The Art of Diversity

A floor-to-ceiling mural of UB students and faculty in the Jacobs School's second floor atrium.

A floor-to-ceiling mural of UB students and faculty in the Jacobs School's second floor atrium, by Buffalo artist Julia Bottoms.

A floor-to-ceiling mural by Buffalo artist Julia Bottoms in the Jacobs School’s second floor atrium has a bigger purpose: to celebrate the diversity of the school and to demonstrate its role as a partner in the community. The figures in the mural are depictions of actual students and faculty. 

The idea for the piece first emerged back in 2019 when UB graduates Raul Vazquez, MD ’89, his wife, Toni Gaiter-Vazquez, EdD ’91, and the late Jonathan D. Daniels, MD ’98, former associate director of admissions, saw the need to literally bring some color into the school.

Vazquez remembers that when he arrived at the UB medical school in 1985, nobody looked like him. Today, the school is a far more diverse place, a message he felt was important to communicate as visitors and students enter the building. 

The Vazquezes funded the project, and the next generation is carrying on the health care tradition: Their daughter, Nina, graduated from the Jacobs School in 2023 while another daughter, Nadia, is currently a student.

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