Goals and Objectives

Jump to:
Goal 1: Identify, attract, retain and graduate a diverse student body.
Goal 2: Identify, attract and retain a diverse faculty and staff.
Goal 3: Advance a climate that fosters inclusion excellence.
Goal 4: Promote diversity and inclusion in research, teaching, public service, and training across campus and in neighboring communities.
Goal 5: Ensure accountability to diversity and inclusion efforts on campus and in serving neighboring communities.

PIPELINE, RECRUITMENT, AND RETENTION

GOAL 1: Identify, attract, retain and graduate a diverse student body.

In his 2014 speech at the College Opportunity summit, President Obama noted, “We find an increasing divergence between those who have the skills that today’s jobs require and those who don’t.” The president indicated that higher education is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity for individuals and for the health of our economy. The population of California leads national trends in its diversity, with nonwhite populations representing 61 percent of the state. Races and ethnicities historically underrepresented in higher education make up 47 percent of the state’s population. Creating a diverse and inclusive community that reflects California and the world helps prepare all students for success in a global economy. The jobs of the future demand intellectual, creative and collaborative skill sets. To leave anyone out or behind is to ignore a great opportunity.

Institutions of higher education compete for the most promising and talented students that reflect the state’s diversity, so it is both important and appropriate for UC Davis to partner with all members of California’s public education system to prepare students for their transition to the university. Preparatory programs, admissions, and student support services must be able to recognize the potential in each student and to anticipate their needs. We know that first-generation and low-income students, students with disabilities, veterans, international students, nontraditional students, and students with marginalized identities may need extra support, especially early in their education, to achieve, build resilience, and feel the sense of belonging that is essential to their success at UC Davis. As our campus population grows, we have an opportunity to broaden the experiences of all students. All students, from near or far, need to feel a sense of connection to the campus and the broader community that bridges language and culture. Increasing diversity contributes to, but is also reliant upon, an inclusive environment that provides students more than a teacher and classroom, rather an environment that is thoughtful about a student’s life inside and outside the classroom and that prioritizes students and their education.

In our focus on college transitions and preparations, we cannot forget the most basic barriers to access that influence our applicant pool—from admissions applications to parking to financial aid to housing. We cannot assume an inherent understanding of the pathways to and through our university. We must always look at our systems from the perspective of our first generation, low income, international, rural, and underrepresented students. We must seek to understand the burden of deciphering the rituals of higher education for students already stretched by their undergraduate or graduate experience.

OBJECTIVES

A. Focus on identification, preparation and pipeline activities early in future students’ development/schooling and involve community and support networks such as family, K–12 teachers, counselors and schools, community organizations and community colleges.

WHAT WE HEARD

UC Davis is missing an opportunity to influence eligibility in the pipeline and create infrastructures of support in local communities.
UC Davis needs to extend its reach to conferences, societies and summer programs that serve underrepresented undergraduates.
Financial aid policies, procedures, consequences and opportunities are opaque.
Students need more support for the variety of ways they learn—especially the growing population with learning disabilities or mental health challenges.
Graduate students need access to more robust mentorship programs and greater assistance with dissertation- and grant-writing.
Graduate, professional schools and departmental admissions practices are failing to yield diverse cohorts of students.
International students, graduate students, and those with disabilities or in need of other student support services, face challenges finding adequate funding.
International students, graduate students, students over 24 years of age and students with families need access to living-learning experiences.
Students at UC Davis face homelessness and food insecurity.

Pilot programs and partnerships—particularly those that focus on early childhood education and K–3— that can demonstrably increase school persistence and ultimately the eligible pool of diverse college-bound students. Example: The History Project
Build pathways from K–14 to UC Davis student to graduate or professional student to successful career candidate to alumnus/a and citizen of California and the nation.
Identify and eliminate unnecessary barriers to entry for diverse students related to eligibility, application and admissions, access and financing, community college pathways, and college transitions. As the demographics of the institution evolve, incorporate a process of regularly evaluating where diverse representation goals remain unmet. Examples: UC Transcript Evaluation Service best practices, University of Texas pre-orientation videos
Develop a clear, intentional, and personalized outreach strategy that makes UC Davis a first choice for diverse students. Example: Diversity Advisory Group at the School of Veterinary Medicine
Introduce the opportunity to attend graduate or professional school early for prospective and current students, and encourage faculty to cultivate undergraduate interest in graduate or professional school. Examples: UC Davis Guardian Professions Program, The McNair Scholars Program, UC Leadership Excellence Through Advanced Degrees (LEADS), NSF-LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (BD)
Expand the role and number of graduate diversity officers.
Partner creatively within the UC, CSU, and community college systems to cultivate a rich pool of diverse graduate and professional students among California undergraduates. Example: Pathways to the Professoriate
Advocate for and adopt a holistic graduate school admissions process to improve the diversity of first-year cohorts.

