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Summer 2007, Vol. 3, No. 3 | Index
Message from the Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinator
The Way to Diversity
The second annual Woods Hole Diversity Day was held on August 15, 2007. The event celebrated the anniversary of the Diversity Initiative undertaken by the MBL and fellow local scientific institutions three years ago. I wish to send a big thank you to new Diversity Day MBL recruits Kara Ryan and Erika Del Castillo of the Bay Paul Center, and Purchasing Supervisor Lionel Hall for making this year’s event possible and to Diana Kenney, Communications, Vicenta Salvador, Bay Paul Center, Mike Toner, Plant Operations and Maintenance, and Alex Valm, Brown-MBL Graduate Student, for volunteering to help with the event in 2008.
Diversity Day is not only a celebration of the importance of understanding and promoting diversity, is a good time to reflect on the many actions being taken in our community to increase diversity.
- In July, MBL joined her sister scientific institutions to host a day for students from the MIT Summer Research Program, many of whom are from underrepresented populations, to acquaint them with the opportunities available in Woods Hole.
- This summer, MBL’s SPINES Program (Summer Program in Neuroscience, Ethics & Survival) was once again filled to capacity with pre-doctoral neuroscience students from underrepresented ethnic groups, giving students an opportunity to gain valuable scientific education as well as some hands-on experience.
- MBL continues to partner with the Minorities Affairs Committee of the American Society for Cell Biology in developing and training minority scientists during summer courses; this year, 15 underrepresented students were supported and honored at a luncheon in June.
- A legislative breakfast featuring Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray was held on September 14. The event brought awareness of our diversification efforts to state and federal congressional representatives.
- Dr. Paulinus Chigbu from the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, one of the top undergraduate-degree-producing institutions for African Americans in the biological and biomedical sciences, discussed his experience developing programs that attract students from underrepresented populations with members of the Woods Hole Diversity Advisory Committee (DAC) earlier this month.
- A second speaker, Dr. Julie Williams, will address the Woods Hole DAC on collaborative projects that she has organized as Associate Vice President for Outreach Scholarship and Research at the University of New Hampshire.
- The MBL and fellow Woods Hole scientific institutions have begun collaborating on a proposed academic program to bring more minority students to Woods Hole.
- WHOI is now home to a group called GLOW (Gays, Lesbians and Others at WHOI) that provides community networking and support for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals, and transgendered individuals and their allies.
- Dr. David Burgess, a newly appointed MBL Adjunct Scientist and Past President of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, has published an informative article in Nature Jobs on how to get tenure especially if you are an underrepresented minority or woman (http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070625/full/nj7148-1142a.html).
- Assistant Scientist Seth Bordenstein’s new Howard Hughes Medical Institute Award for $725,225 will be used to fund a hands-on, laboratory-based professional development program for teachers that will bring new life to high school science classes nationwide; the program will impact more than 1,000 students in 2007 including those from a predominately Hispanic/Black high school in the Bronx.
The Collecting Net is an employee newsletter published by the Communications Office. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Call (508) 289-7423 or e-mail us at
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