Affirming UTM’s Commitment to Equity

Since I started my position as Principal in July 2020, I have had the good fortune of listening to members of the UTM community as they share their priorities for our campus’s future. Building on values in our 2017 Academic Plan, our community has often focused on three big goals: to enable impactful discovery in student and faculty research; to develop inclusive spaces and sustainable operations; and to inspire creative collaboration for student success. 

These goals are parts of a connected whole, which I hope to signal with the order of their arrangement. Their respective verbs (enable, develop, inspire) form the acronym EDI to match the familiar abbreviation for one of UTM’s strongest commitments, as affirmed in our Strategic Framework: equity, diversity and inclusion.

The shared acronym means that equity, diversity, and inclusion will inform all aspects of UTM’s future: from research to student engagement, teaching to building development. Our Equity Hub shows some of the resources online to make that future possible.

UTM is also working on a new EDI plan. It reflects collaborations among multiple people and teams across campus, including our Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Office. And its development represents both tremendous work already done and a larger pursuit of continuous improvement.

In promoting our current efforts, I also welcome suggestions for new opportunities to sit with truth; to advance anti-racism; and to support equity-deserving groups. Our commitment to equity involves ongoing action, now and in the future: the time, as Dr. King said, is always ripe to do right.

Alexandra Gillespie
Vice-President and Principal
University of Toronto Mississauga