UM SPH Diversity Statement

May 27, 2008

A strength of the SPH community is its commitment to attracting, training and engaging students, faculty and staff from different backgrounds, cultures, values and perspectives. We seek to create an environment that invites and values the contributions of everyone so that we can fulfill our Public Health mission. Toward this end, we are committed to honest and respectful dialogue, treating everyone with dignity and respect, and managing tensions and different viewpoints with maturity, sensitivity and as growth opportunities. We view this approach to diversity as fundamental to achieving our educational, research, practice and professional development goals because it provides opportunities for us to expand our horizons, learn from each other and do our best work.

In the interest of building a shared language, the diversity committee drew upon the definitions below to create our statement.

Diversity is a multidimensional construct that describes visible and invisible differences in: ideology and orientation, geography and nationality, socio-demographic identities, functional/professional roles, and disparities in power and resources (Hubbard, 2004; Loden & Rosner, 1997; Harrison & Klein, 2007; Fuller, 2004, 2006).

Ideology and Orientation: religion, political view, thinking style, sexual orientation, orientation toward time, use of power, beliefs about how “truth” is determined, relational norms (individualist/collectivist, competitive /cooperative) and behavioral norms.
Geography and Nationality: regional, local, country of origin, and global networks and constituencies.
Socio-demographic Identities: age, gender, race, ethnicity, physical ability, health status, family/marital status, education level, income, physical appearance (e.g. weight, height, aesthetics).
Professional/Functional: occupation, experience, tenure of employment, organizational status (e.g., management and staff), union/non-union.
Disparities: variations in the access to or use of resources, privilege, and power based upon some other category of difference. Real, perceived, unearned, abused or ignored disparities and inequities lead to tensions, and if unmanaged, unproductive conflicts.

Culture is: “the pattern of shared basic assumptions – invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration – that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”
(Shein, 1985). Any group, identified above, may have their own culture.

Culture conveys: assumptions, values, beliefs, group identity, adaptation strategies and decision making rules that have some basis in a shared history or shared experiences.
Culture is communicated through: language, jargon, artifacts, symbols, stories, myths, ceremonies, rituals, apparel/dress, and heroes.