Photo credit Caleb Hampton/ Davis Enterprise photo. No copyright infringement intended.
Photo credit Caleb Hampton/ Davis Enterprise photo. No copyright infringement intended.

An Update to our Diversity Action Statement

In June, we issued a Diversity Action Statement identifying six actionable goals for our program. Accountability is important. Here's where we what we have done to work towards those goals so far:

What we promised: Collectively develop a statement of equity and diversity that will inform the overall mission of the EPM program.

What we’ve done: [Completed] EPM faculty, staff and students collaborated on an actionable diversity statement that you can read here: https://epm.ucdavis.edu/blog/epm-diversity-action-statement.

What we promised: Significantly expand our student recruitment outreach to colleges, universities, government agencies and non-profit organizations that serve or represent minority and disadvantaged communities. 

What we’ve done: [In Progress] We have been compiling a list of minority-serving colleges and universities that we will work to contact to offer more information about our program opportunities and accessibility. 

What we promised: Launch a fundraising effort to support a Diversity Fellowship Program to fund graduate students from diverse backgrounds. 

What we’ve done: [In Progress] We have developed our fundraising materials and will begin outreach to potential donor organizations and businesses this fall.

What we promised: Support the efforts of a student-organized EPM diversity committee.

What we’ve done:  [In Progress] A 2nd year EPM student has been actively organizing and recruiting other students for an EPM diversity committee. The program remains dedicated to support their efforts. There are currently 8 student members that have been working over the summer to create a document that lists their actionable goals.

What we promised: Introduce an environmental justice specialization that includes environmental justice courses and links to other required program elements such as graduate practicums, internships, and policy clinic teams.

What we’ve done: [Completed] EPM faculty and staff with the help of other environmental justice researchers on campus compiled a list of courses that would fulfill the requirements for an environmental justice specialization. EPM students can now opt to complete the specialization starting this fall quarter.  You can see the courses that qualify here: https://epm.ucdavis.edu/epm-electives. To see the courses that are pre-approved for the Environmental Justice specialization, use the “sort” function to filter by specialization.

What we promised: Publish a resource guide for students and faculty listing support programs for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and international students.  The resource guide will identify environmental and social justice support and activities at UC Davis, governmental, private, and non-profit organizations. 

What we’ve done: [Completed] EPM faculty and staff with the help of other environmental justice researchers compiled a list of UC Davis faculty, institutions as well as classes and added it to one “resource” document that is featured on our website. Also listed are Sacramento-area government initiatives. This resource document is constantly being updated as we have time to complete further research on the environmental justice programs that are offered in the area. You can see the resource document here: https://epm.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk296/files/inline-files/Environmental%20Justice%20Resources%20.pdf.