IMI Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

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.

Group of students in graduation gowns and in suits

New!  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.

We welcome your feedback on this Guide at: imi@utoronto.ca

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

 

2023-2024 Committee Timeline

January February-March March-April May - December December
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.

 

2023-2024 Committee

Marius

Marius Zoican, Faculty

Martina

Martina Simmonds, Staff

Afrodite

Afrodite Cruz, Staff

Ann

Ann Armstrong, Faculty 

Ryan

Ryan Cerrudo, Staff 

Sarah

Sarah Ogbiti, Staff 

Ignacio

Ignacio Mongrell, Staff 

Nazeem

Nazeem Shamsuddin, Staff 

Soo min Toh

Soo Min Toh, Faculty

Mike

Michael Marin, Faculty 

Claire

Claire Westgate, Staff 

2023-2024 Student Support

Phillip
  Phillip Simango
Icon of head and shoulders

  Viktor Lyczywek

 

 

Read the Committee's Terms of Reference.

2023-2024 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 for the inaugural year:

  1. Research & Teaching
  2. Student Development & Support
  3. Institute Culture & Programming

Click here to read the details

Project Progress Tracker

As part of the Committee and IMI's transparency, below you can read about our progress toward our goals for 2023-2024.  

  Focus Area* Category Initiative Timeline Partner or Linked Project Progress
1 SDS Recruitment Assess diversity numbers in recruitment and cohorts Winter 2023 Anti-Black Racism Report Response 100%
2 SDS Recruitment Assess recruitment materials for diversity and inclusion, including improvement or enhancement of materials  Spring/Summer 2023 Anti-Black Racism Report Response 50%
3 SDS PD & Career Support Look at current offerings on preparing students to transition to the working world with success; assess gaps  Spring/Summer 2023  All Programs  5%
4 SDS PD & Career Support Design and develop EDI offerings to IMI graduate students, by program, and cross-program Spring 2023, Ongoing All Programs  25%
5 SDS Program Support Provide IMI Orientation materials or content to all incoming students relating to EDI and other topics  Spring/Fall 2023  All Programs  100%
6   External Partners Analyze leaders across industries and organizations, and assess IMI’s partnerships within this group, considering areas for future partnership  Fall 2023  All Programs  0%
7 IC Landscape Scan IMI to create a scan of all relevant campus, local, regional and country initiatives for best practices  Spring/Summer 2023 None 100%
8 IC Hiring and Institutional Policies Create IMI onboarding materials for staff and faculty on EDI, in addition to HR’s offerings  Spring 2023 HR 0%
9 IC Continual Discussion & Sharing Add EDI to every meeting for sharing of resources, ideas, initiatives  Ongoing None 100%
10 IC Ongoing Training Intentional dissemination of workshops, seminars and events across campus to all Faculty and Staff  Ongoing ARCDO, EDIO 15%
11 IC Ongoing Training Creation of in-house training for all Faculty and Staff  Spring 2023 / Ongoing ARCDO, EDIO, External Partners 10%
12 IC Student Ambassador Training Support for the IMISC in their initiatives on EDI  Ongoing IMISC 0%
13 IC Student Ambassador Training Arrange for annual EDI training for GSC  Ongoing IMISC 0%
14 IC Ongoing Assessment Annual reviews of all EDI related initiatives or programming at the IMI, Program and Unit level to look for gaps  Annually - spring/summer None 0%
15 IC Communications IMI Comms Team to provide a brief on inclusive language and communications approaches to all units and programs  Summer 2023 None 100%
16 IC Communications IMI to review all website content at the IMI level for inclusivity; support Programs in the same  Summer 2023 All Programs 30%
17 IC Communications IMI to maintain an EDI Website with transparent posting of reports, reviews, and projects  Spring 2023 / Ongoing None 100%
18 R&T Courses Course Outlines: Create consistent IMI course outlines that include appropriate and broad range inclusivity and diversity elements   Spring/Summer 2023 All Programs 100%
19 R&T Courses Course Materials: Ensure that diversity and inclusivity are considered in materials selection, and course content. Coursework should be reflective of IMI’s demographics, and culturally responsive.  Ongoing All Programs 0%
20 R&T Teaching Conduct a scan of available grants and funding for researchers related to EDI, and make available to colleagues.  Fall/Winter 2023-24 None 0%

*Focus Areas:

  • SDS: Student Development & Support
  • IC: Institute Culture
  • R&T: Research & Teaching

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 StatementICUBE'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