Working through a lens of equity, diversity and inclusiveness

Equity, diversity and inclusiveness are building blocks for excellence at Dalhousie University.

The Diversity and Inclusiveness Strategy, launched last spring, has made significant progress in paving the way for the university to build a respectful, equitable, inclusive and diverse culture. The development of the strategy was one of the primary goals within the university’s Strategic Priority 5.2, to foster a collegial culture grounded in diversity and inclusiveness.

“We want a university culture that truly supports and reflects the many communities that make up Dalhousie University, and this requires us to be open to learning and changing as we go,” says Jasmine Walsh, assistant vice-president of Human Resources and co-chair of Strategic Priority 5.2.

Here are just a few of the achievements from the past year:

The Talent Pathways program was approved April 2017, and introduced to the Dal community last fall. The program will serve as an in-house agency for faculty and staff to use to help fill temporary staff positions on campus. As part of the Diversity and Inclusiveness Strategy, Talent Pathways will focus on hiring temporary staff from equity seeking groups to help overcome barriers to accessing employment.

The President’s Award for the Advancement of Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness (EDI) was recently established to recognize the many groups and individuals the many groups and individuals who demonstrate a commitment to diversity in the Dal community. Any student, faculty or staff member can nominate a faculty or staff member for the EDI Award. The call for nominations will begin in February with the recipients being recognized at the inaugural Legacy Awards event, a faculty and staff awards ceremony that will launch in June 2018 as part of Dal’s 200th anniversary.

Dalhousie now has an increased complement and diversity of advising staff at the Bissett Student Success Centre, who have all received intercultural competency, inclusiveness and social justice training. Their role is to deliver more culturally relevant, inclusive and effective advising services to our diverse student body. As well, the university has improved and expanded voluntary demographic questions on student application forms. This is to better understand our student diversity and improve the efficacy of recruitment, engagement and retention efforts targeting historically underrepresented or underserved student populations.

A Senior Education Developer for inclusiveness and diversity has been hired in the Centre for Learning and Teaching. Training is ongoing for academic leaders and search committees regarding the importance of diversity considerations in academic career development.

You can read an extensive progress update on the projects from the Diversity and Inclusiveness Strategy [PDF].

The Strategy’s actions continue to be developed and implemented and measurement tools are being put in place to assess the success of the strategy. Plans are also underway to develop an online tool that will give the Dal community access to view progress on specific actions within the strategy.

Leadership in diversity: Q&A with co-chairs

This past fall, Michelle Williams – the director of the Indigenous Blacks & Mi’kmaq Initiative, Schulich School of Law – was selected as co-leader of the Diversity and Inclusiveness Strategy. She replaced Dr. Wanda Thomas Bernard who completed her term summer 2017 after being appointed to the Canadian Senate. Michelle has been working alongside Jasmine Walsh, co-leader and assistant vice president, Human Resources.

We asked them to share additional thoughts on the progress thus far around the Diversity and Inclusiveness strategy.

Q: How is this strategy different from other equity, diversity and inclusiveness work that Dalhousie has done in the past?

Jasmine Walsh: First and foremost, this strategy has been developed using the important feedback that we received from our Dal community. Secondly, our work with the Diversity and Inclusiveness Strategy is ongoing. We are committed to meaningful growth and change at Dalhousie. We want a university culture that truly supports and reflects the many communities that make up Dalhousie University, and this requires us to be open to learning and changing as we go. We are at an important turning point at Dal right now as we head into our third century. We believe that our strategy sets us up to do good work now, and for that work to continue into the future. We recognize there is much more work to do, and we’re motivated by the success of many initiatives and projects completed and underway from the strategy so far.

Q: What is to be gained or hoped for from this strategy?

Michelle Williams: Long lasting commitment with consistent progress. The Diversity & Inclusiveness Strategy requires and recognizes effort and practice from all areas of the organization. It is not an initiative that comes from only one part of the Dal community, but rather has seeds throughout the university.

Q: Can you clarify the framework of the strategy?

Jasmine Walsh: The Diversity and Inclusiveness Strategy provides a framework to guide the university’s efforts using four pillars:

1. Climate and intergroup relations is about contributing to a campus culture that fosters a climate of respect and inclusiveness
2. Student access and success is about improving education equity and support for historically underrepresented students
3. Education and scholarship is about creating more diverse and inclusive academic programs and classroom practices, and the inclusiveness of diverse perspectives
4. Institutional viability and vitality is essentially about improving our structures (policies, practices, spaces) to help us achieve our equity, diversity and inclusiveness goals.

This strategic framework moves us beyond ticking boxes on a list of recommendations to an approach that helps us to define and measure our goals.

Q: How do the university reports and the recommendations from them fit with this strategy?

Michelle Williams: This strategy commits us to responding to themes that were identified from the four university reports – the Belong report; the Report from the Task Force on Misogyny, Sexism, and Homophobia in the Faculty of Dentistry; the Report from the Restorative Justice process at the Faculty of Dentistry; and the Report from the Committee on Aboriginal and Black/African Canadian Student Access and Retention, along with the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
Developing the strategy allowed us to capture all of the reports’ recommendations into a framework with 121 actionable items.

We want everyone to be able to see the progress that has been achieved under each pillar and where we’re headed. We’re also working on a way to keep the Dal community up to date and informed about the progress on these recommendations and action items.

Q: How can faculty and staff get involved or support the strategy?

Jasmine Walsh: Although we have a core project team working on the Diversity and Inclusiveness Strategy and an Advisory Committee made up of representatives from many groups on campus, we really need champions in all faculties, departments and areas.

We all have a role to play in achieving our goal of a collegial culture grounded in diversity and inclusiveness at Dalhousie. The potential impacts of this work are broad, and are a foundation of excellence to build on for the next century.

We encourage you to invite us to your team meetings and committees to talk more about the strategy and how we all can be part of its success.

The Diversity & Inclusiveness Strategy was presented to several groups on campus in the summer and fall of 2017, and will continue presentations this winter. The Strategy grounds the university’s work regarding diversity and inclusiveness in a researched framework to ensure that the activities that we are prioritizing are purposeful, balanced and measurable.

Learn more: Review the Diversity & Inclusiveness Strategy