Welcome to the Alliance for Visible Diversity in Science!


          We focus on one central mission- to increase visible diversity within the Graduate Studies programs at Oregon Health and Science University by recruiting, retaining, and most importantly, supporting graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, staff, and faculty members from underrepresented backgrounds. NEW: A video summarizing AVDS's accomplishments can be found below.


​A snapshot of why active racial inclusion is important:

August Newsletter


Refer to Calendar for details

*|MC:SUBJECT|*
Meet the New Board Members!
AVDS Board (left to right): Teresa Stackhouse (Treasurer), Mateo Lopez Espejo (Events Chair), Sierra Smith (Receptionist), Katy Lehmann (Education Chair), Tavita Garrett (Communications Chair), Itallia Pacentine (Operations Chair), Dr. Letisha Wyatt (Historian). Not pictured: Arielle Isakharov (Secretary)
Call for AVDS Liaisons
     Do you want your program or department to be more united with AVDS? Do you want to create bridges across OHSU graduate programs? Become a Program Liaison!
 
     Program liaisons ensure that information about AVDS is distributed to their department in a timely manner, provide feedback on how AVDS can better serve students in their department, and represent AVDS during graduate program recruitment. AVDS is recruiting liaisons from: BEHN, NGP, PBMS, Clinical Psychology, DMICE, CSEE, Medical Physics, School of Nursing….and more! 
 
     AVDS is also recruiting liaisons for OHSU employee resource and student interest groups! OHSU liaisons will help AVDS maintain ties with campus groups and advertise the group's events to AVDS membership! AVDS is currently looking for liaisons from all employee resource groups (ERGs) and student interest groups (SIGs).
 

If you want to be a Program Liaison or OHSU Liaison, please fill out the AVDS interest survey.
Racial Justice Ally Training
     AVDS members will be participating in a racial justice ally training conducted by Dr. Bevyn Rowland from Clark College on September 12th. The 90-minute training will focus on identifying one’s location in a system of power, privilege and inequity and how to become a culturally effective ally. There are a few spots available on a first-come first-serve basis. The training is free. If interested, please contact Dr. Sarah Kissiwaa (kissiwaa@ohsu.edu).
When: Thursday  Sept. 12th
3:00 - 4:30  PM

Where: TBA
NEW: AVDS Book Club
     The Education and Communication Committees are excited to announce the start of the AVDS Book Club! We will be reading White Fragility by Robin DiAngleo with optional accompanying readings from the Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity. We are working to make a few copies of these books available for book club members but we are also encouraging everyone to obtain a Multnomah County library card. Meetings occur will be every two weeks, with the reading scheduled announced in next month’s newsletter. The first meeting is slated for the third week of September, if you are interested in participating, please fill out this Doodle Poll with the days and times that would work best for you. 
 
AVDS Happy Hour
AVDS happy hour is the only campus happy hour open to ALL students, faculty, and staff . Come on out, the dog days aren't so bad!
When: August 30th, 5:00 PM

Where: Vollum Courtyard
Things to keep in mind:
What I have learned from these experiences about surviving as an underrepresented minority in the sciences is that many such students do not take proactive steps to reach out, seek help, and get answers to concerns they have. They wait for someone to come to them. But they must learn how to reach out in order to survive. For institutions, creating a culture of inclusion and a space for these students to air their thoughts is a great help."

​​– Erich Jarvis, Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center