Culture & Community
Culture & Community
The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University stands with all people and organizations working to end racism and social injustice. We acknowledge the role of the Museum, and especially its founder, Louis Agassiz, in fostering ideas of racial disparity and inequality that underlie historical attitudes towards African Americans and other people of color—ideas that we soundly reject. As an institution devoted to education, research and public outreach, we are committed to developing programs that will earnestly evaluate these attitudes and promote contemporary solutions, and to offering new educational and research opportunities in the Museum for people who until now may have felt unwelcome or excluded.
Emerging Scientists Program
This program ran by the Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology connects Cambridge and Boston high school students with Harvard researchers to provide meaningful and accessible life sciences research experiences to area high school students. Students are hosted by faculty research labs and museum collections.
Building Spaces
The MCZ is working towards making our building spaces welcoming to all. We have removed artwork depicting Louis Agassiz from our common spaces, renamed the conference room formally in his name to instead honor Robert A. Gilbert, named a meeting room after Ruth D. Turner, and are working to improve a lounge where all denizens of the building are welcome and have a place to rest and socialize.
Fellowship Renamed
The E.O. Wilson Postdoctoral Fellowship (2019-2022), was initiated through generous seed funding by the late Edward O. Wilson, with support from additional donors. The change in the name of this program reflects our commitment to encourage diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as part of our core values.
Resources at Harvard
Acknowledgment of Harmful Content
Acknowledgment of harmful content in the MCZ database, MCZbase. We acknowledge the existence of harmful content within the collection data available on MCZbase and are committed to addressing this problem, including the presentation of racial and other
Women of the Museum 1860-1920: Behind-the-scenes at the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Often assigned repetitive and mundane tasks, they nonetheless made significant contributions to the museum’s early history. This exhibit highlights their work for the first time. While their expertise and extensive knowledge of the museum’s collections
OEB Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee
The OEB Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee is unequivocally dedicated to creating an environment that is welcoming to all people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or any other axis of
