW–Madison occupies ancestral Ho-Chunk land, a place their nation has called Teejop (day-JOPE) since time immemorial. In an 1832 treaty, the Ho-Chunk were forced to cede this territory. For more information click here.

Members of the Ho-Chunk Nation stading outside around a plaque
Members of the Ho-Chunk Nation are pictured following the 2019 dedication of a heritage marker on Bascom Hill. Several UW–Madison officials, including Chancellor Rebecca Blank, joined them for the group photo. Bryce Richter/UW-Madison

MSU and the Kellogg Biological Station (its field station) occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. The university resides on land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. For more resources click here.

A Michigan Agricultural College map from 1857 overlaid with a modern map of Michigan State University
A Michigan Agricultural College map from 1857 overlaid with a modern map of Michigan State University. The circled area indicates the location of the Native encampment in 1857. MSU Native American Institute

We recognize that Indigenous Nations worldwide are doing some of the most important and leading work in transitioning away from fossil fuels toward sustainable and reliable energy that is affordable and accessible to everyone.