Exploring Graduate Students' Socialization to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

To better prepare graduate students to address societal problems. scholars have asserted the need to foster students' abilities to engage across differences in social identities. values, and beliefs. Yet few studies have examined whether and how graduate students learn about equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) during their training. Acknowledging this void, our critical constructivist comparative case study explored how 44 graduate students in an array of disciplines and fields at 2 institutions were socialized to EDI across their experiences. Our findings indicate that academic departments rarely discuss EDI, and when they do, they highlight the need for increased compositional diversity. Participants' experiences with faculty, in courses, in departmental gatherings, and in lab/research settings communicated the relevance or lack thereof of EDI to students' disciplines and fields. Because EDI was often omitted from discussions in students' departments, multiple participants with minoritized identities expressed feeling marginalized and tokenized, if not overtly targeted, based on their identities. To supplement their learning about EDI and to find additional sources of support, many students participated in programs/courses through their graduate college or engaged with identity-centered student organizations. Our research illuminates the need for academic departments to consistently provide intentional opportunities for individuals to learn about EDI in their disciplines and fields if we are to create inclusive learning environments and prepare graduate students to contribute to a complex and interdependent global society.