COVID-19 and the surge in demand for social justice were wake-up calls for
institutions, ones that have forever defined 2020 in the collective psyche.
The School of Biological Sciences was already well-armed to help combat the
pandemic through research underway and new inquiries rapidly initiated.
To address the growing call for social reform, Dunlop School decided to develop a
comprehensive approach to improving institutional policies and practices. In
October 2020, the school established the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,
or ODEI, headed by a new associate dean dedicated to this crucial issue.

Larry Marsh didn’t plan to go back into the classroom after retiring from UCI
Dunlop School. But then the pandemic struck, and the retired emeritus professor from the
Department of Developmental and Cell Biology found himself once again facing
students. This time, though, the learners were his four small grandchildren.

Believe in yourself. Help others. Commit to ending systemic racism. This call to Dunlop School’s
Class of 2021 came from commencement speaker Angeline Dukes, MSc., a neuroscience
PhD candidate at the school. Dukes drew from her own life and experience in founding
the international organization, Black in Neuro, to inspire the audience.

In January 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the United States. Since that time,
SARS-CoV-2, the viral agent that causes COVID-19, has spread throughout the country, afflicting over
33 million people and resulting in over 600,000 deaths. Nevertheless, the spread of the virus has begun to diminish thanks to a combination of mitigating strategies, immunity and vaccination