About Us

Through leadership, vision and collaborative action, the Equity & Inclusion Office advances UBC’s commitment to excellence, diversity, and inclusion.

Vision

Aligned with UBC’s Strategic Directions, the Equity & Inclusion Office (EIO) envisions campus learning and working environments and experiences where all students, faculty, and staff feel a sense of safety, dignity, and belonging, and where they have full rights and fair opportunities to participate and thrive in the life and work of the university, free from discrimination.

Purpose

The EIO leads university-wide initiatives, acts as a connector for Vice-Presidential and Faculty level efforts, and builds capacity among UBC students, faculty, staff and leaders – across both Vancouver and Okanagan campuses – to advance institutional equity and inclusive excellence goals.

Mandate

Guided by six principles, the EIO delivers core services through four programmatic areas:

Communications & Events

• Raising campus community awareness of equity, inclusion and human rights
• Promoting and sponsoring funding opportunities for purpose and values aligned initiatives

Community & Capacity-Building

• Supporting connections through community programming
• Creating and curating educational resources
• Delivering tailored leadership development opportunities
• Building skills for community dialogue and conflict transformation

Institutional Initiatives Planning & Evaluation

• Supporting data-informed equity planning
• Providing institutional-level strategic planning
• Enabling implementation and evaluation of institutional initiatives
• Consulting on systems change initiatives

Human Rights Advising (& Resolution)

• Advising on discrimination policy
• Offering confidential support on human rights concerns
• Disseminating anti-discrimination resources
• Facilitating early/informal resolution

Guiding Principles

The EIO’s work is guided by the following principles:

• Intellectual Humility – we invite curiosity, and support multi-perspective and multi-partial spaces for dialogue
• Systems Thinking – we take a holistic multi-level approach to address intersectional inequities
• Ethics of Care – we focus on empathetic trauma-informed relations to promote growth and repair
• Evidence-Based Decision-Making – we look to research to inform our programs and activities
• Self-Determination – we value community-engaged, empowerment-oriented, culturally-relevant practices
• Collaboration – we center consultation and cooperation with communities and campus partners

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