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.
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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.
