Concordia University
PA-7: Support for Future Faculty Diversity

Graduate scholarships for Aboriginal students
(http://www.concordia.ca/campus-life/aboriginal/awards-bursaries.html)
Concordia Student Support Graduate Scholarship
The Concordia Student Support Graduate Scholarship is open to First Nations, Métis and Inuit students registered with the Concordia University Aboriginal Student Resource Centre. Candidates must be registered full-time in a Master or Doctoral program at the University. The award is tenable within the first two years of a Master's program or the first four years of a Doctoral program. It is renewable within the limits of the terms of tenure. The Scholarship is adjudicated by a Committee convened by the Director of Advocacy and Support Services. The Committee will be comprised of a non-voting Chair and three faculty members whose own research touches on First Nations, Metis, or Inuit issues.

Concordia is committed to employment equity and in collaboration with our community, we analyze our workforce and our employment practices and work towards the achievement of a diversified and representative workforce of the designated groups:
Quebec: Women, Aboriginal Peoples, visible minorities, ethnic minorities, and handicapped persons
Federal: Women, Aboriginal Peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities
We make recommendations for setting institutional recruitment and selection strategies for staff groups; assist in the development of action plans for the hiring, promotion, and retention of members of the five groups designated by the Federal Contractors Programme (FCP) and the Provincial Employment Equity Act across all staff job categories.

Diversity and equity are then important components in all of Concordia's activities. Taken together, all the initiatives below help to build a more diverse faculty throughout higher education.
1. Concordia University's Women Faculty Summit
Organised by the Office of the Provost, Concordia University's Women Faculty Summit is a Café-style discussion that adresses the challenges faced by female academics. It was created in 2014 and is now in its third edition.
2. Access Centre for Students with Disabilities (https://www.concordia.ca/offices/acsd.html)
The Access Centre for Students with Disabilities reduces barriers to academic participation in the University, raises awareness about students with disabilities and engages in community-building to further promote an inclusive environment at Concordia.
3. Teaching Assistantships (TAs):
- Each faculty allocate funds annually to individual departments for teaching assistants, markers, lab demonstrators, conference leaders, etc.
- Most teaching assistantships are usually given on the basis of financial need and academic standing.
- The Faculty is Engineering and Computer Science is annually awarding the ENCS Award “Excellence in Teaching by a Teaching Assistant”. This award is given to motivate, recognize and reward excellence in teaching. Evidence of excellence in teaching could include endorsements from students in tutorials and/or labs attesting to the excellence of the instruction provided by the teaching assistant.
4. Activities from the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL):
- TA Orientation: Orientation sessions organised by the Centre for Teaching and Learning to help graduate student in their teaching work. The orientation sessions are part of GradProSkills, which provides skill-development workshops for graduate students.
- Graduate Seminar in University Teaching (http://www.concordia.ca/students/graduate/workshops.html): This seminar series in university teaching will prepare graduate students for an academic teaching career. The estimated in-class time commitment is 32 hours as well as preparation of readings and assignments. Participants receive a certificate upon successful completion of all requirements. Participation is limited to 35 students per section per semester.
Objectives of the Seminar:
* To examine various approaches to teaching and current issues in higher education.
* To plan two mini lessons and practice different teaching strategies in a supportive environment, and to benefit from peer feedback and self-evaluation.
* To develop a syllabus for a course that you would like to teach in the future based on a principled approach to course design.
* To articulate your own teaching philosophy statement as a first step towards developing a teaching dossier (to be included in applications for academic positions).
Different seminar options available:
* Blended version (in-class & online)
* For students of the Faculty of Fine Arts
* For science and engineering students
* For students of all disciplines
- Epigeum Online Learning Modules (http://www.concordia.ca/offices/ctl/resources/epigeum.html): Self-paced, online learning modules designed to help develop or enhance teaching skills.
5. GradProSkills
(http://gradstudies.concordia.ca/gradproskills/):
- As part of its skill-development workshops for graduate students, GradProSkills offers the following workshops to help graduate students pursue a teaching career:
GPCB695 - Following the Academic Career Path
* This career panel is an opportunity to learn from successful Concordia professors and alumni about their path to an academic career. They will provide advice on how to craft your academic profile, how to navigate the academic job search and hiring process, and how to build your academic network.
GPCB627 - Preparing Your Application to Teach in CEGEP
* Learn how and where to look for college-level teaching positions and how to create an appropriate curriculum vitae and cover letter. Find out what to expect during the interview process, what questions may be asked, and how to prepare a mini lecture or course outlines.
6. Concordia University Faculty Association (CUFA)
(http://cufa.net/agreement/collective-agreement-for-2015-2018/)
The Concordia University Faculty Association (CUFA) Collective Agreement has a requirement for the review of all full-time faculty hires by a Joint Employment Equity Committee (JEEC) which has the formal mandate to ensure fair hiring of members from designated groups, including women, visible minorities, those with disabilities and aboriginal persons.
CUFA's Collective Agreement also specifically indicates:
"The Parties agree that Concordia University would better advance the essential functions of the University, namely the pursuit, creation and dissemination of knowledge through teaching and research, if the diverse composition of Canadian society were better reflected in the bargaining unit. Therefore the Parties agree to encourage an increase in the proportion of members of under-represented designated groups as defined in the relevant legislation, to improve their employment status, and to ensure their full participation in the University community. The Parties therefore endorse the principle of equity in employment and agree to cooperate in the identification and removal of all barriers to the recruitment, selection, hiring, retention, and promotion of these designated groups, and other categories as may be designated in federal and provincial human rights legislation or agreed to by the Parties.
If the data on academic availability indicate that a designated group is under-represented in a given disciplinary sector in the University, then, all things being equal, candidates from that designated group shall be given priority in that disciplinary sector."
7. Employment Equity Policy (http://www.concordia.ca/content/dam/common/docs/policies/official-policies/HR-8.pdf)
In its Employment Equity Policy, Concordia University indicates:
"The University promotes the full participation and advancement of qualified candidates from groups which have traditionally been under-represented, especially women, aboriginal peoples, visible minorities and persons whose mother tongue is neither French nor English and who are not aboriginal or visible minorities and persons with disabilities. These groups are designated groups within the provisions of the provincial Act respecting equal access to employment in public bodies and amending the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and within those of the federal Employment Equity Act (Federal Contractors’ Programme)."

The latest available version is a draft version but it was approved by the Board of Governors on September 16, 2015.