The Canada Research Chairs Program recently launched its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, in response to concerns about equity and diversity raised during the program’s 15th-year evaluation.
As part of the plan, all institutions with an allocation of five or more chairs (including York University) are required to develop an equity, diversity and inclusion action plan (institutional plan), which describes how the institution will sustain the participation, and/or address the under-representation, of individuals from the four designated groups (FDGs: women, persons with disabilities, Aboriginal Peoples and visible minorities) within their allocation of chairs.
In response, York University is establishing a Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Faculty Recruitment, chaired by Professor Rebecca Pillai Riddell, to formulate an institutional plan which:
- Describes how York University will sustain the participation, and/or address the under-representation of, individuals from the FDGs within its allocation of chairs.
- Includes impactful equity, diversity and inclusion objectives that will enable swift progress towards addressing the disadvantages currently experienced by individuals from the FDGs in accessing and benefiting from the program, and towards meeting equity targets in the next 18 to 24 months.
The committee is expected to meet beginning in mid-July, targeting a December 2017 release of its institutional plan. Note that the membership, expertise, work products and recommendations of the committee may be further leveraged beyond December to apply more generally to faculty hiring policies and practices across the institution.
The Chair invites those considering volunteering to join the committee to submit an expression of interest by June 23.
For more information, contact Mark Roseman, director, Strategic & Institutional Research Initiatives, Office of Research Services, at roseman@yorku.ca.