Good morning. It’s a pleasure to be here to contribute to these important conversations about increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in academia.

If you’re not familiar with the University of California Davis, we’re located about 75 miles northeast of San Francisco. We have about 40,000 students. US News & World Report recently ranked UC Davis as the #6 best public university in America. We’re ranked #2 in the world in both veterinary medicine and agriculture. 

Relevant to today’s discussion, UC Davis is also recognized as the #1 university in the United States for campus diversity, inclusiveness, and internationalization, according to the QS University Rankings.

Unfortunately, diversity continues to be undervalued by our broader society despite a plethora of evidence showing its value. We know that diversity produces better outcomes, in healthcare, engineering, law, and various other disciplines.

UC Davis, like other University of California campuses, is successfully growing a diverse community, despite some fairly rigorous restrictions.

In 1996 — long before the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Affirmative Action — California voters passed Proposition 209, which effectively prohibited affirmative action in university hiring and admissions.

It had a profoundly negative impact on how race could be used, not just in admissions, but also in scholarships, procurement and other areas. Some of our strategies at UC Davis have been successful, especially in recent years. Our experience can be instructive to other universities.

I’ll give you a couple of examples:

First, we’ve made significant progress in our School of Medicine. It’s the third most diverse medical school in the nation, according to US News and World Report. The only two institutions with a more diverse class are minority-serving institutions.

Nearly 47% of the medical school students in our incoming class of 2027 belong to groups that have been historically underrepresented in medicine — Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and African American. More than half of our new class received financial assistance to take the MCAT or apply to medical school. And almost 43% were the first in their families to graduate from college.

The UC Davis School of Medicine employs a multi-pronged assessment of each candidate’s potential to contribute to the health workforce needs of California including a novel Distance Traveled Scale, what we call “the Davis Scale.” It contains factors such as parental income and education, growing up in a medically underserved area, and other socioeconomic variables.

We believe the ability to overcome such obstacles reflects grit, resilience, and commitment — as well as the ability to connect with patients from all walks of life — important qualities for the medical workforce needed in California and elsewhere.

There is potential for using the Davis Scale in our undergraduate admissions as well.

The second success story I want to highlight is one that is helping UC Davis attract, hire and support diverse faculty.

It’s the story of our Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science, or CAMPOS, and Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Social Science, Arts, and Humanities, or CAMPSSAH.

With the help of an U.S. National Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant the university received in 2012, we’ve had success institutionalizing these two faculty programs.

Since the program began, we’ve recruited 44 CAMPOS faculty scholars who are engaged in promoting diversity in STEM through their research, teaching or service to the university.

We’ve recruited 22 CAMPSSAH faculty members whose research, teaching, and service elevate all underrepresented communities — in social sciences, the humanities and arts, and other disciplines.

Both CAMPOS and CAMPSSAH focus on expanding the ranks of women and underrepresented faculty. This is one way UC Davis rewards the hiring of faculty who promote diversity and equity. We do it by providing matching funds to departments.

The faculty scholars in these programs practice inclusive excellence by embedding diversity in their teaching and research. They are an elite group of scholars who pass not one – but two – levels of selection at UC Davis. These scholars fill a much-needed pipeline of diverse talent to our workforce, research labs and universities.

They’re also the role models and mentors many of our students are seeking.

Case in point: Dr. Crystal Rogers is a developmental and cell biologist and assistant professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine —and a CAMPOS faculty scholar. Last year, she received a Career Award from the National Science Foundation. It’s the most prestigious grant to early career faculty and provides five years of funding in support of both research and mentoring.

Crystal is using part of her funding to run a summer program for underrepresented or first-generation students. Students live in the dorms and do research related to functional analysis of crest effectors. Crystal is also dedicated to changing the system at UC Davis. By that I mean opening doors, providing more opportunities to underrepresented students and doing outreach to attract students to campus.

All of this is to say that institutions that are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion can make progress. But DEI needs to be written into our strategic plans. We need targeted programs and DEI efforts need resources and leadership. 

One of my first actions upon becoming the chancellor of UC Davis was creating the university’s first office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and hiring Renetta Garrison Tull, vice chancellor for DEI, to lead our efforts.

Diversity efforts need leadership, but they also require support from the top and all the way across the organization. Diversity is everybody’s job.

Part of the equation is creating an inclusive and welcoming environment where women, minorities and other underrepresented groups can contribute and thrive and where they will want to stay. That requires a collective commitment.

At UC Davis, our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts go hand in hand with global engagement.

Our Global Education for All program aims to provide 100% of undergraduate, graduate and professional students with global learning opportunities.

This will ensure students develop key skills, knowledge and networks that help them build global awareness, engage global diversity, and pursue collaborative and equitable global action.

Global learning opportunities include study abroad, internships, virtual international collaborations, hands-on learning and research, and living and learning communities that connect culturally diverse students.

I’ll close there. I’m looking forward to the conversation.