We are committed to fostering a learning environment that will support the academic achievement of any student we admit. This goes beyond being color-blind, gender-blind, and sexual-orientation blind, as if such blindness were possible. It means dealing with diversity issues when they arise in an open and affirmative way, rather than waiting the problems out. It means going after diversity issues in a proactive way, rather than waiting for acute problems to arise. We are active on several diversity fronts. 

In support of graduate students of color

• We are successfully recruiting African American applicants to achieve numbers so far beyond a token presence that race ceases to be a master status in our graduate program.
• We take race seriously as a deeply embedded aspect of inequality that cannot be separated from other aspects of social life and sociology.
• Many faculty members and graduate students integrate race and ethnicity into their research programs. Click here for examples of research in our department on race and ethnicity.
• Click here for details on our commitment to training African American sociologists.

In support of female graduate students

• We are grateful to receive so many applications from women that we are assured of having substantial numbers of women in our program.
• We take gender seriously as deeply embedded aspects of inequality that cannot be separated from other aspects of social life and sociology.
• One of our faculty directs the graduate minor in Women's and Gender Studies, and many of our students participate in this minor.
• Many faculty members and graduate students identify as feminist scholars and orient their research from a feminist perspective.
• Faculty play key roles in the national and regional Sociologists for Women in Society and we have an active local chapter.

In support of gay graduate students

• We understand that gay-identified students face deeply embedded inequality and discrimination in many aspects of their lives, including within the academy. We take sexuality as a deeply embedded aspect of inequality that cannot be separated from other aspects of social life and sociology. 
• Our university includes sexual orientation among other factors that are not to be considered in evaluating students. The policy in its short form states: "North Carolina State University regards discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation to be inconsistent with its goal of providing a welcoming environment in which all its students, faculty, and staff may learn and work up to their full potential. The University values the benefits of cultural diversity and pluralism in the academic community and welcomes all men and women of good will without regard to sexual orientation."
• Gay graduate students employed as teaching assistants or instructors are free, at their own discretion, to reveal their sexual orientation in the conduct of their teaching responsibilities. The departmental administration supports all instructors' freedom to use personal life experiences, as appropriate, in support of pedagogical goals.

In support of work/family balance