EDI Advisory Council: Call for Expressions of Interest

SFU is working to deepen our focus on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and is dedicated to ensuring our campuses are welcoming places for everyone to gather and learn, and that all who work or study here feel a sense of belonging, inclusion, fairness and mutual respect. We have taken steps in recent years to advance these goals; however, much remains to be done. With this in mind, we will be pursuing further action in the months ahead to embed EDI into our policies and practices and move forward on recommendations stemming from previous initiatives and reports.

To assist with this work we want to engage with the SFU community by inviting Expressions of Interest from SFU community members to serve on an EDI Advisory Council.

EDI Advisory Council Mandate
The mandate of the EDI Advisory Council is to provide guidance on how to strengthen SFU’s commitment to fostering an inclusive workplaces, learning environments, and equitable opportunities for all. The EDI Advisory Council will come together in December for a Meet and Greet, will have in-person meetings throughout 2020 (see below), and be co-chaired by Joy Johnson, Vice-President, Research and International and a volunteer from the newly formed EDI Advisory Council.

The EDI Advisory Council will be composed of 15-20 members including faculty, staff and students. The aim is to have diverse representation of career and educational stages, and experiences that reflects the diversity of our staff, faculty, and students. Rather than representing constituencies, the members of EDI Advisory Council will be asked to work together to consider the needs of the entire University.

The 2019-20 meeting schedule for the EDI Advisory Council is as follows:
December 2, 2019 | 2:00 – 4:00pm: Meet and Greet
January 14, 2020: Full Day Retreat
February 26, 2020 |1:00 – 4:00 pm
April 29, 2020 | 1:00 – 4:00 pm
June 24, 2020 | 1:00 – 4:00 pm
September 16, 2020 | 1:00 – 4:00 pm

Expressions of Interest
We invite interested SFU community members to submit a brief Expression of Interest to join the EDI Advisory Council for a one-year term. Please send your expression of interest to edi@sfu.ca by November 13 with the following information:

1. Your contact information (email & phone)
2. Your role at SFU.
3. A brief statement of your interest in participating on the EDI Advisory Council.
4. Confirmation that you can attend the Meet & Greet on December 2, the retreat on January 14, and a majority of the meetings scheduled in 2020. For staff and students, please indicate if you will need assistance securing approval from your instructor or supervisor. For faculty members, please note that participation on the EDI Advisory Council will be designated as service to the SFU community.

A proposed slate of EDI Advisory Council members will be approved the SFU Executive (President and Vice-Presidents).

Warm regards,

Joy Johnson and the Executive Sub-Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion