UC Davis celebrates diversity in all its forms. And we’re serious about it, too. Our Principles of Community embody our commitment to understand and value both our individual differences and our common ground for an inclusive and intellectually vibrant community. And we’re being deliberate in developing strategies and resources for serving a diverse community.

Here are some ways we encourage you to join in.

1. Celebrate diversity at campus events

Join in the celebrations as our communities showcase their dance, music, film and food and have frank discussions about contemporary issues during Cultural Days. Events organized through our Cross Cultural Center include:

• Black Family Weeks
• Native American Culture Days
• Powwow
• Asian Pacific Culture Week
• La Raza Cultural Days
• Mixed Heritage Week
• ME/SA (Middle Eastern and South Asian) Community Week
• Danzantes del Alma Annual Show (Chicano and Latino dance)
• Black Family Day
• Principles of Community Week

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual Resource Center is organizing Pride Month events for May and promotes awareness about gender and sexual orientation.

2. Major or minor in ethnic studies

UC Davis offers 104 majors and more than 50 minors. Among them, you can focus on African American and African Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicana/Chicano Studies, East Asian Studies, Middle East/South Asian Studies, and Native American Studies. That also holds for Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, Religious Studies and seven languages, too.

3. Live and learn in themed residence halls

Find a home in the Living-Learning Communities of our residence halls. These optional programs bring together interested students and host activities on a variety of themes. Open to all students, they include the African American and African Community, Asian Pacific American Theme House, Casa Cuauhtémoc (Chicano-Latino) Theme House, Multi-Ethnic Program, Native American Theme Program and Rainbow House. Some have optional seminars for academic credit.

4. Discover community at our student centers

Chill with friends old and new, study, and work together on issues at our student centers. UC Davis opened the AB540 and Undocumented Student Center in 2014 and the Center for African Diaspora Student Success in 2015. Next up: A center for Chicano and Latino students in fall 2016. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual Resource Center and the Women’s Resources and Research Center have long been on campus.

5. Join a student club

The hundreds of student organizations on campus include dozens of ethnic and cultural groups — from the Davis Bhangra Crew, mixing Punjabi folk traditions with Western pop music, to the Japanese American Student Society. Sororities and fraternities also include groups with cultural interests. Groups and organizations on campus also minister to the spiritual life. Check them out, because our student organizations welcome all interested students.

6. Find resources to flourish in your university career

Through its College Opportunity Programs, UC Davis works with thousands of disadvantaged and underrepresented students in schools across Northern California to inspire them to go to college and get ready. But the help doesn’t stop there. Student centers and programs help them succeed here, too. Among them:

• The Special Transitional Enrichment Program  provides a four-week summer residential program and ongoing support for tutoring, counseling and skills workshops for students we’ve worked with in high school;

• The Student Disability Center coordinates specialized academic support services to promote both the independence of students with disabilities and their integration into campus life;
• The Transfer Reentry Veterans Center provides transfer students, older students and veterans with academic advising, support services, scholarship opportunities, social activities and more; and
• The Guardian Scholars Program for former foster youth offers practical help, a social network and mentoring.

7. Be the change that you want to see

UC Davis students have a tradition of making a difference. Through clubs, student centers and leadership programs, like the ME/SA (Middle Eastern and South Asian) Leadership Retreat, you can develop your skills and make things happen. Our very own Cross Cultural Center had its roots in student activism, including a hunger strike in 1990. And the student-run programs and services of the Student Recruitment and Retention Center encourage students of historically underrepresented groups to pursue higher education and help them succeed at UC Davis. Our Beyond Tolerance Program provides up to $200 for student programs and events that encourage the appreciation and celebration of diversity on campus.

8. Find support for graduate or professional studies

Looking to graduate or professional school? UC Davis has a wide variety of programs that help students from diverse backgrounds. The American Bar Association just honored the King Hall Outreach Program for bringing students from underrepresented communities into the “pipeline” that leads to law school and summer academic programs. That program provides mentoring, pre-law advising and summer academic programs for undergraduates. Graduate Studies also houses preparation programs for undergraduates from diverse backgrounds including:

• The Guardian Professions Program for former foster youth;
• The McNair Scholars Program to encourage underrepresented students to pursue doctoral degrees;
• UC LEADS (Leadership Excellence Through Advanced Degrees) for educationally or economically disadvantaged students in science, mathematics or engineering who show promise for doctoral studies; and
• The UC-HBCU Initiative, which provides summer research programs to increase the pool of black and African American students for graduate degrees and professional training.