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Initiatives for Building Inclusive and Diverse Communities

Our lab is deeply committed to fighting systemic injustice and biases against race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, religion, and experience in our laboratory, department, institution, social community, and community at large.

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Science as an institution was founded on structural and institutional racism, inequality, and exploitation, some of which still persists today. We passionately believe that diversity, inclusion, and equity in the workplace and community at large stimulates creativity, innovation, engagement, and success.

We pledge be anti-racist, anti-sexist, and pro-LGBTQ+, and anti-discrimination. We will do so by actively standing up against forms of injustice and intolerance including, but not limited to, statements and acts of overt racism, sexism, and other prejudices; language and action rooted in innate biases; and suggestions of othering, tone-policing, reverse racism or sexism, discursive racism or sexism, and privilege.

 

We pledge to continue educating our social and workplace communities on the crucial need to acknowledge and understand the difference between ideals or goals for a more just society and the actions that lead to true inclusion and respect for diversity. 

 

We will continue to devote ourselves to identifying and executing structural and institutional solutions that will provide equal access to tools and opportunities for people of all races, genders, religion, and experiences. 

 

We will remain humbly committed to increasing our tolerance for feedback by not being afraid to ask questions or to receive feedback, by evaluating our reactions to feedback, and by accepting the discomfort of giving and receiving "call outs" for the benefit of learning.

To combat historical and current injustices and to promote equality, equity and justice, we commit to the following initiatives and programs:

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  • Writer's pictureTracy Larson
    • Dec 12, 2020
    • 1 min read

Undergraduate Researchers Engage in Outreach

Updated: Jan 16, 2021

During Fall Semester 2020 every member of the Larson research group participated in at least one outreach activity as a pilot “experiment” for requiring formal outreach activities of all undergraduate researchers in the Larson research group. Each of the five undergraduate students in the laboratory participated in discussions on outreach and inclusion and engaged in various biology-related outreach activities of their own choosing.


Students volunteered to serve as biology tutors for primary and secondary school students in Charlottesville and Albemarle county public schools through UVA Madison House (https://www.madisonhouse.org/overview-tutoring), while others tutored adults through the Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle (www.literacyforall.org).


At the conclusion of the semester, the undergraduate researchers were enthusiastic about including outreach as a standard requirement for being considered an active member of the Larson laboratory moving forward.


During the pandemic the outreach activities of the undergraduate researchers has been limited to virtual-only programs. The undergraduate researchers are very excited to be able to expand their outreach as soon as in-person activities can commence.

  • Writer's pictureTracy Larson
    • Sep 30, 2020
    • 1 min read

Creation of the Biology Outreach and Inclusion Program

Updated: Aug 27, 2022

The Department of Biology graduate students have formed a club to promote outreach activities in the local and regional communities (originally called BOP, Biology Outreach Program). Tracy is partnering with the club to now include the Reciprocal Visits inclusion initiative initially envisioned as a separate entity. The now-called, Biology Outreach and Inclusion Program (BOIP) aims to establish enduring relationships between the University of Virginia Department of Biology and public institutions in our local and regional communities.


We aim to nurture an excitement for inquiry-based science through outreach programs including SPI-BOIP virtual classroom visits, science tutoring, and visits to our department by local primary and secondary schools.


We are working to create an equitable infrastructure of support for career building opportunities and scientific collaborations through inclusion programs including the Reciprocal Visits Program.


Tracy has created a website to serve as a hub for all of the outreach and inclusion initiatives in the Department of Biology including those of BOIP but also independent programs from around the department. We are excited to launch the site in the near future!


  • Writer's pictureTracy Larson
    • Jan 30, 2020
    • 1 min read

Cell Biology Art Display in Physical Life Science Building

Updated: Aug 13, 2021

Dr. Sarah Siegrist and Tracy designed and constructed a public display of professionally aluminum-printed placards that highlight our groups’ research organisms and fields of enquiry with stunning cellular and organismal images. Our new art display features images

of field work from the Larson Lab, developmental models from the Keller Lab, novel glia from the Kucenas lab, C. elegans development from the Pani Lab, pigment cells and scales from the Parichy Lab, transgenic Xenopus from the Grainger Lab, and neurogenesis in Drosophila from the Siegrist Lab.

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