As part of a larger effort, the Psychology Department’s Diversity Committee held an event this past April in conjunction with the Psi Chi National Honor Society to discuss the importance of diverse perspectives in graduate school. At this event, graduate students from various disciplines in psychology spoke about how attending graduate school can be both a rewarding experience and a trying one. Particularly for those students who are members of an underrepresented group in academia – based on gender, race, or health status, for example – the fear of rejection is real. What do these experiences mean to the people who are living through them? How can we overcome imposter syndrome, provide more positive support for our graduate students, and change the system to allay those fears? 

 

The Diversity Committee was established to ensure that issues of diversity are addressed in every aspect of the department. These efforts include identifying and disseminating information and resources in order to facilitate our students’ and colleagues’ success, supporting and promoting department efforts to be a leader in diversity scholarship, and advocating for the valuing of diversity in curricula, recruitment of graduate students, faculty, and staff, and beyond. Indeed, valuing diversity is a core tenet of what it means to be a Wildcat. For more information on the Psychology Department Diversity Committee, visit psychology.arizona.edu/diversity