Vice-Dean, Undergraduate Studies

Regarding anti-racism, equity and inclusion, we have continued what we started last year, working with units to implement new courses and identify actions and needs. We have also created BIPOC “student consultant” positions to ensure ongoing dialogue between the Faculty’s Office of the Dean and racialized students. Working with Professor Abdoulaye Gueye and four teaching assistants (Karine Coen-Sanchez, Kassandra Drodge, Alexandra Karabatsos and Pascasie Minani), we launched a micro-credit in social justice for undergraduate students. A special anti-racism Faculty Council meeting in April 2022 allowed us to highlight actions by units and the Faculty, and the presence of EDI and anti-racist leaders allowed us to identify future needs and strategies, as well. These various activities will form the basis of an anti-racism action plan to be developed by fall 2022.

Among initiatives to revitalize programs of study this year, we should mention the creation of a minor in Social Impact, administered jointly by the School of International Development and Global Studies and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures of the Faculty of Arts, which includes an experiential component based on student community engagement. The School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies also revamped its theory- and methodology-based courses to modernize its curriculum. Finally, the Department of Economics created minors in Economics and Finance and in Economics and the Environment.

We made progress in the area of Indigenization, including developing an Indigenized curriculum in all departments and schools and creating more inclusive processes regarding Indigenous knowledge and practices. Two Indigenous professors were hired by the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies and the Department of Criminology. Our Indigenous content specialists (Mona Tolley and Victoria Tenasco Commanda, the latter starting in April 2022 as a replacement for Catherine Dussault) produced a series of reference documents and tools to make progress on Indigenization, equitably and respectfully. They also organized their own discussions to facilitate the dissemination of Indigenous knowledge and the Indigenization process.

After the challenges of the pandemic, it appears that it is challenges related to the return of in-person learning that will require our attention in the coming year, namely, the increased number of students using on-campus services and attending on-campus courses and the need for increased student participation to heighten a sense of belonging to the Faculty.