College of Human Medicine Student's Idea Sparks Weeklong Event
After a violent demonstration on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville took place in August, an idea began taking shape in Chrissiey Jackson’s mind. “After the Charlottesville incident, I asked my peers how they felt about what was going on,” said Jackson, a second-year Michigan State University College of Human Medicine student. “As an institution, we needed to deal with it.” She emailed her concerns to Wanda Lipscomb, senior associate dean for diversity and inclusion and associate dean for student affairs in the medical college. Other students also began approaching Lipscomb, suggesting the college needed to do something in response. As a result, Celebrating Unity and Connections week was born and has now become the college’s effort to help its students of different ethnic, economic and cultural backgrounds share their personal stories and find common ground. As part of Celebrating Unity and Connections week, students participated in group activities “We