EUS Equity

EUS Equity Committee

Established:	2014
Email:	equity@mcgilleus.ca
Current Executives Equity Commissioners Emilie Froeliger Emily Curling Workshop Coordinator Kwesiga Kahigi

Template:Incomplete The EUS Equity Committee is a committee under the President's portfolio. EUS Equity promotes diversity, inclusion, and equity in engineering at McGill University. The committee is chaired by the Equity Commissioner. The committee communicates mostly through the EUS Equity facebook page.

General

McGill’s EUS Equity Committee promotes diversity, inclusion and social equity in Engineering at McGill.

Social equity states that everyone should have access to the same resources and be able to succeed in our society. Contrarily to equality (is given the same resources) equity takes into consideration people’s identities and how that allows them to move through society. In summation: “Equality is giving everyone shoes, Equity is giving everyone shoes that fit.”

The committee creates discussions about how to make our university environment more inclusive. This group of students talks about issues regarding gender identity, race, sexual orientation, ability, mental health, universal design, teaching & learning and much more. EUS Equity conducts equity training for student leaders to incorporate equity values within our engineering culture. The committee also works with faculty in order to coordinate our efforts to increase diversity in engineering at McGill.

If you are looking to get involved, feel free to email the Equity Commissioner at equity@mcgilleus.ca or message the committee on the EUS Equity facebook page.

The EUS Equity policy can be found online.

Complaints

Equity complaints are brought up to the Equity Commissioner following the equity policy. The commissioner can provide safe, non-judgmental, and confidential support to the people involved in the complaint.

Events

Workshops

The objective of the workshop is to give the participants a different perspective and inform about equity and inclusivity. It is a meeting that engage a discussion or an activity between the participants and the workshop instructors. The norms of the workshops given by the equity Committee are respect, engagement, openness, inclusiveness and confidentiality. Scenarios are discussed, opinions are shared and list of resources are usually made accessible during the workshops. The Equity Committee wish to provide tangible tools for the audience to know how to

1. make events accessible
2. use inclusive language
3. deal with students with specific needs
4. learn what resources and services are available and how to access them.
5. solve real-life situation

The workshops are given to multiple councils of McGill University.

Architecture (ASA)

Mining (CMEUS)

Mechanical (MAME)

Chemical (CHESS)

Materials (MEUS)

Civil (CEUS)

Electrical, Computer, Software

Junior Council

Queer Engineer (QE)

POWE

Blues Pub Managers

EUS Execs

The committee also gave workshop during classes FACC 100 with an intro to safer space and diversity

Forums

Fall Forums

DESCRIPTION Hosted by the EUS Equity Committee, the Faculty of Engineering and the Mary Brown Fund, this event aims to bring up topics of diversity in Engineering at McGill. The Fall Forum is a great way to meet people interested in making Engineering at McGill more inclusive and connect with different groups on campus, faculty or industry leaders. The event allows attendees to discuss issues and work towards solutions to implement. It usually consists of a talk by a speaker and it is followed by discussion from a panel of leaders in the McGill community. Refreshments and food are be provided; admission is free. During this forum, attendees are able to share their experiences, discuss with speakers common problems and potential mechanisms and strategies to deal with them, and form allyships across the spectrum of the engineering community based on improved understanding

AUDIENCE All members of the McGill engineering community are invited to attend this forum. One of the forum's purpose is to bridge the gap between students, staff and professors, in terms of perceptions and conceptions of diversity and inclusivity.

BENEFITS This forum is the first in a series of events that will aim at building long-term support networks within the engineering community, through sharing of perspectives and experiences; developing a shared understanding of the challenges and benefits of creating a truly diverse and inclusive community in Engineering; maintaining an atmosphere of common engagement and commitment towards this community.

For 2014 Conversations and Discussions Although the forum was held during one evening, it initiated numerous conversations with McGill Staff, Faculty members and students. Collaborations, experiences, issues and potential actions were discussed. The subjects of inclusivity, accessibility and microaggressions in EUS events, in the classroom and laboratories, admissions process, design competitions and teams, student projects, internships and transition to the workforce, classroom material, leadership positions in students groups, and diversity within the student and the professors body were covered as well. At the end, over 40 stakeholders were consulted including:

McGill Staff and Services The McGill Engineering Student Center (MESC): Jessica Wurster, Industry Liaison Associate The SEDE office: Sarah Malik and Tynan Jarrett. CAPS: Cindy Mancuso, Diversity Career Advisor. The OSD: Tanja Beck

Student Groups The Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS). Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering (POWE). National Society of Black Engineers McGill (NSBE). The McGill Robotics Team. The Peer Support Network. The Sustainability in Engineering At McGill group. The Computer Science Undergraduate Society. The IEEE McGill Chapter. Queer Engineering. Graduate Department Representatives.

