The Institute for Management and Innovation is committed to the advancement of an inclusive, open, supportive environment for students, staff and faculty. IMI endeavours to create a safe space to engage in learning, studying and working, and strives to foster a culture of engagement.
New! 2024-25 Activity Report
IMI's 2024-25 Activity Report is now available. You can read about our activities this year, the progress we made, and our opportunities for development going forward.
Previous Report
IMI's 2023 Activity Report is available. You can read about our inaugural year, our projects, our accomplishments, and our opportunities for 2024.
IMI's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
This Committee strives to advance IMI's work in EDI centrally, and across our Programs and Units. In alignment with UTM's Strategic Framework, with its emphasis on equity, diversity, inclusion, transparency, sense of community, student support and impact, and in alignment with UTM's EDI Office goals, IMI's Committee serves to:
- Support and facilitate University guidelines and policies/practices at the Institute
- Engage in hands-on initiatives and programming, including events and workshops
- Provide and analyze research, data and annual reports
2025-2026 Committee Timeline
| October 2025 | December 2025 | January - June 2026 | By September 2026 | October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committee is Struck | Outline & Framework | Project Plans | Implementation | Reporting |
| IMI launches the EDI Committee | The Committee creates a framework, including goals and processes | The Committee and Sub-Committees strike project plans | The Committee's annual projects and initiatives begin | The Committee reports on goals, and strikes a new team for 2024-25. |
2025-2026 Committee
2025-2026 Co-Chair
Natasha Walli
Staff, MUI
2025-2026 Co-Chair
Wesley Mack
Staff, IMI
Debbi Arnold
Staff, MMPA
Michelle Atkinson
Staff, IMI
Sonia Borg
Staff, IMI
Ryan Cerrudo
Staff, IMI
Teresa Didiano
Staff, IMI
Niharika (Nina) Kashyap
Student, MMPA
Alyssa Madrasto
Staff, IMI
Michael Marin
Faculty, IMI
Amruta Nikte
Student, MScSM
Novera Shenin
Student, MBiotech
Sheel Webber
Staff, MMPA
Alexander Zaranek
Staff, MMPA
Read the Committee's Terms of Reference.
2025-2026 Committee Goals & Focus Areas
The Committee shares plans and framework here, including main areas of attention and key projects for the year, along with a project tracker to share transparency in our progress.
The Committee is focusing on three main sub-group working areas:
- Student Experience
- Staff & Faculty
- Communications, Resources & Reporting
Project Progress Tracker: 2025 - 2026
| Category | Initiative | Timeline | Partner or Linked Project | Progress |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student Experience | Find student volunteers | Before end of 2025 | Completed | |
| Student Experience | Draft EDI student survey for IMI | |||
| Student Experience | Set up succession plan for sub-committee for inclusion of future IMI students | Summer 2026 | ||
| Student Experience | Gather information about EDI training within programs; Offer an IMI/EDIO workshop for all IMI students once a term | EDIO | ||
| Student Experience | Promote EDIO offerings/events more widely to students via program coordinators/student listserv | Continuous | EDIO | |
| Staff & Faculty | Organize a workshop on EDI led by the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office or Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre at UTM (timeline: Winter 2026) | EDIO/RGASC | ||
| Staff & Faculty | Continue to post EDI workshops and training available at U of T in the IMI newsletter (timeline: ongoing) | |||
| Communications, Resources & Reporting | Update the IMI website to reflect the new EDI team, subgroups, and current priorities | Fall 2025 | Completed | |
| Communications, Resources & Reporting | Support survey analysis by assisting with the interpretation of findings and recommendations | |||
| Communications, Resources & Reporting | Review admissions data to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities to improve equity and access | |||
| Communications, Resources & Reporting | Develop the final EDI report for 2025–2026 |
IMI's Inclusive Communications & Practice Guide
IMI is pleased to share our Inclusive Communications & Practice Guide. We hope that this tool will support our work across our community in writing, meetings, presentations, events, and more.
The University of Toronto's Communications Office is developing resources on inclusive communications tools, which will be, available through the University's Brand Portal. We will share these when they become available.
We welcome your feedback on all initiatives at: imi@utoronto.ca.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives in IMI's Programs
IMI
- Equity-based recruitment: IMI and its Programs/Units work extensively with HR at UTM to ensure that there are EDI-related interview questions, and that the hiring process is transparent
- EDI Committee: launched in 2023, the EDI committee strives to advance IMI's work.
- Centralized course outlines include extensive statements on EDI and supporting resources for students.
ICUBE
- ICUBE's EDI Statement: ICUBE's dedication to promoting diversity in our teams includes a commitment to ensuring every cohort accurately reflects the UTM community, welcoming folks of all gender identities, sexual orientations, races and ages, and actively creating space for marginalized change-makers and under-represented disciplines. All creators, entrepreneurial thinkers, and leaders are encouraged to apply. Read more »
- Health-Focused Start Ups: Mastercard Foundation, H2i, The African Impact Challenge: ICUBE is currently supporting the work of the African Impact Challenge. It is partnering with the Bridge at UTSC, and H2i to support Health Entrepreneurship in Africa. This is part of the multi-year relationship between the University and the Mastercard Foundation. We expect soon to learn more about ICUBE’s specific and ongoing African university partnerships.
- Additional EDI Initiatives
MScSM
- Awards: MScSM Program Director Shashi Kant recently created the UTM Equity & Diversity award, which launched in January 2022. Read more »
- Works with MUI to offer a joint panel discussion session for students on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion annually, including speakers from partner organizations who speak on EDI principles in the workplace, EDI initiatives, and more.
MUI
- Emphasizes Equity-based language in syllabi
- Encourages all instructors to include EDI statements
- Works with MScSM to offer a joint panel discussion session for students on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion annually, including speakers from partner organizations who speak on EDI principles in the workplace, EDI initiatives, and more.
MMI
- Innovation Essentials Coaching: EDI: MMI offers a session for graduate students focusing on how lack of openness to EDI can hinder innovation, and offers advice and training on working to open channels for diversity in the workplace. The session will examine how EDI has become increasingly important in professional and academic settings and encourages students to think about how to take real action to make EDI a priority – not just new buzz words.
MMPA
- EDI Staff & Student Training: The Program hosts session on "Gender Identity, Gender Expression & Inclusive Classroom Practices" for all MMPA students and staff in the Fall term and all students/faculty/staff sign a “Statement of Expectations & Commitments” upon joining the program.
- The Program includes EDI statements in all course outlines
Resources and References