The Department of Psychological Sciences at Auburn University recognizes, values, and upholds the contributions of students, staff, and faculty from diverse race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity, age, country of origin, disability, physical stature and body size, religious or spiritual beliefs, socioeconomic class, and political beliefs. We are especially committed to increasing the representation of those populations that have been historically excluded from participation in U.S. higher education as a whole, and the field of psychological sciences, specifically.
Acknowledging the history and effects of systemic racism and discrimination, our department firmly stands for social justice for all people within and beyond our campus, particularly for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
To this end, we are committed to the following actions within the next academic year:
- Collaborating with Office of Accessibility, the Title IX Office, the Office of Inclusion and Diversity, and other Auburn University units and programs to best meet the needs of our students.
- Upholding all policies and ethical standards applicable to our department, including but not limited to the Auburn University AA/EEO Policies and Procedures and ethical codes of the psychological science subfields within our department (APA, BACB).
- Collaborating with Black Graduate and Professional Student Association (BGPSA) and Graduate Diversity Campus Experience (DiCE) program to identify and support initiatives relevant to our department.
- Ensuring all faculty and graduate students complete Safe Zone and cultural competency training that includes a focus on anti-Black racism.
- Requiring all faculty candidates and aspiring graduate students to submit a diversity statement addressing their contributions to diversity through community involvement, scholarly work, and/or professional activities.
- Creating a resource/training for our clinical faculty, students, and staff to promote cultural humility and ensure competency when working with diverse populations in clinical settings.
- Incorporating anti-racism and cultural competency training in relevant courses and providing access to professional development online educational resources for faculty and staff.
- Conducting regular climate surveys of our students to gauge concerns and pinpoint areas of improvement.
- Including cultural competence and anti-racism work among the criteria considered in our faculty annual review process and for tenure and promotion. This will provide a formal method to evaluate the degree to which individual faculty in our department align with our stated values, reward and recognize individuals for doing anti-racism and cultural competence work, and will allow for remediation plans for individuals falling short of our departmental ideals.
- Eliminating the GRE requirement for our graduate programs for Fall 2021 admission as an initial pilot test for eliminating it permanently.
We recognize engaging in cultural humility and dismantling racism and discrimination is an ongoing process. Our department strives to challenge and keep ourselves and each other accountable throughout this process as we fulfill our mission.