Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence
As a public land-grant research-intensive university, UC Santa Barbara is committed to providing quality education to a wide array of students by a faculty reflective of and responsive to the demographics of California. Achieving excellence is inseparable from achieving inclusivity. Studies show how knowledge of diverse perspectives, methodological assumptions, traditions of training, and racial and cultural backgrounds facilitates creativity, innovative scholarship, and effective teaching (Page 2007, Stewart and Valian 2018). Therefore, we ask candidates to submit a Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence – i.e. ‘Diversity Statement’.
The statement may include research, teaching and mentoring experiences, and discussions of the role of faculty in creating an intellectually rich, socially just, and equitable educational environment. It can describe work, or planned work, to remove barriers to groups that have been historically excluded from universities and thus are currently underrepresented at them. Because the purpose of this statement is to identify candidates whose commitment to these goals is substantiated by evidence, statements should be as concrete, straightforward, and specific as possible. There are many ways that evidence of this commitment can be demonstrated. These include innovative research methodologies, programs that foster access to specific disciplines, history of mentorship, professional affiliations and strategic plans to enhance equity and diversity, and training or expertise in inclusive pedagogy.
For books on the interconnection between inclusiveness and excellence, see Page, S. E., The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies (Princeton UP, 2007) and Stewart, Abigail J. and Virginia Valian, An Inclusive Academy: Achieving Diversity and Excellence (MIT Press, 2018).