Department Values Statement
The Department of Psychology at UC Davis is committed to creating and sustaining a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment as an essential element of excellence in science and education. To do so, we actively work to identify, disrupt, and dismantle policies and practices that stem from the history of our society and academic institutions, which were built to cater only to a small subset of people and which therefore marginalize many others along interlocking dimensions of exclusion and oppression. In place of exclusive systems, practices, and policies, we work to create new ones that enable an inclusive and antiracist departmental culture where all students, faculty, and staff can survive and thrive.
All are Welcome
UC Davis adheres to California's Proposition 209 which prohibits discrimination against or giving preferential treatment to any individual or group in public employment, public education, or public contracting on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.
As a department, we commit:
(1) To explicitly value and compensate the important work necessary to advance inclusive excellence (e.g., through the diverse mentoring initiative to compensate graduate students for labor that advances inclusion, through carefully assessing job candidates’ past and planned contributions to inclusive excellence and explicitly valuing this work in hiring decisions, and through explicitly valuing diversity and inclusion work in merit and promotion discussions, consistent with university policy).
(2) To regularly solicit and hold ourselves accountable to feedback about inclusivity and potential problems in our policies and practices (e.g., through annual climate surveys and our feedback and reporting system).
(3) To be clear and transparent about expectations for advancement (e.g., through our Faculty-Graduate Student Mentoring Agreements and through annual faculty meeting presentations from our Mentoring and Personnel Advancement Committee on criteria for merit and promotion decisions).
(4) To incorporate inclusive practices in our courses and to train our students to be thoughtful and compassionate leaders who can make positive contributions to science and society (e.g., through annual teaching workshops and by training students to recognize and disrupt oppressive systems in science).
(5) To maintain a Community and Inclusive Excellence (CIE) committee that will support, facilitate, and provide resources for our department’s collective work toward inclusive excellence goals. The committee’s efforts are informed by (a) student and faculty input, (b) the campus strategic vision for inclusion, and (c) evidence about what works to promote meaningful and sustained progress (e.g., meta-analytic evidence on policy effectiveness, audit data and case studies from similar organizations). The committee aims to identify, disrupt, and dismantle systemic racism, exclusive practices, and inequitable policies in our department and to create new systems, practices, and policies that enable an inclusive and antiracist departmental culture where all faculty, students, and staff can survive and thrive. We position inclusive excellence—with a particular focus on disrupting White supremacy culture so that everyone can thrive—as central and essential to every aspect of our department and to scientific and educational excellence more broadly.
We recognize that creating and sustaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment in our department will require a sustained, broad, deep, and multi-pronged effort. We welcome input and questions on this important work at any time.
How do I?...
Find my community and support systems?
Report bias, discrimination, or a concern related to inclusion?
Change my name in campus systems?