The graduate students, post-docs, and faculty of UVA Biology are partnering with the UVA Division of Diversity and Inclusion to initiate long-standing collaborations between our biology department and science departments of regional colleges and universities through reciprocal in-person seminars.
The goals of our program are to:
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Provide education and networking opportunities for undergraduates and faculty at minority serving institutions (MSIs) and low-income serving institutions with otherwise limited access to such resources.
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Promote early engagement with academic research at the undergraduate level to encourage students of underrepresented populations to pursue careers in Biology or other STEM fields.
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Enhance diversity within the networks of our own faculty, enabling creativity in research and outreach and promoting a culture that values greater representation of individuals from minority and low-income communities, as well as respect for diversity, and the expectation of intellectual inclusivity.
We have tailored our Reciprocal Visits program to provide virtual career panel discussions targeted towards undergraduate and graduate students (see Virtual Visits) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Once we can resume in-person visits we plan to continue our career panel discussions and initiate Reciprocal Visits to discuss current research in regional academic laboratories.
