Countdown to EDI Week 2024 begins

With Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Week 2024 just around the corner, the University of Calgary is kicking off another year of fostering accessibility, equity, and inclusivity programming, celebrating changemakers, and participating in educational and inspiring events taking place within and around the campus community. This year’s theme is Envisioning Equitable, Inclusive and Sustainable Futures Ahead of Tomorrow. 

Hosted by the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (OEDI), EDI Week is an annual week-long series of events and activities showcasing the University of Calgary's commitments and efforts toward advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. Educational and community engagement events are offered by faculties, departments, research institutes, administrative units, and member associations across the UCalgary campuses. 

It’s a time for the campus to gather and recognize the important steps UCalgary’s community has taken, and to take stock of the work still needed to ensure a welcoming, equitable, and inclusive campus, and to continue to effect cultural, systemic, and sustainable change.

From March 4 to 8, the OEDI invites you to participate in a range of workshops, keynote presentations, panel discussions, and student sessions — all with the aim of advancing and embedding EDI at UCalgary. Topics are wide-ranging, including developing EDI plans for Tri-Council funding applications, mitigating biases in exam and test design, understanding Black and racialized minority experiences, Indigenous futurism, diversity in sustainability, STEM moms, the imagination gap, feminine heroes in scripture, equitable and inclusive hiring, and more.

Notable events to not miss include the Tuesday, March 5 keynote event featuring Dr. Rachel Zellars alongside other inspiring women to celebrate International Women’s Day. Then, on Wednesday, March 6, the OEDI will also host the sixth annual EDI Awards ceremony. This event will feature a special keynote speaker on intersectionality, Dr. Tonya Callaghan, PhD, associate professor in the Werklund School of Education.

The awards ceremony will be hosted by Dr. Malinda S. Smith, vice-provost and associate vice-president research (equity, diversity and inclusion) and awards will be presented by Dr. Penny Werthner, the interim provost and vice-president (academic).

“EDI Week is an important opportunity for all members of the UCalgary community to engage in collective learning,” says Werthner. “We are so excited to recognize this year’s EDI Award recipients who are paving the way towards an equitable and inclusive UCalgary. I encourage our entire community to come out and celebrate these changemakers.”

In addition to EDI Week, the OEDI has a standing collection of resources on their website for users to engage in year-round. From basic definitions and workshops, to learning more about specific communities and issues, this knowledge base can support those who want to get the most out of EDI week. 

“I’m pleased by the steps we have taken in our EDI journey and especially by the UCalgary community’s ongoing motivation to actively seek knowledge and engage in action to advance EDI,” says Smith. “With EDI Week, my desire is to not only celebrate our community’s enthusiasm but ensure these learning opportunities continue. The excitement around EDI Week stands as a testament to our identity as a campus that is committed to self-reflection, growth, and collective progress.”

What to expect during EDI Week 2024 

(full details on each event and links to register available here) 

Monday, March 4

• An Open Conversation: Graduate Students Reflect on Opportunities for Change
• Understanding Truth and Reconciliation
• Start Here: Building and Presenting your EDI plan for Tri-Council Funding Applications
• Implicit Bias in Medicine
• When Assessment Practices Create Inequities: Biases Embedded in Exam and Test Designs
• LGBTQIA2S and Allies Abroad
• NICE Workshop for Faculty and Staff: Creating a Sensory-Friendly Environment

Tuesday, March 5 

• International Women’s Day Inspiring Inclusion and EDI Week 2024 Keynote — Two Myths: Merit and Black Exceptionalism
• Principled Transdisciplinary Scholarship: Scaffolding EDI into the Future of Research
• Exploring the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)
• Equitable Pathways: The 3M Approach to EDIA in Post-Secondary Education
• Fostering Systems Change
• Indigenous 101: Past, Present, and Indigenous Futurism
• GSA Intersectionality Symposium 2024
• How to Make Your Invisible Work Matter
• Anti-racism, Entrepreneurship and Climate Change
• Diversity in Sustainability
• Emerging Trends: Pregnancy in Trans-Males

Wednesday, March 6 

• EDI Awards Ceremony 2024 followed by The Urgency of Intersectionality for Addressing Systemic Inequities in Higher Learning
• Black in – Canada’s Economy (Past, Present and Future)
• Design a Workplace that Works for You
• Developing EDIA at SSE and EDI Awards Ceremony Stream
• Black in – Life Design and Systems Change
• I am Not Who You Think I Am: Multiple, Hybrid and Racialized Identities of Canadian Muslim Youth
• Theatre of the Oppressed: An anti-racist participatory session
• Culture and Mental Health: A panel hosted by International Student Services

Thursday, March 7 

• It’s Not Just You: Perfectionism, Imposter Syndrome, and Gaslighting
• Did You Just Say That? Inclusive Language Essentials
• Accessible Teaching: Moving Beyond the Universal Design for Learning
• STEM Moms Project
• Women and Textiles in the Collections of Nickle Galleries
• Black in – Planning and Housing
• The Dark Fantastic, Five Years Later: How do we Close the Imagination Gap?
• Remembering Alberta's Sleeping Car Porters
• Legal Education and Practice through an EDI Lens

Friday, March 8 

• 20 Diagnostic Questions to Reveal Hidden Bias
• De-coding Sacred Texts: Feminine Heroes in Scripture
• Navigating Health Care for Transgender and Gender Diverse Patients

Opportunities to continue learning after EDI Week 2024 will also be available. On March 20, the Faculty of Social Work will be hosting a talk on Genocide Education: From Hatred and Violence to Reconciliation. 

Register today