“Diversity and inclusion are worthy pursuits in their own rights – but they are also business imperatives.”

At the annual conference of the STM Association in Frankfurt last week, Copyright Clearance Center CEO Tracey Armstrong moderated a panel discussion examining how the pursuit of diversity promises to improve all aspects of scholarly research, from the lab to the library.

“When I spoke with the various panel members in advance of our discussion, everyone stressed that increasing diversity is a critical objective for their organizations and for our entire profession,” Armstrong said. “Diversity and inclusion are worthy pursuits in their own rights – but they are also business imperatives.”

The panelists included –

  • Gemma Hersh, Vice President, Open Science, at Elsevier. In the UK, she sits as publisher representative on the Universities UK Open Access Monitoring Group. Before joining Elsevier, Gemma was Head of Public Affairs for the UK Publishers Association.
  • Mandy Hill, Managing Director of Academic Publishing at Cambridge University Press. Before joining Cambridge University Press in 2014, Mandy worked for Oxford University Press for over 15 years.
  • Leon Heward-Mills, Global Publishing Director at Taylor & Francis Group, leading editorial development and strategy across Taylor & Francis journals. Between 2011 and 2015, Leon was Chief Executive of the Society for Endocrinology and Managing Director of Bioscientifica Ltd, the Society’s commercial subsidiary.
  • Sonya T. Smith, who joined the Howard University faculty in 1995, is the first tenured female faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She recently became the first woman promoted to the highest academic rank of full Professor in this department.
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