Carmen Cortez, a graduate in ecology, stands in the Ecological Garden of the Student Farm

Graduate Diversity Initiatives

Graduate Diversity Initiatives

  • Holistic Review    
  • Holistic review, whole file review, or comprehensive review, all refer to the consideration of quantitative and qualitative criteria and background, such as GPA, coursework, and personal motivations, values, and experiences without applying specific criteria as cutoff points, such as an overall GPA or test scores, to quickly reduce the number of applications to consider for admissions. To address equity and inclusiveness graduate program faculty define a common set of criteria, participate in faculty admissions training and employ rubrics to maintain consistent and equitable admissions outcomes.
  • Holistic U Orientation for New Graduate Students
  • Holistic U is an in-person orientation that focuses on bringing together new graduate students who intersect across cultures, interests and communities. New graduate students begin learning how to successfully navigate graduate school and how to positively interact in multicultural classrooms and labs. Students will learn how to start building or supporting a personal, cultural community from day one in their graduate programs. For 2025, Holistic U will be offered on Thursday, September 14, 9:00 am - 4:00 p.m. in 1220 Walker Hall. Please see this link to register.
  • Graduate Anti-Racism Initiative   
  • 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. Each year Graduate Studies works with a faculty and graduate student committee to plan and host a GARS event that focuses on some form of anti-racism or a related topic, often building on other campus initiatives, such as the campus book project.
  • Equitable Graduate Admissions Training
  • This initiative is led by a committee of Graduate Studies leadership and staff, faculty and a graduate student advisory board. The EGAT committee was formed in Fall 2023 to plan, host, and train graduate admissions faculty. The EGAT committee plans admissions meetings to facilitate the development of equitable admission methods. A graduate student advisory board, of approximately six students, work on projects providing insight and recommendations on EGAT activities.