Ashley J Moore

Ashley J Moore

November 30, 2022

Associate Director, Capacity-Building and Conflict Transformation

Campus:
UBC Vancouver
 
Pronouns:
She, her, hers

 

Bio

Ashley joins UBC with over 10 years of experience within conflict consultancies where she has been facilitating, training and conducting informal conflict engagement processes for public, private, and not-for profit organizations. Her interest lies with opportunities for transformative change inherent at the intersection of justice, equity, inclusion, diversity (JEDI) and complex conflict. An avid outdoor enthusiast, Ashley escapes any nascent cynicism through communion with/in the mountains.

 
Address:
Brock Commons South Building
6180 Walter Gage Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1

Community and Capacity Building Team, Our Team, UBC Vancouver Team |

Tasha Nijjar

November 30, 2022

Dialogue and Conflict Transformation Facilitator

Campus: UBC Vancouver
Pronouns: She, her, hers

 

Bio

Tasha is a settler, of Punjabi descent, living in Vancouver on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territory. She is passionate about exploring how creativity and social change overlap. She has worked with various community and youth-led organizations using art, film, theatre and social media to amplify grassroots voices. Tasha comes to UBC with over a decade of experience working with communities in the not for profit sector. In the past she was worked with community groups trying to create transformative change through inclusive sexual health education, migrant justice, and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh language reclamation. She is currently in the process of completing a Master’s Degree specializing in equity and social justice education.

 
Address:
Brock Commons South Building
6180 Walter Gage Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1

Community and Capacity Building Team, Our Team, UBC Vancouver Team |

Rachael E. Sullivan, PhD

November 29, 2022

Senior Education Consultant

 
Campus: UBC Vancouver
Pronouns: She, her, hers

 

Bio

Rachael (she/her) lives, learns and works as a white cisgender queer settler on the shared unceded/stolen lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), colonially known as East Vancouver. Rachael joined the UBC Equity and Inclusion Office in 2014 and currently works to develop inclusive educational workshops, helps to facilitate campus-wide engagements, including the Inclusive Washroom Project, Conflict Theatre, and most recently led the development of the Positive Space: Foundations online course. As a long standing member of the Equity & Inclusion Office, Rachael continues to work collaboratively to unsettle oppressive systems and create meaningful change that supports inclusion and belonging for all who work, live and learn at UBC.

Phone:
604–827–2228

Address:
Brock Commons South Building
6180 Walter Gage Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1

Community and Capacity Building Team, Our Team, UBC Vancouver Team |

Jenica Frisque, MA, MSc (on leave)

November 29, 2022

Equity Education Strategist

 
Campus: UBC Okanagan
 
Pronouns: She, her, hers

 

Bio

Jenica Frisque is passionate about fostering inclusion at UBC Okanagan through the delivery and facilitation of programs, and conversations that raise awareness of and embed the values of equity, diversity, intercultural understanding and mutual respect in the fabric of the campus and the wider community. Beyond her education credentials, which include an MSc in international development from Lund University and an MA in sociology from Malmo University in Sweden, Jenica has travelled extensively and worked in the diversity and gender equity fields in Latin America, Canada and Sweden.

 
 
Address:
Admin 100C
1138 Alumni Avenue
Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Anti-racism (IDEA) Team, Our Team, UBC Okanagan Team |

Gabriel Smith

November 29, 2022

EDI Data Analyst

Campus: UBC Vancouver

Pronouns: they/them

Bio

Gabriel supports UBC’s employment equity efforts and EDI initiatives such as StEAR by analyzing data to measure progress and uncover insights. They additionally provide data support to UBC units with their own EDI initiatives.

Email:
gabriel.smith@ubc.ca

Address:
Brock Commons South Building
6180 Walter Gage Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1

Institutional Initiatives Planning & Evaluation team, Our Team |

Statement of solidarity in response to Club Q attack  

November 24, 2022

We are deeply saddened by the violence and loss of life in Colorado Springs, United States. In memory of the victims and in solidarity with queer and trans communities impacted by this tragedy, we stand behind the thoughtful and powerful message issued by Sexuality and Gender Inclusive Education UBC (SOGI UBC).

The statement provides a reflection on this tragedy in the broader context of ongoing and persistent violence against queer and trans community members, and provides links to resources and supports. 

To our 2SLGBTQIA+ community: you are not alone. If you are feeling impacted, traumatized, and/or overwhelmed by this recent event, resources and supports are available.  

Read the full statement

Community resources

Student resources and communities

Additionally, students may wish to find community through: 

Faculty and staff resources and communities

Faculty and staff may also wish to find community through the following groups. Click on each to email the group and find out more.

Trans students faculty and staff can reach out to trans.inclusion@equity.ubc.ca if they have any concerns related to their experience at UBC.  

