Mission
The Multicultural Staff, Faculty, & Researchers Association (MSFRA) provides a platform for multicultural Harvard staff, faculty, & researchers to create sustainable professional networks and to foster career development, by enhancing cross-cultural communication, international awareness, cooperation, and cultural diversity.
History
MSFRA began in 2022 at an Affinity Spaces virtual event offered through the Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging. Sylvie Potookian (FAS/ Staff/ Lebanon) & Eugene Serebryany (FAS/ Postdoctoral Fellow/ Russia) met in one of the breakout rooms. We discussed the need to form an international group at Harvard that would include staff and postdocs. We met for over a year with other members of our community, gathered ideas, and eventually recruited Sabrina Taileb-Houmel (HSPH/ Staff/ Algeria). Sylvie led the team in applying for a Harvard Culture Lab Innovation Fund under the name of “Multicultural Staff & Faculty Association”. The application process involved preparing a proposal and recording MSFRA’s pitch. In June 2023, we were awarded this prestigious grant. Just before launching our group to the wider Harvard community, we agreed to change our name to the Multicultural Staff, Faculty, & Researchers Association (MSFRA) to make it more inclusive for our postdocs/ researchers. Unfortunately for us, Eugene received a job offer outside of Harvard and moved on in September 2023. He is now an assistant professor at Stony Brook University! We wish him all the best and hope to see him at our future events.
MSFRA offers our members an inclusive and safe space to make meaningful connections, collectively share and grow our intercultural knowledge, and be empowered by diverse perspectives. We host monthly coffee chats on campus in Cambridge, as well as provide similar opportunities in the Longwood area. The coffee chats are a great way to meet other multicultural members of our community.
Join our mailing list (open to Harvard staff, faculty, and postdocs) or private LinkedIn group to receive more information on our events.
MSFRA 2023 HCLIF Recipient- Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging