Our Commitment
UC Davis Graduate Studies opposes racial bias in any part of graduate education and training, and yet acknowledges that racism has shaped the development of academic research, methods of training graduate students and postdocs, and the make-up of faculty, students, and postdoctoral scholars. Such bias has limited who has access to the development of human knowledge and has placed limits on that knowledge. We therefore commit to re-envisioning graduate education and training that actively rejects racist assumptions and structures.
In 2020-2021, working groups comprised of faculty, students, postdocs, and staff created a set of recommendations for actionable goals that Graduate Studies is undertaking to address racial injustice at UC Davis in three broad areas that have also been integrated into our Strategic Plan:
- Invest in financial support for underrepresented and marginalized graduate students.
- Improve outreach, admissions, recruitment, and retention to underrepresented groups and students/ postdoctoral scholars of color.
- Create a truly inclusive graduate campus climate.
Annual Graduate Anti-Racism Symposium (GARS)
This annual Spring symposium brings scholars, students, and staff from across campus to address racial inequities in graduate education and to collaborate on anti-racist initiatives. Speakers have included a wide representation of members of the university community, including staff, faculty, graduate students, and campus leaders.
This year’s GARS symposium, “Weathering in the Modern Academy,” showcases graduate student and postdoctoral scholar research that speaks to these issues. Specifically, we seek to engage the campus community about innovative ways that new scholars can “weather” the academic environment to manage academic life and make a place for themselves.
GARS 2025
GARS 2025: Weathering in the Modern Academy is scheduled for May 9, 2025 from 9:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The Keynote, Session 1, is being offered in both virtual and in-person options. Sessions 2 & 3 are in-person only, in the Gibeling Room (1220 Walker Hall). Please register here for all sessions: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/meeting/register/1pBmxAAmQTmTKY3ELL-viw
Following you will receive a confirmation including the Zoom link if you are participating virtually for Session 1.
GARS 2025 Program
Session 1, Keynote
Re-imagining Belonging in Higher Education Spaces
Dr. Arlyn Y. Moreno Luna
UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow
School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA
Virtual or in-person
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Session 2
Graduate Student and Postdoctoral talks with Q&A, in-person and Faculty Facilitator 10:00 - 11:50 a.m.
Session 3
Lunch and Roundtable Conversation, in-person, 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
GARS Planning Committee
- Associate Dean and Professor of History, Ellen Hartigan O'Connor
- Graduate Diversity Officer, Graduate Studies, Dr. Josephine Moreno
- Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Luis Carvajal-Carmona
- Graduate Student Adviser to the Dean and Chancellor, Doctoral Candidate, Tamara Christiani
- Postdoctoral Scholar, Genome Center, Dr. Nicole Halmai
View the Graduate Anti-Racism Toolkit
IDARE Committee
Implementation of the Anti-Racism Initiative is charged to the Graduate Studies IDARE (Inclusion, Diversty, Anti-Racism, and Equity) Committee. This committee is part of a campus-wide effort coordinated by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The Graduate Studies membership is:
Co-chairs: Josephine Moreno and Ellen Hartigan-O'Connor
Committee members: Tamara Christiani, Sarah Driver, Nicole Rabaud, Gordy Sauer, Fatoumatta Sisay and Edher Zamudio