Spotlight on Diversity and Creativity in the Skilled Trades

In celebration of the International Women’s Day, Dr. Jennifer Love shares insights into her life and career and how her work is helping enhance the work environment and opportunities for women at UBC.

Q: What’s your role at UBC?

As a Senior Advisor on Women Faculty, I work closely with the deans, Human Resources, Faculty Relations, the Equity & Inclusion Office and other units around policies and practices that promote equity for women faculty, providing advice and serving as a resource to UBC’s academic leadership on matters of significance to women faculty.

I am a Professor in the Department of Chemistry.

Q: What are you hopeful for in terms of your work?

Universities thrive with diversity of ideas. A major contributor to diversity of ideas is one’s identity and personal experience. We cannot achieve excellence without diversity.

On this basis, I applied for the position of Senior Advisor on Women Faculty. I want to develop evidence-based recommendations for positive change for women faculty. I strongly believe that any improvements in working conditions and equity for women also have a positive effect on everyone.

Q: Who inspires you?

Sally Ride [external link] and Stephen Hawking [external link] particularly inspire me. They both faced significant hardships in their careers and personal lives, and yet have long-lasting influence on science and society.

Q: On International Women’s Day, what advice do you have to women and all individuals seeking to create change?

Just because something has been done in a particular way for many years does not mean that it’s the best way to do things. If you want to change something, you have to develop good arguments.

Listen to people who disagree with you and work to convince them. You won’t reach 100% of people, but you will reach a majority. It takes a long time to convince people to change; just don’t give up.

Q: How do you integrate your work – life balance?

I have realised that I need to take time for myself and my family, even with a backlog of work. If I don’t take time off, everything suffers – work, relationships, health. You have to be able to say no to continued pressure to work more. You have to prioritise. You will disappoint some people, which is difficult to do.

Q: Anything else?

Yes! I’m hosting an evening dialogue on March 14th as a way to celebrate International Women’s Day and International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould will be making opening remarks and a number of UBC and community changemakers will be sharing their efforts to bring about positive change. Hope you join us!

Get Involved

Hear insights from women and people of colour championing race and gender equality.

Lead, Succeed and Inspire: An Evening with Changemakers
Wednesday, March 14 @ 6:30PM

Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre

Register now.

This event is organized in recognition of International Women’s Day and International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

In 2007, two teens in Nova Scotia distributed pink shirts as part of a school-wide protest after a student was bullied for wearing pink on the first day of school. Through a simple act of solidarity, the rest of his classmates effectively silenced the bullies and made their school a welcoming space for everyone.

Pink Shirt Day was founded as a way to raise awareness of bullying and promote anti-bullying action. This year, Pink Shirt Day is on February 28th and the campaign focus is on cyberbullying.

Join us as we take a moment to consider how we can ensure a respectful environment not only on our physical campus, but also in our online learning spaces and communities.

Bullying does not only occur in K-12 schools, but can also take place in workplaces. It is a form of harassment that can often take many forms, including for example racism, homophobia, and ableism. At UBC, we are committed to providing a respectful environment for students, staff and faculty – from classrooms to workspaces.

This Wednesday, show support by wearing pink and consider what you can do to stop not only cyberbullying, but all forms of bullying and harassment.

Get Involved

Stop by the Faculty of Education Pink Shirt Day pop-up event for activities, practicum resources, button making, treats and more:

• Teacher Education for All Pink Shirt Day Booth, 12:00 – 1:30, Scarfe Building Foyer.

Attend a participatory workshop and learn to leverage online engagement spaces in a more productive and meaningful way:

• The New Public Domain: Digital Space as Extension of Community Space, March 20, 10:00 – 1:00, Irvin K. Barber Learning Centre

Familiarize yourself with UBC policies and guidelines:

• Bullying and Harassment Prevention resources and training;
• Respectful Environment Statement.

Explore online resources, including:

• An article from Inside Higher Education on bystander behaviour in response to cyber-bullying, and its connection to online courses;
• Part 1 and Part 2 of an academic paper on cyber-bullying and incivility in the online learning environment, including a discussion of how we can promote student success in the virtual classroom.

Learn how you can take active steps to make a difference:

• Explore Active Bystander resources and workshops.

UBC Community in Action

#pinkshirtday is everywhere at #UBC. Thanks to everyone for taking a stand against bullying! The day may be nearing an end but let’s continue building positive, welcoming and inclusive spaces both on campus and online. In photos: @ubc_psychology @universityofbc @ubcteachered @ubcedo @ubceducalum @ubcsauderschool @ubcmedicine.

A post shared by UBC Equity & Inclusion (@ubcequity) on Feb 28, 2018 at 5:46pm PST

For international Human Rights Day on December 10th, Roshni Narain explains her role at UBC and how it supports the human rights of our community.

How does your work support human rights at UBC?

My official title is Director, Human Rights. In this role, I offer advice, information, education, and support to students, staff and faculty – both at the UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan campuses – who have concerns or questions around discrimination and/or harassment. Where possible, I assist in arriving at early resolutions to these concerns through informal processes. My work is driven by UBC’s Policy #3: Discrimination and Harassment.

People will often come to see me because they feel ‘stuck’ or ‘blocked’, or because they feel overwhelmed by their experience(s); they may not know how to proceed or who to turn to. Through private dialogue, exploration, and collaboration we work to figure out the processes through which they can build greater capacity to respond so as to make their own life at UBC ultimately more positive and generative.

The kinds of discrimination that I may work with align with the prohibited grounds set out by the BC Human Rights Code, namely: age, ancestry, colour, place of origin and race, criminal conviction, physical or mental disability, family status and marital status, political beliefs, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression.

What inspires your work?

I believe that people are fundamentally committed to working and learning with one another in a productive, generative and creative environment, and that this commitment can help move us to think, move and act ‘otherwise’.

My work is grounded in a critical, social justice framework. I focus on individual and systemic forces and processes that create inequality and inequities, because it is inequities and inequality that contribute to and sustain the climate for human rights violations. Ultimately, I believe in transformational change, and human rights is one tool (among many) to create change.

If someone feels they’ve experienced discrimination or harassment, what is the process by which they can connect with you?

If someone would like to meet me for a confidential consult, they are welcome to call or email me. I also have drop-in hours on Mondays and Thursdays from 11-2 at our office in Brock Hall. I aim to provide a welcoming, safe environment where we collaboratively seek to better understand those issues and how to approach them.

Our services are delivered impartially; community members who have a concern about discrimination or someone who has been named as having harassed or discriminated against a community member can access our services in a confidential manner, and in a respectful environment that ensures privacy is protected and respected.

Why do you think the ongoing recognition of Human Rights Day is important?

2018 will mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and almost 70 years on, we continue to witness the ways in which human rights are still highly contested, and see the resulting corrosive effects of those processes.

Human Rights Day is important because it reminds us that each of us have the right to be recognized for our humanity without a breach to our sense of dignity.

It reminds us that we are not alone in supporting human rights — that we are part of a local, national, and global community of people who are committed to advancing human rights, creating equitable and inclusive communities, and recognizing and enhancing each other’s sense of self-worth.