Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine to host diversity symposium, April 13 through 15
The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech will host the third Southeastern Veterinary Student Diversity Matters Symposium on its Blacksburg campus on April 13 to 15. This year’s theme is “More than Meets the Eye: Understanding Our Seen and Unseen Differences.”
“The symposium will give participants an opportunity to learn more about supporting diversity in the veterinary profession,” said Dr. W. Edward Monroe, professor of internal medicine in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences and chair of the college’s diversity committee. “In particular, we will focus on aspects of diversity that might not have received much attention in the veterinary medical community in the past, but nonetheless inform and enrich our experiences.”
Ray Williams, director of the Office of Multicultural Programs and Services, and Francesca Galarraga, director of diversity education and training in the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, will give a presentation on unseen diversities. Susan Angle, director of the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, will host a workshop on universal design and accessibility for people with disabilities.
The symposium will also feature a panel discussion on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues and a presentation on how to start a chapter of Veterinary Students as One In Culture and Ethnicity (VOICE), a student organization that seeks to enhance the diversity of the veterinary profession and cultural competence of veterinary students. Students at the veterinary college founded a VOICE chapter in the fall of 2010.
Dr. Gerhardt Schurig, dean of the veterinary college, and Lisa Greenhill, associate executive director for diversity at the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, will provide opening remarks at the symposium.
The symposium rotates among the seven veterinary medical colleges in the Southeast. This is the first time that the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine has hosted it.
Registration is $25. To learn more and to register, contact Jill Wells at 540-231-7828.
