The English Department is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty and graduate students. In recent years, the Department has hired new faculty from various underrepresented groups, and such hiring continues to be a priority. This commitment extends to graduate recruitment as well. Students from diverse backgrounds are invited to apply to a department that values achievements, service and employment in socially or economically disadvantaged communities. The Department has broad faculty representation in the fields of ethnic, women's, and third-world/postcolonial literatures.

Qualified students admitted to the English Department have the opportunity to be considered not only for the teaching assistantships and department and university fellowships outlined in our Graduate Handbook (under Financial Support and Graduate Student Teaching) but also for several fellowships created to foster diversity at UCSB. Two of these, the Cota-Robles Fellowship and the Doctoral Scholars Fellowships, are described at the above link. For MA/PhD students who win these fellowships, the English Department customarily adds an extra year of teaching assistantship to create a total five-year package. The Dean's Fellowships award a $14,000 stipend plus fees and health insurance for one year. The English Department adds subsequent years of teaching-assistantship support to extend the total support package associated with this fellowship to five years for MA/PhD students or four years for PhD students. As in the case of all students, full support by the Department normally begins at latest by the start of a student's second year.

The Santa Barbara area has a rich and diverse heritage, with contributions from Chumash Indian, Hispanic, Asian, and European Americans. Recently, the contributions of African Americans in Santa Barbara have been researched and recorded by UCSB's Afro-American Community History Project. Several academic departments are also involved in research on social and political issues affecting the local minority communities. Many opportunities for community involvement are available to minority graduate students. UCSB as a whole has exciting cross-departmental programs and facilities dedicated to instilling a sense of ethnic diversity (see UCSB Resources of Interest to Our Department's Community).