NEWS FROM THE PROVOST
Olivia Bullard, a graduate student at NC State working in Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA), received her undergraduate degree in biology with a biomedical concentration from UNC Pembroke. Originally from Pembroke, Bullard is Native American and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
Bullard began working with MSA in March and helped organize NC State’s annual Pow Wow. She also sang with the Native American drum group on campus. In August, Bullard participated in MSA’s week-long Symposium for Multicultural Scholars where she had the opportunity to meet new and current students on campus who are minorities like herself. She says, “It’s great to see people who maybe have the same experiences that you have or may feel the same as you do when you’re coming to a PWI .” These connections are ones MSA seeks to facilitate through programs like Symposium.
On diversity, Bullard states that it “involves, not just necessarily a person’s skin color, but also their culture and their traditions, their different ways of life… different mindsets that do not necessarily conform to the social norm.”
Bullard plans to graduate with her masters in physiology from NC State this December.
Olivia Bullard was interviewed by Austin Butler, communications intern in the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity.