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Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic
Goal 1: Integrate EDI into our institutional culture so that all members of the UFV community can thrive in their education, career, and leadership roles at UFV
3. Incorporate EDI goals into strategic planning and review processes of every unit, with each unit developing its own statement of commitment to EDI.
• The Academic Planning and Priorities Committee (APPC) is completing an extensive review of their terms of reference. At the end of this review, the APPC will commit to review the terms against the EDI lens when it has been developed and approved for use. • A Strategic Initiatives Fund will soon be implemented and people will be able to apply for funding to start/develop initiatives related to the Integrated Strategic Plan. EDI related initiatives could qualify for funding. Deans Council will consider how to prioritize and develop criteria. • Currently developing ideas for ways to incorporate EDI into curriculum review and development, governance, and policies; program reviews and development; expand Undergraduate Education Committee (UEC) requirements to include EDI; incorporate more EDI into the Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) data books –are there better ways to present and collect data? what about a student census?; employees should represent the communities – do we collect this information in Human Resources (HR)?; embed EDI on research applications.
5. Develop an EDI Learning Outcome.
• This work is in the idea stage and the following questions are being asked: Should EDI learning outcomes be at the course or program level?; Should we review our Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILO) in general to ensure they are still current?
6. Expand opportunities for employees and students to engage in dialogue and action around EDI.
The Senior Academic Leadership Team (SALT) and Deans Council commits 30 minutes a month to conversations about EDI. Senior admin/exempt team are participating in UFV Reads. Everyone was asked to think individually and collectively on what they want to get out of this initiative. In its idea stage, to get students engaged – they are unsatisfied but do they have a space for dialogue and debate?; what about a student led event on race and anti-racism (possibly led/co-organized with a faculty member)? Provost Mandigo intends to fund a workshop for the Deans and Associate Deans to facilitate difficult conversations and to unpack personal privilege. For example, how to deal with uncomfortable situations and how to navigate LGBTQ2 conversations.
7. Hold gatherings that have the purpose of building awareness and a deeper knowledge around diversity.
The Provost's office organized a Lunch and Learn in September 2020. Drawing upon our shared reading of Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race, the Special Advisor to the President kicked-off a discussion about the meaning and urgency of anti-racism. What does anti-racism mean to each of us and for how we live our lives? What does it mean for what we do in each of our areas at UFV? How do we take what we learn from Oluo (and others) and apply it in our areas at UFV? The Provost's office had Devirani Naidoo from Rebecca Frame and Associates facilitate a working session with members of SALT and the Exempt Academic Assistants in March. Currently exploring ideas for talks and/or forums on Indigenization – and brainstorming services/programming that we should consider. The Metis Nation feels that they are being left out of conversations so need to engage them too.
Goal 2: Integrate inclusive excellence throughout UFV in teaching, research, service and community engagement
15. Develop a statement regarding pronouns to be used in all courses.
UFV has a statement in Blackboard about personal pronouns; need to continue the discussion on the use and importance of pronouns.
Goal 3: Embed the principles of EDI within the policies and processes at UFV
20. Hire a Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
The Director, EDI started on April 1. The Director will develop a plan to move UFV forward with the EDI Action Plan.
23. Develop and implement mandatory training for selection advisory committees.
When soliciting calls for expressions of interest to serve on senior administration Selection Advisory Committees (SACs), the Provost's Office now asks that a statement regarding bringing an EDI lens to the SAC be provided and used for consideration of SAC members. Mandatory training for SACs is a big gap and it's recommended that all SAC Chairs and members take training before they can be on an SAC. Marnie and the HR team will discuss this, consider what training will look like and who will take it, and bring their recommendations to SALT for further discussion.
24. Conduct a review of employee recruitment and retention tools and methods examining with an EDI lens.
The Provost’s Office is committed to learning and implementing hiring strategies that support EDI, as well as supporting EDI professional development opportunities for employees.
