There is little doubt that education is the most pivotal factor to advancement in its most comprehensive sense. The Graduate Academic Achievement & Advocacy Program (GAAAP) consists of concerned graduate students with a goal to address the severe lack of diversity among graduate students at the University of California, Davis.
GAAAP coordinators are responsible for providing support to existing graduate students of color and recruitment of and advocacy for undergraduate students of color interested in pursuing a graduate education.
During the Winter quarter of the 1998-1999 school year, the student body of UC Davis passed the FACE initiative. This allowed for the formation of the student initiated and student-run recruitment and retention center. The 1999-2000 academic year gave witness to a monumental event on the UC Davis campus—the implementation of group programs which include: ACE, AIRR, YIK’KAL KUYUM, SAFE, and BRIDGE. GAAAP, created by a small group of dedicated graduate students of color, continues to develop as one of the few services on campus directly accountable to students of color.
