Cultural diversity

Cultural diversity refers the diversity of cultures, taking into account language, religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, age and ethnicity. Here are some resources to support diversity, inclusion and retention:

• The UC Davis Cross Cultural Center is an identity resource center that organizes events and programs, and offers a community space for advocacy, cultural competency, identity exploration and leadership development. 

• Graduate Students of Color (GSoC) Mentorship Program: "Organized by the Cross Cultural Center, this 2-quarter long program pairs a faculty mentor with a graduate student.  Through faculty mentorship and other programming, the GSoC Mentoring Program holistically supports its graduate student participants as they navigate the rigors of graduate school. Contact the Cross Cultural Center for more information."

• First-Gen Grads: "The First-Generation Graduate Student Initiative is designed to address the needs of first-generation graduate students with a multi-pronged approach involving 1) peer mentorship, 2) professional development, and 3) a series of networking events. Contact the GSADC, (gradassistant@ucdavis.edu), for more information."

LGBTQIA+ resources

LGBTQIA+ is an umbrella term for several terms referring to sexuality and gender identity.  

• UC Davis LGBTQIA Resource Center "provides an open, safe, inclusive space and community that is committed to challenging sexism, cissexism/trans oppression/transmisogyny, heterosexism, monosexism, and allosexism." They offer support and educational resources, and organize events.

• oSTEM is a non-profit professional association for LGBTQ+ people in the STEM community. Their goal is to empower LGBTQIA+ UC Davis students in STEM to succeed professionally, academically, and personally. You can visit their Facebook page or their Instagram.

• If you want to educate yourself more about gender and sexual identities, you can check Pronouns matter website. 

Womxn's resources

First of all, why the x? According to the Women's Resources and Research Center at UC Davis, "womxn is intentionally spelled with an "x" in order to recognize the agency of womxn, individually and collectively, and to challenge the notion that womxn are necessarily defined through their relation to men. This spelling is intended to honor anyone who has ever, ever will, or currently identifies as a womxn". 

Womxn still face multiple challenges in our society and economic system, especially at the intersection of marginalized identities, concept coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw as "intersectionality". As such, intersectional feminism acknowledges that gender equity can only be achieved when all system of oppression are dismantled.

The UC Davis Women's Resources and Research Center's works is based in Intersectional Feminism. They have office hours Monday-Thursday 9am-5pm and Friday 9am-4pm.

Resources:

• Womxn's Resources and Research Center website: https://wrrc.ucdavis.edu/

• Suggested readings: https://wrrc.ucdavis.edu/educated/suggested

• Glossary: https://wrrc.ucdavis.edu/educated/glossary

Racial trauma resources

Racial trauma, or race-based traumatic stress (RBTS), refers to the mental and emotional injury caused by encounters with racial bias and ethnic discrimination. The UC Davis office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion created a website with resources to support people dealing with the trauma:

• Report hate and bias: UC Davis institutional website to report acts of hate, bias, discrimination or harassment. You can check the definitions of each one of these here.

• Campus resources for racial trauma

• NIH inclusion, anti-racism and wellness resources