Students in Snitkin lab
DEI in Microbiology & Immunology

The University of Michigan Medical School Department of Microbiology and Immunology strongly supports the goals for the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategic Plan of the University of Michigan.

Learn more about our commitments to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and view a list of departmental DEI activities below.

Our Commitments

We are dedicated to:

  • Diversity: We commit to increasing diversity, which is expressed in myriad forms, including race and ethnicity, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, language, culture, national origins, religious commitments, age, disability status and political perspective.
  • Equity: We commit to working actively to challenge and respond to bias, harassment and discrimination. We are committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight or veteran status.
  • Inclusion: We commit to pursuing deliberate efforts to ensure that our campus is a place where differences are welcomed, where different perspectives are respectfully heard and where every individual feels a sense of belonging and inclusion. We know that by building a critical mass of diverse groups on campus and creating a vibrant climate of inclusiveness, we can more effectively leverage the resources of diversity to advance our collective capabilities.

Addressing these issues is critical to fulfilling our mission of conducting medical research, training the next generation of scientists, teaching the University’s student body, and serving the Medical School, the scientific community and the public. Learn more about the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategic Plan.

A Rackham Faculty Allies for Diversity Grant has been awarded to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology since 2018, thanks to M&I faculty member Akira Ono and Yasmina Laouar.

DEI Activities
  • Tea@3 – Gather for tea and company each Tuesday afternoon during the school year. Hosted by a different lab each week with frequent cultural themes
  • Peer-to-peer mentoring for incoming students
  • Speaker series – hosted by Student Panel on Career and Diversity, funded by the Rackham Faculty Allies for Diversity Grant
  • Multi-cultural social gatherings – annual events such as the Diversity Potluck
  • Story Time – summer seminar series featuring non-scientific stories from department members
  • Community service – department-wide participation in planned volunteer events at places like Food Gatherers
  • After-hours social events – department-sponsored, family-friendly events like bowling
  • Department events – yearly department picnics, holiday parties, and biennial department retreats
Behind the Scenes
  • Training events – Regularly hosted training events for faculty, staff, and students on unconscious bias, bystander intervention, and mental health and suicide prevention
  • Web updates – regular updates to the department web page to represent the most recent changes in our students and personnel, development of online resources for diverse speaker pools
  • Community building – preparation of postdoc welcome packets, better integration of masters students in departmental activities
  • Data collection and analysis – increased tracking of trainee, faculty, and invited speaker demographics to improve recruitment and inclusion of a diverse department
DEI Resources
University Initiatives
M&I DEI Committee
labcoat Yasmina Laouar, PhD
Program Director, Microbiology and Immunology DEI Initiatives
Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Bethany Moore Bethany Moore, PhD
Nancy Walls Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Professor of Internal Medicine
Jona Kalaj Jona Kalaj
Administrative Staff Representative
Angela Kelly Angela Kelly
Administrative Staff Representative
stephanie himpsl Stephanie Himpsl
Research Staff Representative
user Sarah Tomkovich
Postdoctoral Representative
Hannah Carter Hannah Carter
MSTP, PhD Student | Moore Lab
Marc fuentes Jaime Fuentes
PhD Student | Martens Lab
 Joseph L Krampen Joseph Krampen
PhD Student | Collins Lab
Yipei Tang headshot Yipei Tang
Master's Student