20 GEORGIANVIEW SPRING 2022
ChANGEMAKING
As the new Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and
Belonging (EDI&B), Sula Levesque is the first to say that
the work she is doing at Georgian really needs everyone's
involvement.
Last spring, Georgian received a $400,000 grant from
the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
of Canada to deepen its EDI&B work. That funding
allowed Sula and her team to embark on an extensive
environmental scan within the college to document the
status of EDI&B and identify opportunities and challenges
to help develop strategic action plans.
"My goals are to engage in a robust process of critical
self-reflection and engagement so that simultaneously
we're building up our knowledge about ourselves and
our issues, and we're building up collaboration within the
institution to advise a planning process," she says. "It's
impossible to make change to ourselves if we haven't
examined ourselves."
She applauds the recent work by the Georgian College
Students' Association to create a new EDI&B committee,
the Segal International Centre's support to International
students, and the college's longstanding commitment
to serving and supporting Indigenous students and
communities. She has also been meeting with students,
faculty and staff throughout the college to hear about
their experiences.
Fostering
equity, diversity,
inclusion and
belonging
at Georgian
|
Sula Levesque, Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at
Georgian, applauds the work on EDI&B that is going on at the college,
and acknowledges self-reflection and engagement is also needed.
"What I hope to do is braid all of that together, so that
we're ensuring the greatest impact by sharing resources,
including expertise and tools, and building a critical mass
where everyone's pulling in the same direction," says Sula.
"That's an important priority, making sure that there's
awareness of each other's activities, aligning our goals and
determining where it makes sense to collaborate."
An EDI&B webpage was recently launched on the
Georgian site and Sula's team is growing to serve all
campuses. This fall will also see the opening of the EDI&B
centre at the Barrie Campus.
