Graduate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Together We Grow

UC Davis values a diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, and experiences among its graduate student population and remains committed to facilitating a campus atmosphere well suited to this diversity. As part of this commitment, UC Davis offers numerous services, workshops, and trainings, and well as key faculty, staff, and students situated to promote and address the needs of diverse students and those allied in this mission.

What We Do

Prospective Students and Postdoctoral Scholars

UC Davis is committed to ensuring that all students and postdocs feel like you belong here. Our outreach and recruitment team visits schools and attends conferences across the country to encourage students to apply to graduate school at UC Davis.

We offer application fee waivers for students who have participated in one of many graduate school preparatory programs.

Prospective postdoctoral scholars are highly encouraged to apply to the UC Office of the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

Lastly, we provide assistance with the UC Davis graduate school admissions process and help navigate understanding offer letters and submission of the statement of intent to register (SIR).

Current Students and Postdoctoral Scholars

A driving motivation of the Graduate Diversity Officer is to ensure that the research environment at UC Davis is one in which students and postdocs, particularly those from historically excluded populations, can thrive. To that end, we provide mentoring and advising and we advocate for students who are facing academic challenges. We also help link students and postdocs to external resources that help to enhance their training experience.

Departments and Graduate Groups

In order to promote best practices in equity and inclusion, Graduate Studies partners with individual departments and graduate groups to provide training and establish policies. The Diversity Officer (in collaboration with the Director of Mentoring and Academic Success Initiatives) partner with faculty, staff, and deans to develop workshops and long-term training series on allyship, holistic review in graduate admissions, mentoring, and several other topics critical to graduate student and postdoc success.  

Contact Us

Have a question, comment, or concern related to issues of graduate diversity, equity, and inclusion at UC Davis? Our Graduate Diversity Officer is here to help support you. 

University of California Diversity Statement

The diversity of the people of California has been the source of innovative ideas and creative accomplishments throughout the state’s history into the present. Diversity- is a defining feature of California’s past, present, and future- refers to the variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and geographic region, and more.

Because the core mission of the University of California is to serve the interests of the State of California, it must seek to achieve diversity among its student bodies and among its employees. The State of California has a compelling interest in making sure that people from all backgrounds perceive that access to the University is possible for talented students, staff, and faculty from all groups. The knowledge that the University of California is open to qualified students from all groups, and thus serves all parts of the community equitably, helps sustain the social fabric of the State.

Diversity should also be integral to the University’s achievement of excellence. Diversity can enhance the ability of the University to accomplish its academic mission. Diversity aims to broaden and deepen both the educational experience and the scholarly environment, as students and faculty learn to interact effectively with each other, preparing them to participate in an increasingly complex and pluralistic society. Ideas, and practices based on those ideas, can be made richer by the process of being born and nurtured in a diverse community. The pluralistic university can model a process of proposing and testing ideas through respectful, civil communication. Educational excellence that truly incorporates diversity thus can promote mutual respect and make possible the full, effective use of the talents and abilities of all to foster innovation and train future leadership.

Therefore, the University of California renews its commitment to the full realization of its historic promise to recognize and nurture merit, talent, and achievement by supporting diversity and equal opportunity in its education, services, and administration, as well as research and creative activity. The University particularly acknowledges the acute need to remove barriers to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of talented students, faculty, and staff from historically excluded populations who are currently underrepresented.

Endorsed as Amended by the President of the University of California August 17, 2010

UC Davis Principles of Community

The University of California, Davis, is first and foremost an institution of learning, teaching, research and public service.  UC Davis reflects and is committed to serving the needs of a global society comprising all people and a multiplicity of identities. The university expects that every member of our community acknowledge, value, and practice the following guiding principles.

We affirm the dignity inherent in all of us, and we strive to maintain a climate of equity and justice demonstrated by respect for one another.  We acknowledge that our society carries within it historical and deep-rooted injustices and biases.  Therefore, we endeavor to foster mutual understanding and respect among the many parts of our whole.

We affirm the right of freedom of expression within our community.  We affirm our commitment to non-violent exchange and the highest standards of conduct and decency toward all.  Within this context, we reject violence in all forms.  We promote open expression of our individuality and our diversity within the bounds of courtesy, sensitivity and respect.  We further recognize the right of every individual to think, speak, express and debate any idea limited only by university regulations governing time, place and manner.

We confront and reject all manifestations of discrimination, including those based on race, ethnicity, gender and gender expression, age, visible and non-visible disability, nationality, sexual orientation, citizenship status, veteran status, religious/non-religious, spiritual, or political beliefs, socio-economic class, status within or outside the university, or any of the other differences among people which have been excuses for misunderstanding, dissension or hatred.  We recognize and cherish the richness contributed to our lives by our diversity.  We take pride in all our achievements, and we celebrate our differences.

We recognize that each of us has an obligation to the UC Davis community of which we have chosen to be a part. We will strive to build and maintain a culture and climate based on mutual respect and caring.