Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion launches first-ever newsletter

Yesterday, the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) released its first-ever online newsletter for spring/summer 2021. The office is led by Dr. Malinda Smith, UCalgary’s inaugural vice-provost (equity, diversity and inclusion) who comments: “In this first newsletter, we are sharing some of the priorities we have been pursuing since the office opened. We are amplifying some of the stories of changemakers across the UCalgary community, including in partnership with The City.

"Collaboration, education, awareness, and recognition are important dimensions of EDI work. We are also sharing resources for students, postdocs, faculty, staff, and senior leadership — the whole community — to further support the work of creating cultural, policy, and systemic change, and to uplift historically under-represented voices. It is important that we all work together to create equitable pathways for entry into, and success within, UCalgary, particularly for under-represented equity-deserving groups, women, Indigenous Peoples, racialized minorities, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ2S+, and anyone who might face harassment, bullying, discrimination and marginality.

"To be a great university, we must all embrace equity, diversity and inclusion as a vision, and as an engaged practice of cultivating a teaching, learning, research, and workplace environment in which we can all flourish. This newsletter is created to share the importance of this collaborative work for change at UCalgary, in the city, which we respectfully acknowledge are located on Indigenous territories.”

The newsletter is released throughout the year with the second volume to be released in fall 2021.