Connections & Conversations

Collaboration and Advocacy

University of Toronto Scarborough Connections and Conversations actively collaborates with different administrative departments and advocates for and addresses the needs of racialized staff. Some projects and initiatives we were able to advocate for that have come to fruition include:

Elev8 Program

Elev8, designed by Karen Natasha Coaching, is a robust training program with adopted principles from a design thinking approach. This innovative program includes a series of professional development modules that will challenge assumptions, bring clarity, train, and support you to develop as a professional.

The Elev8 program will provide a high level of support and resources mixed with a multidimensional program. Some of the program resources include worksheets, group exercises, and interactive collaboration. Elev8 incorporates key human-centred techniques delivered by high-quality trainers from diverse backgrounds to teach, coach, and develop our UTSC staff community.

For more information on the Elev8 program, please visit: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/hr/elev8

National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities

The National Dialogues are a series of national forums focused on addressing equity and inclusion in Canadian post-secondary education. This year’s Dialogues and Action focused on sharing experiences and ideas, exploring and learning best practices, and contributing to the formulation and implementation of concrete actions that resolutely reject anti-Black racism and drive meaningful, enduring Black inclusion within individual universities and colleges; the higher education sector, in general; and our communities.

For more information on the National Dialogues and Action, please visit: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/nationaldialogues/

Collaboration on the Recruitment Process Revamp Conducted by UTSC Human Resource Services

The Connections and Conversations affinity group received feedback from the broader C&C community membership regarding the gaps in the recruitment processes on campus. The affinity group had the opportunity to share this feedback with the Director, Human Resources at UTSC. The timing of these discussions aligned very well as the UTSC Human Resource Services had commenced a revamp of the existing administrative recruitment process on campus. In addition to the collaboration with the C&C, the UTSC HR Services worked closely with the EDI office at UTSC to embed Equity, Diversity and Inclusion throughout the recruitment process on campus. The Director, HR Services presented the updates to the C&C affinity group for feedback prior to implementation.