B. Increase retention and graduation/completion rates of students with a focus on diverse, underrepresented and underserved student populations.

Engage all faculty equitably in mentoring diverse students.
Expand and replicate successful programs on campus that provide persistence, retention and support services; expand those services by providing easier access across our large geographic footprint and develop effective ways for support services to collaborate. Examples: Center for African Diaspora Student Success (CADSS), AB540 and Undocumented Student Center, Cross Cultural Center (CCC), Student Academic Success Center (SASC), TRiO, Academic Preparation and Enrichment Program (APEP), Medical School Preparatory Education Program (MSPEP), Center for Student Affairs Assessment (CSAA), Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success (CCLASS), Services for International Students and Scholars (SISS)
Expand support services and flexible education models to serve the increasing number of students often referred to as “non-traditional” that have financial, occupational, or dependent-care obligations that make pursuing a postsecondary education more complicated. Examples: Transfer Reentry Veterans Center (TRV); Veterans Success Center (VSC); Planned Educational Leave Program (PELP); UC Transfer Pathways; University of California Cross-Campus Enrollment; Bernard Osher Foundation Reentry Scholarship Program
Incentivize college-, school-, and department-specific interventions that encompass access, progress and retention challenges specific to underrepresented students in the discipline. Example: Prep Medico, MURALS
Respond to the needs of students with learning challenges, disabilities and mental health concerns. Respond appropriately and with compassion and cultural competence to those experiencing distress, and increase awareness and treatment options across campus. Examples: University of Denver’s Disability Services Program, University of Arizona’s SALT Program
Promote student-initiated, student-led recruitment, retention and community empowerment efforts. Enable students to act as dynamic leaders in their communities. Example: Student Recruitment and Retention Center (SRRC)

C. Invest in each student’s success, sense of belonging, and cultural competency.

Recognizing the importance of nonacademic circumstances as they contribute to a student’s academic and social success, coordinate and improve access to services related to college/post secondary transitions. Examples: Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Special Transitional Enrichment Program (STEP), Linda Frances Alexander Scholars Program (LFA), UC Davis International Welcome Reception for Students, Parents, and Families
Expand and enrich living-learning communities, cohorts and affinity groups to provide all students, prospective students and alumni/ae with rich networks of support throughout their affiliation with UC Davis. Examples: Casa Cuauhtémoc, African American Shared-Interest Community, First-Year Aggie Connections
At all institutional segments (e.g., school, college, program), ensure that advising and service models are culturally relevant and sensitive to individual student needs. Provide resources and incentives to support new and existing departmental and program-based multicultural organizations. Example: Graduate Diversity Officers

PIPELINE, RECRUITMENT, AND RETENTION

GOAL 2: Identify, attract and retain a diverse faculty and staff.

UC Davis has a responsibility to reflect its global values in its workforce. Our campus community thrives when our workforce reflects the diversity of our student population and the patients we serve. To achieve this goal, we must effectively identify, recognize, and eliminate barriers, and increase accountability at the level of the division, college, school, and department.

The actions of each UC Davis employee have an impact on campus climate and in enabling an environment in which opportunity is present for all. Members of the faculty and staff serve as the key interface for all our students and postdoctoral scholars by providing instruction, research opportunities, and mentoring. As a result, the work of diversity and inclusion cannot and should not be done by only one office or individual within a department, and must be integrated into the current work of all faculty and staff. This shift requires appropriate acknowledgements by institutional leadership that this will require some reprioritization of workload demands.

There is a critical need to accurately assess and increase the diversity of faculty, which includes both Academic Senate and Academic Federation faculty positions. Going further, we must acknowledge and engage all those who have an impact on learning, research, and service outcomes—including those who may not directly serve in an instructional capacity.

