SPIRE has been selected as one of the Intergroup Collaboration recipients of the 2018 University Diversity Award at UNC Chapel Hill. Recipients of the awards were honored during the annual University Diversity Awards reception on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. The University Diversity Awards reception is an opportunity to recognize individuals or organizations across six categories for exemplary service or scholarship in promoting diversity, equity, social justice, community engagement, or cultural awareness.
This award recognized SPIRE’s long standing success in training postdoctoral scholars with a focus on increasing diversity in the sciences in partnership with Johnson C. Smith University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina A&T State University, and UNC Pembroke. SPIRE’s collaboration between administrative staff, postdoctoral scholars, research mentors, faculty at the partner institutions, and undergraduate students has been on-going since 1999. The award also recognizes SPIRE’s Summer Research Program, which selects undergraduates from the 4 partnership institutions to engage with SPIRE postdoctoral scholars as mentors for a 10-week summer research experience. The Summer Research Program is funded through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, The College of Arts and Sciences, Dean’s Office, and the School of Medicine. SPIRE is funded through a grant from the Training and Workforce Development division of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).
