University of California, Los Angeles
PA-5: Diversity and Equity Coordination

UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) supports all Bruins by leading and advancing strategies for enhancing equity, diversity and inclusion; protecting civil rights; and upholding dignity for all in our community.

The EDI team is comprised of several units. Collectively, these units are responsible for realizing EDI’s mission to uphold dignity for all.

UCLA Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Office of the Vice Chancellor
- Research & Bruin Engagement Office
- Civil Rights Office
- Equity Advisors
- UCLA Committee on Disability (UCOD)
- UCLA Committee on LGBTQ Affairs

Beyond compliance trainings on Preventing Discrimination, Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment that are mandatory for our UCLA communities, students, staff and faculty have a multitude of training resources and activities available, and in which they participate.

Open to students, staff, faculty:
BruinX conducts Trainings on implicit bias, inclusive pedagagy, confronting bias, EDI statements, and in some cases has tailored talks to specific departments/audiences on campus.

Students:
A Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training module is now offered to all incoming students.

Faculty:
All faculty who participate on faculty search committees are required to attend a briefing.

Staff:
The UCLA EDI Education Series provides all UCLA employees with a foundation for how to prevent discrimination and promote inclusion throughout UCLA. The EDI Education Series was developed to address UCLA’s need for additional equity, diversity, and inclusion-related education.

- Understanding and Preventing Discrimination: Best Practices for Creating an Inclusive UCLA covers anti-discrimination laws and policies; how to recognize discriminatory and harassing behavior; employee rights and responsibilities; best practices and resources for addressing discrimination and harassment; and strategies for preventing discrimination.

- Understanding Gender and Sexual Orientation: Best Practices for Fostering Inclusion and Preventing Discrimination covers the new University of California Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy and related laws and policies. It also provides UCLA employees with essential information and best practices related to creating an equitable and inclusive environment for all gender identities, gender expressions and sexual orientations at UCLA.

Completion of the EDI Education Series modules is voluntary, at this time. UCLA intends to make these modules mandatory in the future.

EDI’s Equity Advisor program creates connections between UCLA's EDI office and each academic unit at UCLA. The UCLA EDI Network draws together programs and initiatives from across UCLA and provides Bruins with information and the opportunity to engage in the work of EDI. EDI Events provide the Bruin community an opportunity to gather, learn from leading experts and one another, and to build community. Engagement through regular communication helps inform the UCLA community about successes as well as needed areas of growth. The EDI Office also keeps the UCLA community informed through the Vice Chancellor’s Quarterly Updates, regular updates on the EDI website and UCLA social media posts.

UC MANAGING IMPLICIT BIAS SERIES
UC employees have this online course available to learn about methods for avoiding bias, especially implicit bias. This pertains to the hiring process and otherwise.

Finally, many academic departments have resources specific to their areas. As an example, the David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM) has an Anti-Racism Roadmap (ARR ; https://medschool.ucla.edu/community-and-equity/anti-racism/anti-racism-roadmap), which symbolizes an institutional commitment to eradicating structural racism and consists of 11 preliminary focus areas, each including multiple goals. To ensure adequate resourcing, the DGSOM dean pledged $5 million in funding over three years to kickstart this work. The work includes components such as:
- Require anti-racism training during the first six months of onboarding new staff, faculty and trainees.
- Require annual subset of anti-racism trainings for all DGSOM community members, including, but not limited to:
- Staff, faculty and trainees.
- DGSOM leadership, including all at a deans level (vice, senior associate, associate, assistant, department chair, department vice chair, or director).
- FEC committee members.
- All EDI committee members.
- All primary educators.
- Individuals who work directly with medical or graduate students.
- All mentors for PhD and postdoctoral trainees (program developed by Graduate Programs in Bioscience, they are working on this both at a local and national level).
- All who receive NIH or comparable funding should be required to undergo this and culturally aware mentorship training.
- Provide resources and education to DGSOM community on critical topics of privilege, allyship and dialogue, encouraging self-reflection, self-awareness and a shared sense of responsibility for advancing social justice in science, medicine and health care.
- Launch a Cultural North Star-EDI Ambassadorship. Trained individuals will be compensated through credits or other means and will become a local resource.