Doing Diversity: Creating Spaces, Opportunities, and Change

Abstract

I briefly describe my work on race and racism, and the psychology of diversity. Two key aims have been expanding graduate training for students of color and expanding the focus of scientific theorizing, research, and applications in psychology. I argue that history is important for understanding race-related conflict and progress and that cultural context is both a source of obstacles to inclusion (cultural racism) and an important asset in resisting and coping with these obstacles (resilience). I describe ways in which my career represents “doing diversity.” Specifically, I have (a) helped diversify psychological science through a Minority Fellowship Program that provided PhD training opportunities for more than 1,500 students of color, (b) contributed to understanding psychological issues by spearheading psychological science publications on HIV/AIDS, homelessness, and abortion; (c) contributed to national conversations and understanding of race by advising the U.S. Department of Defense on assessments of racial and ethnic discrimination in the military and President Clinton’s Race Initiative; and (d) helped conceive and create an institute of world-class scholarship on race (DuBois Institute for African American Research) at Harvard University. I conclude by discussing challenges I faced, what I might have done differently, and how my work was meaningful in my career and life.