| Recommendation | Accountability18 | Metrics/Key Performance Indicators (KPIS)19 | Status of Recommendation20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Embed mechanisms and resources to ensure that curriculum, individual courses, and teaching practices are decolonized to create a more inclusive teaching and learning environment by:
a) Developing tools and frameworks to guide faculties, departments, and programs in decolonizing curriculum and teaching practices. b) Modifying the cyclical review process for academic programs to require that every program undertake a review of its curriculum through a lens of decolonization. c) Ensuring that support/expertise in decolonizing practices are available. |
AVP, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs AVP, Academic |
TA list of decolonization criteria is developed as a supplement to the Institutional Quality Assurance Process (IQAP) for cyclical program reviews, new programs, and program modifications.
Increase in the number of programs across the University that apply a decolonizing approach (as determined by the decolonization criteria above). Employ expertise in the CTE for the purposes outlined in 16a and 16b. |
Some events and workshops offered through specific faculties or colleges have sought to provide more insight into decolonizing curricula (e.g., decolonizing Health Studies).CTE has hired a Senior Educational Developer, Indigenous Knowledges and Anti-Racist Pedagogies. |
| 17 | Create and maintain a comprehensive inventory of all courses with substantial Indigenous and Black content (including Indigenous knowledges, cultures, histories, languages, politics). | AVP, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs AVP, Academic |
A comprehensive inventory of all courses with substantial Indigenous and Black content is developed. |
Some areas (e.g., GSPA and Faculty of Arts) have conducted preliminary searches of academic courses with substantial Indigenous content. An Indigenous Research Guide has been jointly developed by Indigenous students from the GSA, the Office of Research, and the library. |
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18 | Develop resources and supports and create mechanisms for greater levels of Black, Indigenous, and other racialized undergraduate and graduate student engagement towards inclusive learning environments: a) Including these student voices in curriculum and program review committees. b) Including these student voices in the creation of a variety of formal and informal pathways and mechanisms for feedback when there are concerns with the learning environment. c) Providing workshops/resources for teaching assistants on creating inclusive learning environments. |
AVP, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs AVP, Academic Director, Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) |
At least one racialized undergraduate or graduate student is consulted/involved in the program review process (see page 10-11 of the Institutional Quality Assurance Process)24.
A list of workshop and resources on creating inclusive learning environments, is made available for teaching assistants to access. |
CTE organizes an Inclusive Instruction Series each semester, available to all instructors. |
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19 | Ensure the development, implementation, and continuing refinement of holistic methods of teaching assessment that make use of multiple sources of information, which may be the best approach for racialized professors: a) Use both Student Course Perception Surveys and Peer Reviews of Teaching to assess the quality of learning environment, and the racial, ethnic, cultural and gender inclusivity of the learning environment. b) Use newly available disaggregated data about race to improve understanding of differences in student course perception scores, in aid of fairer assessment of racialized instructors. |
AVP, Academic | The Student Course Perception Surveys and Peer Reviews of Teaching are used as evaluation tools for all undergraduate academic courses.
Disaggregated race data is used to investigate discrepancies in course ratings between racialized and non-racialized faculty on an annual basis (to provide support to racialized instructors who may be subject to unfair or inequitable assessments). |
Course evaluations are utilized but not mandatory for student completion at end of term.
