Candidates for leadership positions (center directors, division directors, and vice-chairs) must submit a diversity statement. The purpose of the diversity statement is to help the Department of Pediatrics identify candidates who have professional experiences, intellectual commitments, and willingness to engage in activities that will contribute to the department’s mission in promoting a diverse, inclusive, and equitable culture. This statement should provide the candidate’s perspective on their past and present contributions to and future aspirations for promoting diversity, inclusion, and health equity in their professional career.
A diversity statement can take many forms and can address one or more of the following:
- How the candidate engages with a diverse range of colleagues in the laboratory, classroom, or clinic.
- How the candidate incorporates diversity into their teaching materials and methods.
- How the candidate can administratively support diversity among trainees, students, staff, and faculty.
- How the candidate addresses diversity in their research or clinical care.
- Past experiences working with members of groups that are traditionally underrepresented or marginalized.
- Past diversity-related activities in teaching, research, mentoring, committee work, and community service.
- Acknowledgement of one’s own role in the systematic way in which people are oppressed and historically not included.
- Reflections and acknowledgement of the challenges of navigating power and privilege within academic and hospital systems.