History of the GCDE

The Graduate Student Committee for Diversity Enhancement (GCDE) was founded in 2005 by Yvette Alva, Marina Ramon and Dai Shizuka.  They were motivated to increase diversity at all levels in the field of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology including K-12, graduate level recruitment and diversity enhancement of faculty at UCSC.  Past events included a "Science Discovery Day" at the Long Marine Lab with hands-on activities coordinated by participating graduate students.  To enhance faculty recruitment, the committee lobbied the search committees to reserve a meeting slot with each candidate for a GCDE representative to inquire about candidates thoughts on enhancing diversity in the sciences. A summary of their comments was prepared for the search committee to be incorporated in their selection process.