As one of the early campuses in the UC system to require diversity statements for all faculty applicants, UC Davis is well-positioned to be a model for our peers. Additionally, as one of the largest employers in the region, UC Davis is positioned to lead in diversity and inclusion excellence as it relates to staff. Members of the staff touch every aspect of the UC Davis mission and have a significant influence on campus productivity and student, faculty, visitor, and patient experience. The University of California has the unique advantage of preparing its own workforce; we can recruit internally for staff and future faculty in one of the most diverse undergraduate and graduate student populations in the nation.

Federal, state, University of California, and UC Davis mandates are already in place to positively affect the diversity of our institution. However, compliance with these guidelines continues to fall short of expectations, creating a sense of crisis among many members of the campus. Decisive action on existing policies and an awareness of how hiring and promotion decisions affect the university’s composition at the unit and department level, is key to achieving the goals set forth in this strategic vision. Furthermore, engaging all faculty and staff is essential to this effort.

Recruitment and retention must be closely related. Diversity goals for faculty and staff cannot be achieved if objectives related to campus climate, institutional commitment, research, teaching, public service, training, and diversifying the student body fall short and thus jeopardize the retention of a talented workforce. Our diverse workforce embodies many different lifestyles and work-life orientations. Creating a work environment that is flexible and healthy enough to accommodate those diverse needs, that provides universal accessibility, and in which supervisors and peers feel competent working within a diverse community, will help to make UC Davis a desirable workplace for all.

OBJECTIVES

A. Broaden the diversity of faculty and staff by cultivating a diverse pipeline and ensuring that campus policies, departmental incentives, and funding models are aligned to make aggressive progress on hiring goals.

WHAT WE HEARD

Many members of the Academic Federation are underemployed and plagued by funding issues for their positions that create an unhealthy climate.
Participants would like deans and department chairs to take a greater role in ensuring the success of underrepresented minorities (URM) and female faculty in the transition from assistant to associate to full professor.
While it provides effective content, the Strength Through Equity and Diversity (STEAD) training program fails to reach all faculty voting on candidates, staff hiring committees or graduate admissions committees.
The campus is inconsistent in providing professional development opportunities to all staff; for example, not enough departments support and promote the Individual Development Plans (IDPs), career journey interviews and SDPS courses.
UC Davis continues to fall short in meeting the accessibility and assistive technology needs of individuals with disabilities.
The campus needs to better meet the needs of students, staff and faculty caring for dependents.

Allocate resources to faculty hiring initiatives which, by focusing on specific research areas and/or mentoring experience, will result in increased hiring of faculty from underrepresented groups. Example: CAMPOS Faculty Scholar program
At the level of the division, school, college and department, partner across the UC system to exchange and recruit diverse graduate and professional students, postdoctoral scholars and other academics for new tenure track faculty positions. Examples: The UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellows Program, UC Davis Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (CPFP)
Leverage external partnerships to attract a more diverse pool of graduate and professional students, staff, faculty and academic appointees. Example: UC-HBCU Initiative, Capital Resource Network
Promote aggressive use of existing hiring and incentive programs to increase the diversity of faculty. Examples: Faculty Hiring Investment Program (HIP), Partner Opportunities Program (POP), Target of Excellence (TOE)

B. Hold every division, college, school, and department accountable for bringing diversity and inclusion excellence into recruitment and hiring practices.

Enforce the mandatory use of diversity statements for hiring decisions at UC Davis and promote consistent use campuswide and systemwide. Create transparent guidelines for using diversity statements in evaluations that rewards both scholarship and service. Expand and adapt the concept to include staff and administrative positions. Example: UC San Diego Diversity Statement policies and guidelines
In collaboration with units and Human Resources, develop a clear and intentional outreach strategy to increase the pool of diverse and talented candidates with the goal of achieving hiring and retention goals, for example, reviewing job postings to include language that is more inclusive.
Overcome bias and discrimination in hiring by employing policies and practices that disrupt the status quo. Examples: Strength Through Equity and Diversity (STEAD) Workshops, University of Oregon’s and University of Michigan’s guidelines for faculty search committees
Increase assessment and accountability for pools and yields at the administrative and academic department level. Hold deans, department chairs, and administrative leaders accountable for hiring decisions and for how those decisions are coordinated and communicated to candidates. As much as possible, hiring authorities should diversify Recruitment Advisory Committees (RACs) to ensure diverse perspectives/voices in the assessment of applicants. Example: UC Recruit, Affirmative Action Program for Minorities and Females
Proactively utilize assessment tools such as exit interviews and turnover metrics to understand and act on the reasons behind employee turnover.

