Diversity can be defined in many different ways. What does it mean to us?

Diversity is a commitment to recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics that make people and communities unique as well as creating and sustaining an atmosphere that promotes and celebrates individual and collective achievement.

Examples of these characteristics include: age; cognitive style; culture; disability (mental, learning, physical); economic background; education; ethnicity; gender identity; geographic background; language(s) spoken; marital/partnered status; physical appearance; political affiliation; race; religious beliefs; sexual orientation.

The University of Tennessee Libraries Diversity Committee
Spring 2001; Revised January 2003; February 2015