View community based resources across Canada

Trans Lifeline (English and Spanish)

Canada (877) 330-6366

US (877) 565-8860

Crisis Text Line

US: Text 741741

Canada: Text 741741

UK: Text 85258

Ireland: Text 50808

Qmunity

Egale Canada

Jeunes Adultes Gais et Lesbiennes de St-Hyacinthe

Centre Communautaire LGBTQ+ De Montréal

Projet 10

AGIR Montréal (LGBTQIA+ Action with Immigrants and Refugees)

PFLAG USA

KIND

Rainbow Resource Centre

SOY: Supporting Our Youth

The 519

Youthsafe.net

LGBT Youth Line

News and Stories |

New Student Equity Action Network launched

November 15, 2022

New Student Equity Action Network aims to bring together students working on equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives at UBC and to catalyze collaborations, knowledge exchange, and maximize the impact of student efforts.

Creating change is hard, let alone at large institutions such as UBC. It’s easy to feel lost and overwhelmed within its vast ecosystem of knowledge, resources, and initiatives.

For students, it can be particularly lonely.

Network expands on similar faculty and staff efforts

While existing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) networks and communities provide opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration, knowledge sharing, and learning, most are largely faculty and staff-focused. As a result, student leaders striving to make UBC a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive place are often left working in silos.

Launched in November 2022, the Student Equity Action Network seeks to fill this gap by providing a campus-wide network centred on supporting student experience and engagement. Undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students involved in an EDI initiative at UBC can tap into the network to find community, exchange ideas, and enhance their self-efficacy. Through resource-sharing, networking, and capacity-building, students can expect to develop competencies on justice, equity, decolonization, Indigenization and inclusion (JEDII), as well as a better understanding of barriers to JEDII at UBC.

Students to shape network’s direction

In the spirit of supporting student leadership and engagement and best address community needs, students are being invited to shape the direction and vision of the Student Equity Action Network at an upcoming Meet & Greet event on November 24.

News and Stories |

Time to Thrive: UBC Black Caucus brings back Black mental wellness initiative

November 15, 2022

“I didn’t know how much I was holding in from the overwhelming grief of all the people I have lost to the pandemic and the racialized violence happening at home until I had the opportunity to talk to a therapist who truly understood. The experience has been life changing.”

–  UBC student on the impact of the Black Mental Wellness Project

Everyone has a right to mental health. But not everyone has access to mental health services. Longer wait times, geographical and financial obstacles, and a lack of access to Black counsellors are just a few of the barriers that Black community members face. Barriers that have repeatedly been surfaced by Black students, faculty and staff at UBC.

In response, the UBC Black Caucus, supported through the IBPOC Connections: Faculty and Staff program and the Equity Enhancement Fund from the Equity & Inclusion Office, is bringing back the Black Mental Wellness Project to center the needs of Black community members and address barriers to accessing mental health supports.

Piloted in 2021, the project provides Black UBC community members with free access to Black counsellors. Within two weeks of the program first launching, fifty-one hours of counselling sessions had been booked, reinforcing a very clear need for increased access to Black counsellors.

“This was an amazing project, and I do hope UBC continues to do it as there is a need.”

–  Participating counsellor

Back again in 2022, for the month of November – and on a first-come, first-served basis – Black students, faculty and staff across the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses can access free 1-on-1 virtual or in-person counselling sessions with Black counsellors.

Visit the UBC Black Caucus website to get counsellor details and to book an appointment.

“I had been looking for a Black therapist for a while now, and I am ever so grateful that you found these therapists for us at a time when they were desperately needed.”

– UBC faculty member

“I really appreciated having a list of black counsellors and a short bio/description. This was my first time trying out counselling a one of the big reasons I hadn’t was because I didn’t know how to access a Black therapist. Thank you for putting this together and I hope this is something that continues.”

–  UBC staff member

“[…] through the UBC Black Caucus Black Mental Wellness Pilot Project, I was able to have a session with a Black, immigrant woman and honestly one session has already been so beneficial.””

–  UBC student

Did you know

Based on the results of a survey of Black Canadians conducted by the Mental Health Commission of Canada:

  • 60% said they would be more willing to use mental health services if the mental health professional was Black;
  • 35% were experiencing significant psychological distress, 34% of whom never sought mental health services;
  • 95% felt that the underutilization of mental health services by Black Canadian residents was an issue that needed to be addressed.

—–

November 1-30 is Thrive. Learn about, talk about, and explore ways to support your mental health.

News and Stories |

Remarks: A gathering to support the UBC Iranian community

October 19, 2022

The following remarks were delivered by Arig al Shaibah, Associate Vice-President, Equity and Inclusion, during a community gathering organized in support of the Iranian community at UBC and held of October 18, 2022.

—

Welcome…Assalammu ‘Alaikum 

My name is Arig al Shaibah, and I am UBC’s Associate Vice President, Equity and Inclusion. 

I want to start by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueum peoples.

