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Philosophy and Governance

We hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Taylor lab is moving!  We are now located at Case Western Reserve University. Updated web details to come soon!

First posted – April 25, 2020.

While we’re not sure if this is a page that is typical for academic laboratories we felt that it was important enough to put here, and that’s ESPECIALLY true given what we see going on in the world today.

We strive to be an environment in which people are able to learn and grow, achieve their maximum potential, perform outstanding scientific and technological research and development, and perhaps most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!.

As such, it is expected that all members of the QBES Laboratory, especially the director, treat others with kindness, dignity, and respect.  We believe that all of us hailing from different backgrounds, and having a variety of different ideas are features that make us, and any organization or group strong.  In particular, we adhere to the UNC Department of Biology’s Accountability, Respect, Inclusivity, Support, and Excellence (ARISE) values (check them out here).  Let us be clear: there is NO ROOM for treating people with a lack of kindness, dignity, respect, or basic decency within our walls.  Even if we disagree about a point, we can still coexist together as human beings and respect one another.

All people who come into the lab sign a lab_contract that broadly states what the director expects of them, what they can expect from the director, and what they should expect from our laboratory environment.  BOTH lab members and the director sign off on this contract. This way, everyone knows what’s expected of them work wise, and behavior-wise.  Like we said earlier, we think these things are important enough to put on a website, and we think that how people are treated is so important that it’s worth signing off on so that when people walk through our doors, they know that they are SAFE. We are keenly aware of the moment we are in, and just want you to know that within our walls, you matter, can show up as you are, and are SAFE.

We get the fact that there are both real and perceived power differentials between different people (e.g., between the director and a graduate student).  As such, we aim to create an environment where people feel comfortable enough to voice problems and concerns, even those which are uncomfortable, to people at, below, and above their rank.  That being said, we know that that individuals may not feel comfortable broaching certain topics or issues for a variety of reasons. If someone feels that they cannot voice a concern directly to the director or someone else in the lab, the following lists JUST SOME of the places you can go for help. While this list is not exhaustive, many of these people and places can help you get connected to the right resources for your particular situation.  Like we said earlier, we want you to know that you are SAFE, and that there are resources available to help protect you!