C. Ensure that people thrive—for compliance, retention, and improved climate.

Streamline and improve the communication of diversity and inclusion policies, services, and accomplishments to all prospective and current employees.
Provide robust mentoring and professional development opportunities, especially at critical career and professional transitions. Examples: CAMPOS, Faculty Academic Development Program, UC Davis Launch Committee, UC Davis Graduate School of Management scholarships for UC Davis employees, Mentoring at Critical Transitions
Value efforts that promote participation in mentoring, training, and professional development activities through such strategies as providing release time and rewarding contributions to diversity and inclusion during performance appraisal, merit, and promotion decisions.
Provide incentives for administrative and academic departments to embed diversity and inclusion training, professional development, and education into their activities.
Accept and facilitate a broader range of career options—conventional and unconventional, academic and industry, at the University of California and beyond. Example: UC Career Paths
In consultation with advisory groups, update policies and practices related to accessibility, accommodation, work-life balance, health and wellness, and universal design so that all members of the campus community can thrive and achieve their full potential.

CAMPUS CLIMATE

GOAL 3: Advance a climate that fosters inclusion excellence.

“The current attitudes, behaviors and standards of faculty, staff, administrators and students concerning the level of respect for individual needs, abilities and potential.”

— Definition of campus climate by Susan Rankin, lead consultant, UC Campus Climate Study Team and professor, Pennsylvania State University

As stated in the Principles of Community, UC Davis aspires to “maintain a climate of equity and justice” and “build and maintain a culture and climate based on mutual respect and caring.” As an institution, our actions must reflect these words. While UC Davis values and promotes civility and mutual respect, the reality is that even one incident of bias (e.g., racist, sexist, homophobic) or one member of the community feeling unwelcomed, excluded, or bullied, is one too many. In the words of Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, “wide exposure to that robust exchange of ideas which discovers truth out of a multitude of tongues” is a cornerstone of higher education, so creating spaces for such an exchange is imperative. Every person, irrespective of role or position, must take responsibility for their actions and assume shared ownership of the climate in and around the campus community and workplace.

One of UC Davis’ long-range goals is to be a model of diversity and to create a welcoming and nurturing environment for students, faculty, staff, patients, and visitors. Activities and words that normalize racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, classism, ageism and anti-blackness go against our ideals and create toxic environments for those we most need to welcome and understand. Our practices should enable all participants to be authentically present in the classroom, workplace, health care facility, and community. Such efforts enhance the climate of our university; improve our health and wellness; maximize learning outcomes; increase persistence, retention, and success; and facilitate professional fulfillment and improvement.

Food, energy, health, education, the environment—UC Davis is focused on solving the most pressing challenges facing our world. We are leading the way to a better future by a relentless pursuit of knowledge through innovation. As UC Davis looks to that future and our desire to be the “most visionary university in the country,” we must move with the same speed and nimbleness as the diverse and globally connected world around us. This will require a campus that promotes collaboration across disciplines, positions, or silos that we may connect ideas with problems; provides spaces and means to work together formally or informally; and makes accessible resources and services that advance a cooperative climate or respond immediately to a breakdown. In other words, we desire a campus that leverages the diversity and creativity of our many parts to achieve a common vision of education and inclusion excellence that improves our community and our world.

OBJECTIVES

A. Engage, empower, inform, and hold individuals accountable for fostering an environment where every person feels responsible for advancing diversity and inclusion excellence.

WHAT WE HEARD

There is a lack of accountability for ensuring those who work with students or hold supervisory positions possess the necessary cultural competency skill set.
UC Davis does not provide enough opportunities to learn or network with others interested in issues around diversity, inclusion and cultural competency.
UC Davis lacks formal mediation services and informal conflict resolution mechanisms.
UC Davis needs to identify trouble spots more quickly to minimize the risk of escalation.
Staff seeks more opportunities to be with communities of interest or celebrate and learn about other cultures and identities.
Not all voices are heard or given equal weight—especially those who do shift work or have not traditionally been given the opportunity to participate on committees or advisory groups, or in feedback sessions.

