The University of Waterloo has announced it will take a step in addressing the systemic underrepresentation of Indigenous and Black faculty at our institution with the launch of new cluster hiring initiatives that will see the addition of 10 new Indigenous and 10 Black faculty members.
As restricted hiring opportunities, the cluster hiring initiatives follow the provisions for a special program as described by the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Waterloo’s current underrepresentation of Indigenous and Black faculty allows us to take this action.
Recruitment for these new positions is open and will continue until all positions are successfully filled. The positions are open at the assistant professor/associate professor/professor levels, with the intention to recruit faculty at a range of career stages. Positions will be available for broad areas of research across all faculties. These cluster hiring initiatives are in addition to other equity-based hiring initiatives and are not meant to replace other opportunities. The fundamental purpose of the cluster hiring initiatives is to increase representation of Black and Indigenous faculty across the spectrum of Waterloo’s teaching and scholarship activities; while there may be some natural synergies with the current development of academic programming in the areas of Black Studies and Indigenous Studies, the cluster initiatives are not intended to recruit solely/primarily for these areas.