Diversity & Inclusion

Committed to diversity & inclusion

The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) is committed to fostering a community of diverse faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows, and staff from across a wide range of race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ability status, socioeconomic status, immigration status, and other forms of difference. PBS values diversity, equity, and inclusion as core strengths and essential elements of its mission.

As part of this advancement, PBS is committed to cultivating a culture of collaboration, mutual respect, cooperation, professionalism, ethical behavior, and harmonious relationships between and among administrators, faculty, students, staff, and alumni. Advancement will occur across three dimensions of diversity including departmental structure, curriculum, and climate.

Why diversity matters

Diversity is essential to academic excellence and brings many immediate and tangible benefits. There is a kind of learning and problem solving that occurs in heterogeneous groups – people who come from a variety of races, backgrounds, and other dimensions of difference and who have a variety of interests, talents, and perspectives – that cannot occur in groups of people that are the same. Interactions among a diverse department allows (1) everyone to learn from their differences and (2) stimulates the reexamination of our most deeply held assumptions about ourselves and our world. Diverse perspectives enrich the learning environment, which leads to the formulation of cutting-edge innovations, which are disseminated to benefit communities near and far.

PBS diversity scholarships

Women in Science Fund

Women are still underrepresented in scientific and technological fields, and PBS hopes to change that. Our department extends support to women students and faculty as they pursue careers in psychological science, and it encourages and supports research related to the issue of women in science.

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Kenneth Heller Minority Student Support Fund

Professor Emeritus Ken Heller matches funds for any gift given to this fund, which supports awards, fellowships, scholarships, or support for minority students. Recipients are American citizens from minority groups who are underrepresented in the psychology profession.

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Diversity resources at IU