Dr. Crystal Rogers Awarded Chancellor’s Fellow for DEI

Congratulations to Dr. Crystal Rogers on her recent selection as a 2023 Chancellor Fellow for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. As one of five campus recipients of this honor, Rogers is recognized for exceptional contributions in supporting, tutoring, mentoring and advising underrepresented students and/or students from underserved communities.

As Assistant Professor in the school’s Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, Rogers is a faculty scholar at the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS) and a mentor with the Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP). Throughout her career, she has mentored students from historically excluded and underserved backgrounds. She is part of the Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Fellowship committee, bringing a holistic review and an equitable and inclusive opportunities to the largest graduate group at UC Davis. In addition, she is a member and chair-designate of the Inclusion and Outreach Committee for the Society for Developmental Biology.

In a letter of support, Dr. Clare Yellowley, department chair, underscored Rogers’ dedication to mentoring diverse students in STEM.

“As both a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow, she [Rogers] already understood that increasing diversity in STEM required stepping up as a mentor and role model,” Yellowley said. “She mentored undergraduate students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds in the lab and participated in established programs at Caltech [as a postdoctoral scholar] designed to increase the representation of URM students such as the Minority Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program (MURF). As a testament to her mentoring, a number of these students went on to medical programs and graduate school. Rogers joined our department in September 2019 and even though she moved at the start of the pandemic she has built a thriving research program that is inclusive and accessible to scientists from all backgrounds and walks of life.”

“I am honored to be chosen as a 2023 Chancellor’s Fellow for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” Rogers said. “I am passionate about providing an inclusive environment for the students in my lab and holding the door open to provide opportunities and a path for the future leaders in biology.”

In addition to Rogers, Chancellor Gary S. May and the Academic Senate’s Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity announced four other 2023 DEI Fellows:

• Javier Arsuaga, College of Biological Sciences and College of Letters and Science
• Setareh Rafatirad, College of Engineering
• David Wittman, College of Letters and Science
• Kupiri Ackerman-Barger, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing

In letters to the recipients, Chancellor May cited their “commitment to reducing opportunity gaps.” Each recipient receives $5,000 in one-time Academic Enrichment Funding.

Rogers joins veterinary school Associate Professors Melanie Gareau and Karen Shapiro who were also honored as Chancellor’s Fellows this year.