This land acknowledgement is particularly salient today as we consider that land is body and body is land…

Our histories, identities, communities, sense of belonging and well-being are all tied up in complex notions of land – homeland, places we make home, and where we feel we are nourished and nurtured to thrive and flourish as peoples…

As a diasporic person from the middle east, having decades ago fled with my parents from my birthplace and country of origin, and then later in my young adult life leaving another middle eastern country – because of repressive regimes – I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude that I, and my immediate family, have had the opportunity to make a life in Canada. 

With that gratitude is also a great sense of responsibility to ensure that the promise of human rights, equality, dignity and freedom that my family and some of my peoples have sought from Canada does not come at the expense of the rights and entitlements of Indigenous peoples – that there is the possibility of reconciliation and peaceful, equitable, and anti-colonial co-existence. 

There is also a sense of humility that the legal right I currently have to imagine, aspire towards, and realize my full personal and professional potential as a queer, culturally Muslim Arab women is not a right enjoyed by others like me around the world. However, complicated my access to that legal right is here, it is nonetheless a legal right that is non-existent in the places I left.

So, I also appreciate the desire to find meaningful ways to make a difference – in whatever small or large ways – in the lives of those may not yet enjoy the same legal rights. 

These are very difficult times – I am pleased that the Equity and Inclusion Office was able to facilitate the organization of this gathering to offer one other venue for connection, grieving, and healing. 

Thanks to the Iranian Professionals Network, The UBC Persian Club and UBC Equity & Inclusion Office IBPOC Connections for hosting this event.

Especially, I want to thank: 

  • Maryam Nabavi
  • Afsanah SharifAal
  • Shadi Mehrabi
  • Naz Tavakolizadeh
  • Ava Tabatabaei
  • Madison Tardiff
  • Vanessa Kim

As we stand together we recognize that in our diversity there is unity in the aim to relentlessly promote gender equality and women’s choice as human rights. 

We celebrate the strength and courage of the women in Iran (our sisters) at the forefront of this effort.

We celebrate women, life, and freedom.

News and Stories, Remarks by the AVP | ,

$49,510 awarded to community-based initiatives that enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion

October 17, 2022

14 projects led by faculty and staff at UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan received funding from the Equity Enhancement Fund. The fund is designed to support community-led projects that advance UBC’s commitments to inclusion.

This spring funding cycle, the Equity & Inclusion Office received 59 applications to the Equity Enhancement Fund (EEF), with the total ask for funding across all applications amounting to $245,245. For this application cycle, $40,000 have been made available at UBC Vancouver and $5,000 have been made available at UBC Okanagan. An evaluation committee, convened by the Equity & Inclusion Office, assessed each of the applications and awarded funding to 14 projects, or 24 per cent of total number of applications. The total funding disbursed amounted to approximately 20 per cent of the total requested funding.

$42,900 awarded to nine projects at UBC Vancouver

At UBC Vancouver, awarded projects aim to advance equity and inclusion across the university including in academic programs, student services, arts and culture, recruitment, program evaluation, and health and wellness, and with an aim to enhance the experiences of Indigenous, people of colour, persons with disabilities and queer and trans communities at UBC.

Funded projects:

  • Foundations to assess and enhance EDI: Preparing to surf the data wave
    Faculty of Science
  • UBC ARTIVISM: Minding The Body
    UBC Arts & Culture District, Office of the Dean of Arts
  • Inclusive Publishing: Increasing Accessibility of BC Studies
    Office of the Vice-President, Students
  • Transdisciplinary Day of Disability Research, Education, and Activism
    Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts
  • IBPOC Connections for Students
    Student Health and Wellbeing
  • Diversifying Access to UBC Health Profession Educational Programs
    Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine
  • Expanding Staff Capacity, From Recruitment to Professional Development
    Office of the Vice-President, Students
  • Student Staff – EDI Initiatives
    Department of Athletics & Recreation
  • Mentorship to promote diversity in the graduate pipeline
    Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts

$6,610 awarded to five projects at UBC Okanagan

At UBC Okanagan, funded projects and initiatives similarly focus on supporting for example Indigenous and queer and trans communities, and across programming related to orientations, health and wellness, community engagement, and athletics and recreation.

Funded projects:

  • IDEA Orientations – Physical Indigenization of space and increasing knowledge and awareness of Indigenous communities during JumpStart
    Student Experience Office
  • Indigenous Programs and Services and Harm Reduction: A Collaborative, Capacity Building Initiative
    Campus Wellness and Education Unit
  • Indigenous Reads Book Club
    UBC Okanagan Library
  • EDI Book Club
    College of Graduate Studies
  • UBCO Heat Pride Night
    Athletics & Recreation

You can learn more about each of the projects funded, as well as previously funded projects, in our recipients database.

Interested in applying next year?

The EIO is currently reviewing the EEF with an eye to improve our ability to respond to community needs and better align funds awarded with strategic initiatives that advance accessibility, equity, and inclusive excellence in the context of student experience and success. Please visit the equity.ubc.ca/eef or sign-up for our newsletter or social channels for updates.

 

 

News and Stories |