Professors Professor Joseph Kinsella and Dean Jim Nicell were also present.

FUNDING Funded in part by the Mary Brown Fund.

2014 In 2014 Fall forum, the keynote speaker was Dr. Karen Tonso and the panelists were Charmaine Lyn, Prof Tal Arbe, Loréane Goma and Sara Houshmand. Speakers

SPEAKER

Dr. Karen Tonso

Dr. Karen Tonso, Wayne State University (Michigan): A presentation that includes some background information on the challenges that affect underrepresented and excluded groups in engineering (women, queer people, people with disabilities, Indigenous people). The presentation might also discuss how these identities intersect with race and will open for a discussion about how to make changes.

PANELISTS

Charmaine Lyn Director of Medical Admission, Faculty of Medicine

Prof Tal Arbel Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sara Houshmand PhD student doing research on coping and responding to microaggression, and recipient of the McGill University’s inaugural Award for Equity and Community Building.

Loréane Goma

My name is Loreane Goma and I am a third year mining engineering student at McGill university. Cameroonian and Congolese from my parents, I was born and raised in France before moving to Montreal for my studies. I have been a member of POWE since my second year in university and now hold the position of vice president outreach in this club. My responsibilities include managing the EM(ePOWE)R mentoring program, organizing General engineering panels as well as high school visits and presentations.

2015 In 2015 Fall forum, the keynote speaker was Brie code and the panelists were Adeola Odusanya, Prof Gaskin and Tynan Jarrett. SPEAKER

Brie Code

Brie Code has been a programmer in the video game industry for almost 13 years. Until recently, she was working at Ubisoft Montreal, where she led programming teams on Child of Light, Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Assassin's Creed II. Before that, she wrote code at Relic for Company of Heroes and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War. She was also a founding member of the Ubidiversity Team at Ubisoft Montreal, volunteers with Pixelles, and is part of the advisory committee for YES Montreal's Advancing Women in STEM through Mentorship Project. Her ambition is to make games for her friends who don't play games.

PANELISTS

Adeola Odusanya

Adeola was born in Nigeria and lived there until moving to Canada when she was 11 years old.  Currently, she is completing her degree in Chemical Engineering here at McGill.  She is very involved in the Engineering Undergraduate Society, whether as a member of one of the design teams, Frosh coordinator or President of NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers) McGill chapter.  She truly has enjoyed her almost 4.5 years as a McGill engineer, she has learned a lot in terms of her formal and social education.  She hopes to apply what she has learned in the Renewable Energy industry in higher education and eventually, the workplace.

Prof Gaskin

Professor Gaskin joined McGill in 1997, adding to the environmental engineering expertise in the Department of Civil Engineering. She was the 2nd women in the department and the 6th women in the Faculty of Engineering. She has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and obtained her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. She teaches and does research in environmental hydraulics and water resources. She is (co-)chair of the Senate Sub-Committee on Women since 2012, which provides advice to the administration on policy improvements to support improvements towards equity for women in academia.

Tynan Jarrett

Tynan Jarrett is Equity Education Advisor (LGBTTQ) at McGill University's SEDE office, where since 2009 he has trained staff, faculty and students on equity issues, advised units and departments on policy and programming, and worked to increase access to McGill for groups that are typically underrepresented in the post-secondary setting.

Structure of the Committee

The committee is based on commissioners and there are several other positions. These positions are the financial officer, the workshop coordinator, the forum coordinator, the communication director and the outreach coordinator. These positions can be filled by one or more people. Their respective duties are listed below.

• Commissioners: ?

  Financial officer: The financial officer is responsible for creating the committee’s budgets, keeping the Committee’s financial records up to date (filling out check requirements & updating budgets), and applying for funds both within EUS and externally.

  Workshop coordinator: The workshop coordinator is responsible for booking, scheduling facilitators and all logistics regarding the EUS Equity Committee’s workshop series.

  Forum coordinator: The forum coordinator is responsible for organizing the forums (fall & winter) with the help of the committee. They head the team organizing the forum.

  Communications director: The communication director is responsible for sharing articles and information on the Facebook page, maintaining the wiki page up to date and the overall social media part of the committee.

  Outreach coordinator: The outreach coordinator is responsible for planning events to recruit new members, collaborate with other equity organizations, etc. (Ex. Open forums, tabling)