Dear Students, Staff, Faculty, and Colleagues, I hope you are having a fantastic start to the new academic year! I’d like to introduce myself as the Assistant Dean for Graduate Diversity in the Graduate Division. My team and I manage all of the initiatives within the Office for Graduate Diversity (OGD), including programs now in spaces like the Inclusive Excellence Hub. I’ve been at Berkeley for 16 years, but this is my first Fall semester with the OGD. I am thrilled to be working with an amazing team. Please meet our team: Sarah Acosta, is the Assistant Director in the Office for Graduate Diversity, who is leading numerous graduate diversity outreach, recruitment, and pipeline initiatives, including the Getting into Graduate School (GiGS) Program. Jessica Mena Flores, Program Administrator for the Undocumented Graduate Student Success & Firebaugh Scholars Undergraduate Research Program, Patrick Naranjo, Director of the American Indian Graduate Program (AIGP). We will also be adding several new staff members to our team and will share more information about them in the coming weeks. In August, we selected 34 outstanding 2023-2024 Diversity and Community Fellows who will assist in advancing and implementing the diversity and inclusion goals of OGD and the Graduate Division. The Fellows will engage with numerous campus partners and programs, including the Division of Equity and Inclusion, Basic Needs Center, (GiGS) Program, SEED Scholars Honors Program, and many more. We will also welcome over 100 first-year Ph.D. students to our Path to the Professoriate Program, which began last Friday. OGD has also been collaborating with Shelley Kim, Director of Graduate Admissions, Recruitment, and Enrollment in the Graduate Division, and her exceptional team, to plan and implement this Fall’s Graduate Diversity Admissions Fair taking place on October 30 – November 3, 2023. This fair is uniquely designed for underrepresented minoritized students considering graduate school at Berkeley, though it is open to all prospective students. Please share the fair information with your networks! Finally, we have had a soft opening of our Inclusive Excellence Hub, at 2515 Channing Way, a one-of-a-kind “home away from home” space where underrepresented graduate students can find camaraderie, build multi-disciplinary networks of peers, and access academic programming, professional development workshops, and social support. Please stop by the “Hub” Monday through Friday between 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We will be planning more events and programming and will share more information soon so please subscribe or share this newsletter! I hope your Fall is filled with joy, inspiration, and academic and personal fulfillment. Warm regards, Martha Chavez (she/her/hers)
Dear Students, Staff, Faculty, and Colleagues, I hope you are having a fantastic start to the new academic year! I’d like to introduce myself as the Assistant Dean for Graduate Diversity in the Graduate Division. My team and I manage all of the initiatives within the Office for Graduate Diversity (OGD), including programs now in spaces like the Inclusive Excellence Hub. I’ve been at Berkeley for 16 years, but this is my first Fall semester with the OGD. I am thrilled to be working with an amazing team. Please meet our team: Sarah Acosta, is the Assistant Director in the Office for Graduate Diversity, who is leading numerous graduate diversity outreach, recruitment, and pipeline initiatives, including the Getting into Graduate School (GiGS) Program. Jessica Mena Flores, Program Administrator for the Undocumented Graduate Student Success & Firebaugh Scholars Undergraduate Research Program, Patrick Naranjo, Director of the American Indian Graduate Program (AIGP). We will also be adding several new staff members to our team and will share more information about them in the coming weeks. In August, we selected 34 outstanding 2023-2024 Diversity and Community Fellows who will assist in advancing and implementing the diversity and inclusion goals of OGD and the Graduate Division. The Fellows will engage with numerous campus partners and programs, including the Division of Equity and Inclusion, Basic Needs Center, (GiGS) Program, SEED Scholars Honors Program, and many more. We will also welcome over 100 first-year Ph.D. students to our Path to the Professoriate Program, which began last Friday. OGD has also been collaborating with Shelley Kim, Director of Graduate Admissions, Recruitment, and Enrollment in the Graduate Division, and her exceptional team, to plan and implement this Fall’s Graduate Diversity Admissions Fair taking place on October 30 – November 3, 2023. This fair is uniquely designed for underrepresented minoritized students considering graduate school at Berkeley, though it is open to all prospective students. Please share the fair information with your networks! Finally, we have had a soft opening of our Inclusive Excellence Hub, at 2515 Channing Way, a one-of-a-kind “home away from home” space where underrepresented graduate students can find camaraderie, build multi-disciplinary networks of peers, and access academic programming, professional development workshops, and social support. Please stop by the “Hub” Monday through Friday between 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We will be planning more events and programming and will share more information soon so please subscribe or share this newsletter! I hope your Fall is filled with joy, inspiration, and academic and personal fulfillment. Warm regards, Martha Chavez (she/her/hers)