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Climate & Diversity

The Physics Department strives to establish, maintain, and improve an open-minded and supportive community in which to work, teach and learn. In accordance with these goals, the Physics Department affirms that all community members are to be treated with dignity and respect and that discrimination and harassment will not be tolerated. Moreover, the department is dedicated to partnering with other campus organizations, including those listed below, to develop policies and practices to promote these goals. We further commit ourselves to making the department a supportive, inclusive, and safe environment for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors, regardless of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, parental status, or any other aspect of identity.

Diversity and Inclusion Plan

Contacts & Reporting

Have you had an experience that made you feel unwelcome? Here is what you can do:

  • Talk with someone you trust in the Physics Department
  • Talk with Rachel Zizmann, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator for the Physics Department
  • Report an incident (option for anonymity available) through the official campus reporting system
  • Review the Academic Policies and Guidelines from the Office of the Provost

The Physics Department can and should be a place for all, and we want to help!

We are always trying to improve the climate in the department and we welcome feedback.  Please feel free to contact the members of the Climate and Diversity Committee with any input or suggestions. If you have a specific incident or concern you would like to discuss, please feel free to contact a faculty or staff member of the Climate and Diversity Committee, the Department Chair, or select your status with UW–Madison in the accordion panel below and choose one of the contact options listed.

The Climate and Diversity Committee is chaired by Prof. Tulika Bose and includes Profs. Keith Bechtol and Uwe Bergmann, staff members Sharon Kahn, Katerina Moloni, Sarah Perdue, and Rachel Zizmann, graduate students Kunal Sanwalka and Bindesh Tripathi, and undergraduate student Jakob Mills.

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

For faculty and staff

Department Contacts
College of Letters & Sciences Contacts
  • Lea Aune-Johnson, Director of Human Resources
  • Ruth Litovsky, Associate Dean for the Natural and Physical Sciences
  • Eric Wilcots, Dean
Ombuds Office
  • Confidential, impartial, informal, independent, open to all faculty and staff at UW-Madison
Office of Compliance
  • ADA: reporting incidents in violoation of the Americans with Disabilities act
  • Title IX: reporting sexual harassment and sexual violence
  • Equal Opportunity Investigation Program: reporting incidents in violation of state, federal and university non-discrimination policies and procedures, including but not limited to discrimination, harassment, and retaliation
Hostile and Intimidating Behavior (HIB)
  • Definitions, resources, and trainings

For graduate students

Department Contacts
University Health Services
Dean of Students Office
College of Letters & Sciences Contacts
  • Cheryl Adams Kadera, Director of Human Resources
  • Gloria Marí Beffa, Associate Dean for the Natural and Physical Sciences
  • Eric Wilcots, Dean
Office of Compliance
  • ADA: reporting incidents in violoation of the Americans with Disabilities act
  • Title IX: reporting sexual harassment and sexual violence
  • Equal Opportunity Investigation Program: reporting incidents in violation of state, federal and university non-discrimination policies and procedures, including but not limited to discrimination, harassment, and retaliation
Hostile and Intimidating Behavior (HIB)
  • Definitions, resources, and trainings
Ombuds Office
  • Confidential, impartial, informal, independent, open to all faculty and staff at UW-Madison

For undergraduate students

Department Contacts
University Health Services
Dean of Students Office
College of Letters & Sciences Contacts
  • Cheryl Adams Kadera, Director of Human Resources
  • Gloria Marí Beffa, Associate Dean for the Natural and Physical Sciences
  • Eric Wilcots, Dean
Office of Compliance
  • ADA: reporting incidents in violoation of the Americans with Disabilities act
  • Title IX: reporting sexual harassment and sexual violence
  • Equal Opportunity Investigation Program: reporting incidents in violation of state, federal and university non-discrimination policies and procedures, including but not limited to discrimination, harassment, and retaliation
Hostile and Intimidating Behavior (HIB)
  • Definitions, resources, and trainings
Ombuds Office
  • Confidential, impartial, informal, independent, open to all faculty and staff at UW-Madison

For volunteers and visitors

Department Contacts
Office of Compliance
  • ADA: reporting incidents in violoation of the Americans with Disabilities act
  • Title IX: reporting sexual harassment and sexual violence
  • Equal Opportunity Investigation Program: reporting incidents in violation of state, federal and university non-discrimination policies and procedures, including but not limited to discrimination, harassment, and retaliation

Land Acknowledgement Statement

The Department of Physics acknowledges that the University of Wisconsin–Madison occupies the ancestral lands of the Ho-Chunk, a place their nation has called Teejop since time immemorial.

In an 1832 treaty, the Ho-Chunk were forced to cede this territory.

Decades of ethnic cleansing followed when both the federal and state government repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought to forcibly remove the Ho-Chunk from Wisconsin. We commemorate the resiliency of the Ho-Chunk and other eleven First Nations of Wisconsin.

This history of colonization informs our shared future of collaboration and innovation.

Today, we respect the inherent sovereignty of the Ho-Chunk Nation, along with the eleven other First Nations of Wisconsin.