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This content has been written in collaboration with the Writing and Communication Centre. For receiving feedback on diversity statements, you can book an appointment with the Centre for Career Development via WaterlooWorks (under cover letters) or book an appointment with the Writing and Communication Centre.

A diversity statement demonstrates your commitment and contributions to diversity and/or inclusion, particularly in your academic career. The statement should be at least one page, but it can be longer. Your statement can address aspects of your academic career such as research, research practices, teaching and pedagogy, service or volunteer work and future commitments to diversity and inclusion.

You do not need to address all these aspects of your academic career. There’s no one-size fits all version of a diversity statement. A diversity statement is composed of a deep reflection on the various ways you have been committed to diversity and inclusion. Focus on the aspects of your career that best demonstrate that commitment.

The purpose of the diversity statement is to demonstrate alignment with the department‘s inclusivity and diversity mission. The hiring committee wants to know that you'll be able to contribute to the department‘s and the university‘s mission, rather than uphold existing barriers and practices that exclude equity-deserving groups.

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Service: In your volunteer work or academic service, have you participated in an outreach committee or initiative designed to support under-represented populations in your field? For instance, you participated in a community outreach camp for girls in tech and entrepreneurship, Technovation Girls.

There are several ways to structure your diversity statement, and how you structure the statement should highlight your contributions and commitment to diversity and inclusion. Consider this guide for your reference when structuring your diversity statement.

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In your conclusion, summarize your letter and connect it to your future contributions at the institution you are applying to. How will you continue your commitments and contributions to diversity and inclusion at that university? What would these contributions look like? How do your past and future contributions align with the department/university‘s diversity and inclusion mission?

Before you ask yourself this question, seriously reflect on how you might have contributed to diversity and inclusion in your academic career. Remember that diversity includes a wide range of topics such as race, gender and sexuality, disability and demographics such as age, class, first-generation students, university culture, off-campus communities, etc. Diversity can be demonstrated in your research, ethical approaches to your research, how you have created an inclusive environment in your classroom, pedagogical approaches and volunteer work.

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Yes. If you absolutely feel that your research does not demonstrate your contributions/commitment to diversity nor can you think of how your research can be committed to diversity in the future, you do not have to discuss your research in a diversity statement.

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Your document's structure demonstrates the information most important from asking yourself these questions.

Below are some further resources on writing diversity statements:

• UC San Diego‘s Guidelines for Applicants Writing Statement

• The Effective Diversity Statement by Tanya Golash-Boza

• Demystifying the Diversity Statement by Victoria Reyes

• UC Berkeley‘s Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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• Next: Preparing for an academic interview