Build opportunities for difficult discussions and reflection on issues of diversity, inclusion, and social justice to become part of daily practice, in which there is an acceptance for the continuous learning that is the building block of cultural literacy.
Develop programs and services around healing processes, such as restorative justice, conflict resolution, early intervention, and mediation. Example: UC Davis Police Department Restorative Justice Neighborhood Court
Uphold protocols (e.g. PPM 400) for responding to protests in an environment that fosters the free exchange of ideas while maintaining the campus’ responsibility to protect the safety of all community members. Examples: Community healing forums, healing/processing spaces for students

B. Evaluate current institutional barriers to inclusion.

Create a more robust and actionable evaluation of campus climate survey data, with the goal of identifying and fixing areas of weakness and providing feedback to make future climate surveys more useful and meaningful. Example: AAMC-USU Climate Toolkit
Open lines of communication for individuals to convey problems outside of existing organizational structures, recognizing that not all individuals fall neatly within traditional academic and administrative hierarchies. Example: UC Davis Office of the Ombuds

C. Ensure safe campus environments, free from exclusion, intimidation, offensive, or violent conduct. Eliminate negative behavior related to power differentials. Reject normalizations of bias and sexual harm.

Commit resources to implement the primary recommendations from the Task Force on Workplace Climate and the Health System Executive Task Force on Addressing Campus Climate and Mistreatment regarding training, empowerment, reclassifications and hiring, evaluation, policy enforcement, supervisory skill development, and ongoing engagement and assessment (e.g., use of exit interviews). Example: Is it Bullying? Awareness and Strategies Course
Acknowledge the limitations of whistleblower/retaliation policies and bystander reporting and find other tools to identify, investigate, and respond to potential hotspots (e.g., personnel departures figures, FMLA requests, sick leave, workers’ compensation claims, and grievances).
Build competence in dealing with conflict. Identify and include multiple access points, charge a group to coordinate efforts across services and design an educational infrastructure. Example: Hate-Free Campus Initiative (HFCI)
Require and embed diversity, inclusion, and climate content in division, college, school, and department trainings and workshops, especially for those in teaching, supervisory, student-facing, customer service, and decision-making roles. Examples: UndocuAlly Program for Educators (UPE), LGBTQIA Allyship trainings, graduate and professional student allyship seminar series
Continue to bring attention, transparency, and due process to sexual assault and harassment investigations. Examples: #UCDavisUpstander, UConsent

D. Sponsor communities of belonging.

Expand resources for holistic support services and facilities for diverse communities of faculty, staff, and students. Examples: Community Resource and Retention Centers, designated staff meeting and gathering spaces
Create and support networks of scholars and colleagues to build a sense of belonging and to foster communication across the university. Ensure that technology and structures are in place to facilitate access and dialogue. Examples: CAMPOS Cafecitos/Coffee Breaks, Graduate Diversity Network, New Faculty Network (NFN), Global Ambassador Program, First Friends, International Friendship Program
Remove barriers for groups to find meeting space, do outreach and source funding for activities and initiatives, and to build sustainability into their endeavors. Encourage communities and groups to interact and collaborate. Example: Center for Student Involvement
Create spaces that foster healthy/dynamic formal and informal interaction between and among all community groups and constituencies (i.e., students, staff, faculty, community). Example: Chinese Students and Scholars Association at UC Davis, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

RESEARCH, TEACHING, PUBLIC SERVICE, AND TRAINING

GOAL 4: Promote diversity and inclusion in research, teaching, public service, and training across campus and in neighboring communities.

This plan challenges UC Davis to embed diversity and inclusion into the heart of its fundamental mission of research, teaching, and public service: “the right to rise” in the words of those who established the land grant vision of an institution that provides for the advancement of all. Campus growth, new initiatives, emerging research, and high-profile funding opportunities have created increasing opportunities for UC Davis to embed diversity and inclusion into its daily work; approaches to teaching, learning, and the curriculum; and public service.

A diverse and inclusive campus has the power to improve the problem-definition and problem-solving work that is integral to the intellectual life of the campus. For example, building on its ADVANCE program founded in 2012, UC Davis is committed to promoting a multiplicity of perspectives derived from both gender and cultural diversity to increase research innovation and to enhance its ability to solve complex problems that transcend disciplinary boundaries. When UC Davis incentivizes the discoveries, innovations, and technological breakthroughs that contribute to the public good—locally, nationally, and globally—our work will have a profound and enduring impact. UC Davis has expressed its commitment to identifying role models among our scholars, students, and staff and to promoting the work of centers and research groups that are focused on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many departments across campus have and will continue to support diverse communities of patients, students, staff, and faculty. Acknowledging and valuing their work is essential in an increasingly global and diverse economy that will demand greater cultural competency skills, as well as the transformative thinking, unique perspectives, interdisciplinary approaches, and leadership that thrive in an inclusive environment.

