Increasing Equity: new online course provides foundation for hiring, reappointment, continuing appointment, promotion and tenure committees

This fall UVic has a new resource for all faculty decision committees to help embed inclusion and equity into their decisions. This immersive, interactive online course prepares committees with the skills and tools needed to remove systemic barriers in faculty appointment (hiring), reappointment, continuing appointment, promotion and tenure (ARPT), chair searches and senior search practices. The course was developed collaboratively by Equity and Human Rights (EQHR), the Faculty Association and the Vice-President Academic and Provost’s Office and is a collective agreement requirement for all members of ARPT and Chair search committees.

We sat down with the Equity and Human Rights office to learn more.

Q&A on Increasing equity course

Ring: What are key takeaways people will have from the Increasing Equity course?

EQHR: To start, the course will raise awareness of UVic’s responsibilities and commitments to advance equity, decolonization and Indigenization in the context of academic decisions. They will have the opportunity to critically examine their assumptions about what academic excellence looks like. Participants will feel more confident in recognizing systemic hiring barriers and ensuring they are removed from the process. The course will also broaden their perspective of qualified candidates beyond traditional measures. Finally, they will get ideas to design more inclusive processes and standards for their work.

Ring: How does the course work?

EQHR: It is a self-directed course, taken online. We’ve worked very hard to make it engaging and interactive. Our test group provided feedback on how to maximize the impact of the information, while also keeping it engaging and fun. We feel we’ve hit the right balance and participants will find the information useful, practical and readily applicable to their committee duties.

Ring: For those interested in taking the training, how do they sign-up?

EQHR:  While the course is designed for faculty members and others who serve on ARPT and senior search committees, it is available for everyone with a UVic NetLink ID. They can access the course directly, search on the Discover page on Brightspace, or learn more on the VPAC training page.

Ring: What kind of impact can this training have on the overall hiring and assessment practices of faculty at UVic?

EQHR: We are committed to equity in all stages of the faculty experience at UVic. This course provides the knowledge and research foundation to faculty members as they engage in assessing the quality of their colleagues’ work, from hiring through promotion and tenure. The more people we can have take the Increasing Equity course, the faster we can reach our goals of removing systemic barriers in hiring practices from UVic and ensure an inclusive, diverse and equitable campus.