Core Area
People and Place
Strategic Area
Advancement of decolonization, EDI, and anti-racism throughout the Faculty
Goal Status
In Progress
Objectives
- Office of Experiential Education to pilot and evaluate a Regional Practicum Model whereby students will complete a series of their pharmacy practicum experiences within a selected rural/remote community/region (i.e., PHRM 371, 471, 472 and 473) beginning in S2024.
- Increase support for staff hiring committees to enhance EDI efforts (2023).
Achieved Goals
- SPIIF fund approved project to support recruitment pathways for Black and Indigenous students in the Graduate program (May 2023). Initiated visits to graduate career fairs at schools nationwide with targeted approach to Black and Indigenous student groups in addition to the general student population (summer 2023); visits continued into 2024.
- Enhanced content on graduate programs website to better support students applying to the program with respect to admissions, awards, scholarships, professional development opportunities and support services, in particular information for equity-seeking students (2024).
- Continued prospective student engagement efforts to build connections with prospective students via a series of graduate recruitment events targeted at both high school and post-secondary students (2024).
- SPIIF fund approved project to support rural cohort model for experiential training in the Entry-to-Practice PharmD program (May 2023).
- SSHRC Insight Development Grant ($55,889 over 2 years) awarded to Swidrovich J (UofT), Kellar J (UofT), Jarvis-Selinger S (UBC) for: “Exploring the Experience of Senior Indigenous and Black Pharmacy Students' Professional Identity Formation: A Dual Canadian University Site Approach.” The team includes Lim T (UBC/UofT). Recruitment underway spring 2024.
- As per approval of BC Human Rights’ Commissioner, launched recruitment to exclusively hire self-identified people with disabilities, Indigenous people, racialized people, women, and people with minoritized sexual orientations or gender identities for 2 x tenure-track positions in Nanomedicine and Chemical Biology (July 2023).
- Provided support to faculty hiring committees in partnership with Equity Inclusion Office (EIO) (ongoing).
- Worked with EIO to obtain aggregate data about diversity of faculty recruitment applicant pools (ongoing).
- Extended requirement to take Hiring Equity course, beyond search committees, to all hiring managers (2023).
- EIO launched Employment Equity Advisor (EEA) pilot training of faculty members (Oct 2023).
- Updated our Faculty Workload Policy and Faculty Annual Report Form with an EDII lens (spring 2024).
- In collaboration with the Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Manager, the Associate Dean Students portfolio focused on recruitment/connections with students from under-represented and under-served groups/communities, starting with relationship-building with guidance counsellors and applicants from schools in specific regions (2024); Faculty's Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Manager participated in two Indigenous student recruitment events. Initiated the process to develop an Indigenous student recruitment plan, in tandem where appropriate with recruitment activities in rural and remote communities for the PharmD and BPSc programs (2024).
- Office of Associate Dean Students connected with the College of New Caledonia and North Island College to discuss their health professions transfer programs (spring 2024).
- Office of Associate Dean Students conducted visits to North Island College to meet with students in their transfer program, current applicants living in the area, and high school students for recruitment purposes (spring 2024).
- Office of Associate Dean Students visited Vancouver Island University to meet with academic advisors (spring 2024).
- SPIIF fund approved "Discover Pharmacy Tour" by Amanda Haggett—awarded $17,200. The project supports a campaign aimed at recruiting strong students of diverse backgrounds and perspectives to our undergraduate programs. In particular, a goal of the DPT is to support recruitment of students from Indigenous and rural communities (April 2024).
- SPIIF fund approved "Indigenous Student Support" by Larry Leung, Jason Min and Nadine Gerhardt as part of the UPROOT Team—awarded $25,000. This project aims to seed, grow, and formalize co-curricular and support structures for cultural safety for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in the Entry-to-Practice PharmD Program through three proposed pillars: 1) Indigenous student space, 2) Indigenous student mentorship program; and 3) land-based cultural learning (April 2024).
- Initiated relationship with five Faculties to develop direct entry Indigenous student pathways to STEM subjects (spring 2024).
- Raised $6,360 through Giving Day to support the Diane Hales Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences for Indigenous Students (April 2024).