OBJECTIVES

A. Embed cultural competency in all academic and training programs, administrative units/programs, and workplaces to support diversity and inclusion goals.

WHAT WE HEARD

Service to students is under-prioritized in evaluations of faculty. Faculty of color and women are sought out more often by students as mentors and are in high demand as participants on search committees and other groups.
Current funding structures punish rather than reward those colleges and departments that admit diverse students and provide a diverse array of majors, courses and graduate seminars.
Demand in the annual intensive staff diversity training well outpaces its current capacity.
Instructors can and should do more to use concepts, images and language in lectures and assignments that demonstrate the significance of diversity in terms of race and ethnicity, sex, gender and gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, religion, etc.
Emphasis on student evaluations in faculty merit and promotion reviews remains problematic given the apparent bias against women and minority faculty.
Students seek more opportunities to be involved in community service, experiential learning and mentoring, particularly in health-related curriculum.
Recognize that staff, in addition to faculty, can and do contribute to diversity and inclusion-related research.

Create an advisory group to help embed diversity and inclusion research, service, teaching, and training across all divisions, colleges, schools, and departments.
Engage students and instructors in a comprehensive review of general education requirements around cultural literacy for greater emphasis on domestic diversity literacy and social justice. Offer innovation grants for faculty to develop new, responsive curriculum in undergraduate and graduate courses and seminars. Examples: Professionalism, Ethics and Cultural Enrichment (TEAM-PEACE), Partners in Transforming Community Health (PITCH)
Involve students in more high-impact, high-quality, and applied learning activities that involve real-world problems, progressive issues, community-based research, and big questions. Provide all students and postdoctoral scholars with opportunities for hands-on, experiential learning in challenging environments, including leadership roles. Example: Summer Institute on Race and Health
Expand opportunities for formal and informal interactions between faculty and students, staff and students, faculty and staff, and student peers that promote high-level academic and social engagement while strengthening a sense of community and the learning environment.
Promote and provide students and staff with formal diversity certification programs and professional development. Examples: The History Graduate Diversity Certificate Series, Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program at UC Santa Cruz
Ensure that diversity and inclusion concepts are strongly embedded in mandatory trainings for those in supervisory roles and for new employees.
Promote and expand new research and collaborative research opportunities related to diversity and inclusion for staff and faculty.

B. Return benefit to the communities that work with us.

Develop an intentional outreach strategy that engages our community partners in an active and ongoing dialogue about local needs and areas of mutual concern and interest.
Increase opportunities, build partnerships, and remove barriers so that students, faculty and staff can have an impact in the community through service.
Provide students with opportunities for service learning and community-based learning, in which students can potentially explore cultural contexts, life experiences, social justice and worldviews different from their own.
Create a more transparent process for managing and reporting the university’s engagement with vendors and suppliers and incentivize business relationships with businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans and other disadvantaged persons, as well as small businesses in neighborhoods in disadvantaged or underutilized areas.
Provide incentives for individuals and teams to publish public scholarship on diversity-related topics. Example: UC Davis Annual Study of California Women Business Leaders.

C. Fulfill the promise of APM 210(d) by promoting and rewarding “contributions in all areas of … achievement that promote equal opportunity and diversity … including efforts to advance equitable access to education, public service that addresses the needs of California’s diverse population, or research … that highlights inequalities.”

Align merit and reward structures for faculty with APM 210(d) and calibrate rewards across departments.
Institutionalize the role of the Affirmative Action and Diversity Committee of the Academic Senate and Academic Federation in implementing APM 210(d).
Implement recent recommendations from the ADVANCE Policies and Practices Review Initiative Committee and the UC Davis Faculty Salary Equity Analyses Report.
Create new competitive opportunities and promote existing systemwide and national initiatives that fund diversity and inclusion research, teaching, service and training. Example: NSF INCLUDES
Allocate resources for a research center focusing on African American faculty research interests.

INSTITUTIONAL COMMITMENT

GOAL 5: Ensure accountability to diversity and inclusion efforts on campus and in serving neighboring communities.

Underlying this goal is the belief that to make sustained, systemic change to our campus’ identity as an institution fostering inclusion excellence, UC Davis must embed the principles and goals of diversity and inclusion in every aspect of campus development. As stated in the University of California Diversity Statement (Regents Policy 4400): “Diversity should … be integral to the University’s achievement of excellence.”