The University’s Equity Data Survey was created and launched in 2021 that could be used for this purpose. |
| 20 | Invest in the creation of diverse physical spaces and places on campus where different ways of teaching and learning can occur, including space for land-based teaching, community gatherings, sacred fires, drumming circles, and other elements central to making non-Western spaces. | Vice-President, Academic and Provost | Previously proposed Indigenous spaces25 and the Black Cultural Centre are established. | Indigenous Spaces currently exist on campus (e.g., WISC with Ceremonial Fire Grounds and Medicine Garden) or have been approved for development26. |
| 21 | Train faculty and departmental review committees on how to evaluate non-Western based (particularly, Indigenous) research, teaching, and service and should evaluate bodies of work with appropriate lenses. | Vice-President, Research and International | Training course/workshop on how to evaluate non-Western based research, teaching and service, is available for review committees27. | Some relevant trainings may be available through EDI-R and/or the Office of Research. |
| 22 | Create a Centre or Institute for Indigenous Research Excellence that supports Indigenous communities with identifying their research needs and areas of interest and assists these communities with achieving their research goals through partnerships with University researchers. | Vice-President, Research and International | Centre or Institute for Indigenous Research Excellence is established. | |
| 23 | Mandate training for all non-Indigenous faculty members, staff, and students engaging in Indigenous research. | Vice-President, Research and International | A relevant training course/workshop for all non-Indigenous faculty, staff, and students engaging in Indigenous research, is available27. | Some relevant trainings may be available through EDI-R and/or the Office of Research |
| 24 | Consult with Indigenous community members who have existing relationships with the University (including staff, students, and faculty), to create a policy on conducting research with Indigenous communities and on Indigenous lands and waters. | Vice-President, Research and International | A University policy on conducting research with Indigenous communities and on Indigenous lands and waters is developed. | |
| 25 | Ensure representation of different ways of knowing and being, equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism training, and best practices for the Research Ethics Board membership, so it has the capacity to support, assess, and approve ethics requests for research which impacts or involves racialized communities, with particular emphasis on Indigenous communities. | Vice-President, Research and International | Each of the University’s two Research Ethics Boards (the Human Research Ethics Board and the Clinical Research Ethics Board) should include one member with expertise in different ways of knowing (e.g., Indigenous research methodologies) and being. In addition, see Recommendation 21. | |
| 26 | Ensure diverse/broad membership and equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism training for dissertation and thesis committees to better evaluate non-Western research methodologies and projects (formally recognize the contributions of faculty, particularly Black, Indigenous, and other racialized faculty, who may be tasked with more expectations on their labour for serving on these committees). | AVP, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs AVP, Academic |
Include a member with expertise in different ways of knowing28 in dissertation and thesis committees that involve non-Western research methodologies and projects. In addition, see Recommendation 21. | |
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27 | Set specific admission goals for domestic Indigenous and Black students, at the undergraduate level, with an eye to creating a student body that reflects the make-up of the Canadian high school population by 2025. a) Set faculty-by-faculty goals to ensure opportunity in all fields of study. b) Publicly acknowledge the Jay Treaty for Indigenous undergraduate and graduate students from the United States. c) Develop programs and metrics to increase high school recruitment and outreach to Black and Indigenous students. |
Vice-President, Academic and Provost
Registrar |
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28 | Identify and address any barriers in admission processes that may negatively impact Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students, acknowledging that for undergraduate and graduate programs where admissions are highly competitive, it is already standard practice to consider additional criteria besides grades. a) Train staff in appropriate application of criteria. b) Implement mechanisms for Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students to provide supplementary evidence of their ability and commitment to success. c) Investigate if application fees may be unintended barriers. |
Registrar | A study to identify and address any barriers in the admission process that may negatively impact Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students is conducted/commissioned. | |
| 29 | Increase the number and value of scholarships and other funding opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students (e.g., needs-based financial support for tuition subsidies, emergency loans, affordable childcare, housing, nutritious food), and identify and eliminate barriers to access these funds. | VP, Advancement | Two central funds – one for scholarships and the other for other financial assistance – are created for Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students. | Some scholarships and bursaries are currently available for racialized students only. |
| 30 | Provide clear communications with students (across multiple platforms and formats) about the financial costs of attending university, so that racialized students from backgrounds where university education has not been the norm can make informed decisions about applying. | See Recommendation #8 | This information is already being provided in the Student Budget Calculator page: uwaterloo.ca/future-students/financing/budget-calculator | |
| 31 | Create a Transitional Year Program to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the student body by supporting Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students who are close to achieving the usual admission standards for their preferred programs but are unable to do so. | AVP, Academic | Pilot a Transitional Year Program for Black and Indigenous high school students to transition into undergraduate programs at the University. |
25/26This includes the new Indigenous Relations Office, North Commons, ceremonial/gatherings space, outdoor classroom, and the Longhouse lab.
27These trainings could be provided in collaboration with the EDI-R Office or with external institutions.
28Diversity/representation should be relevant to (or aligned with) the dissertation/thesis/project that is being evaluated.