To gain from the benefits of a community that embraces a diversity of cultures, experiences, beliefs and perspectives, we must strive to be a truly inclusive environment.

Inclusion at its most fully expressed state is a condition in which every member of the community is heard, respected and valued, such that intellectual and social synergism from these diverse contributions can emerge.

The overall goal of this strategic plan is to create a living guide that calls upon every member of the campus community to act as an ambassador of diversity and inclusion. The following objectives and strategies reflect steps to ensure that UC Davis delivers sustained attention to diversity and inclusion activity both within and beyond the institution, regardless of changes in leadership over time.

WHAT WE HEARD

UC Davis does not have a clear, uniform and accessible set of benchmarks to understand its progress around diversity and inclusion.
Staff and students need a greater voice and more formalized involvement in diversity and inclusion efforts across the university.
Without accountability at every level, from the chancellor to the individual, UC Davis will have difficulty making progress.

OBJECTIVES

A. Establish a coordinated campus-wide effort to implement and report on the progress of this strategic vision.

Identify and reward successful diversity and inclusion outcomes that lead to policy and procedures change. Develop a process to build financial and institutional sustainability into diversity and inclusion initiatives. Example: ADVANCE Sustainability Plan
Expand opportunities for diversity and inclusion idea generation and innovation. Identify and commit resources and incentives for forming diverse teams and developing projects that advance diversity and inclusion ideas. Example: Diversity and Inclusion Innovation Grant Program
Support a data governance team (experts in the business rules of the organization) to work with technologists (experts in the tools used to collect and report data) to improve the integrity of diversity data at UC Davis and take ownership of the Diversity Profiles data infrastructure project.
Empower Human Resources to focus attention on proactive diversity and inclusion practices, including talent management in developing and strengthening human relations skills and abilities in the campus community and workplace.
Create an administrative entity to catalog and coordinate initiatives and ideas; consult, coordinate and collaborate with schools, colleges, departments and units; sponsor performance measurement and otherwise promote and incentivize diversity and inclusion activities across the university.
Develop and embed in all activities a communications plan on diversity and inclusion for the internal campus community. Examples: Diversity-themed, resource-rich websites at University of Oregon, UCLA, UC Berkeley and University of Michigan

B. Embed the structure and resources for diversity and inclusion in all administrative units and within the job responsibilities of those in key roles.

Require every division, college, school and department to create a measureable action plan based on this Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Vision and create a budget line to ensure fulfillment of the action plan. Example: School of Veterinary Medicine, “Increasing Diversity—to Reflect California’s Population”
Support and acknowledge divisions, schools, colleges and departments that offer majors that attract diverse students, provide diversity curriculum for GE requirements and offer seminars or courses that further cultural competency for students in other majors.
Incorporate diversity in existing metrics (e.g., differential graduation rates) for annual reporting and calibrate them across each division, college, school and department.
Hold department-level leadership responsible for a systematic review of policies and procedures, both to ensure compliance and to align operations with diversity and inclusion goals and objectives.
Establish professional standards and expectations for campus leadership to enhance and promote diversity and inclusion within their designated areas of responsibility and spheres of influence.
Incorporate the role of equity and inclusion advisers to serve as resources in every division, college, school and department. Examples: UCLA, UCSF, UC Irvine and UC Berkeley
Enlist departments and administrative units in a campaign to share and sustain campus values around diversity, inclusion and social justice.

C. Create a strategic plan with neighboring communities within a 30-mile radius on shared goals for diversity and inclusion.

Convene a UC Davis and Neighboring Communities Task Force charged to explore issues and coordinate diversity and inclusion activities between the university and neighboring communities.
Pilot programs with UC Extension, the Mondavi Center, UC Davis museums and other community-facing programs to provide customized courses and services that serve the region and enhance access to the university among the region’s most diverse and underserved communities (e.g., English language courses, college readiness programs and telemedicine).
Develop and pilot programs for family members of employees working at UC Davis that enhance access for first-generation college students and diverse communities. Create and circulate to regional public school districts and community centers a comprehensive inventory of existing UC and UC Davis programs and events that work with students and their families to ready them for college generally and for the opportunities at UC Davis specifically.
In working with neighboring communities, develop a communications and engagement plan that will ensure that diversity and inclusion is a feature of any activity in which we collaborate.