Attracting and retaining a diverse faculty is a key component of UBC’s commitment to excellence in teaching, learning and research.
The Provost established the Vice Presidential Strategic Implementation Committee on Equity and Diversity to enhance UBC’s culture of equity and diversity. In addition, the Provost has appointed Dr. Naznin Virji-Babul as the Senior Advisor to the Provost on Women and Gender-Diverse Faculty and Dr. Minelle Mahtani as Senior Advisor to the Provost on Racialized Faculty to support the university's institutional commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in the scholarly and leadership environment for faculty members at UBC.
The Provost works closely with the deans' offices on a range of faculty equity and diversity initiatives through the Equity and Inclusion Office. To learn more about UBC’s equity and diversity initiatives, reporting on progress, and the Equity Enhancement Fund, please see the resources below and visit the Equity and Inclusion Office’s website.
Reports and Data
Through extensive cooperation with UBC Human Resources, UBC Faculty Relations, UBC’s Office of Planning and Institutional Research, and the Faculties at UBC, we now have access to important faculty data on career advancement, representation, hiring, salary distributions, starting salaries, and salary increases. These reports contribute to UBC’s commitments on the follow-up to the 2012 Gender Pay Equity Initiative.
Faculty Reports (2015)
View progress snapshots on women faculty initiatives, faculty process, and data.
Read the report
View PhD, postdoc and faculty data from NSF, CAUT and peer academic institutions.
View
View studies and resources on unconscious bias in academia.
View
UBC-Wide programs
RECOMMENDED PROGRAMS
The Leadership Advisory Group, with a focus on identifying leadership programs that support gender diversity in leadership in faculty and staff, has recommended the following programs to be developed as part of the upgrade of leadership programs UBC-wide. Several of these proposals are now in the implementation phase.
- Career Advancement Series (draft):
Update Several elements of the Career Advancement series were run in 2014-2015: UBC-wide Mentoring program, and Pre- and Post-Tenure CV and Career Development workshops (in coordination with Science-oriented Faculties). In 2015, the UBC-V-wide Mentoring program is underway. Please contact the UBC Faculty Association for information. - Faculty Leadership Associates (draft):
A detailed plan for the Faculty Leadership Associations Program is now with the VP’s Academic and Human Resources. This plan borrows from the previous proposal by the Leadership Advisory Group: - Emerging Leaders (draft)
- Career Council (draft)
LEADERSHIP SELECTION PROCESSES
The Leadership Advisory Group is presently reviewing the guidelines and processes for leadership selection in departments and institutes. Recognizing that a number of UBC Faculties have recently improved their processes to encourage transparency, wider access, and diversity in leadership appointments, the goal is to incorporate these improvements into UBC-wide practices and connect with improved policies.
- Recommendations on updates to Board Policy #22 (Appointments of Heads):
Sent to University Counsel for review (summer 2015) - Selection Process for heads (draft):
Guidelines for the selection process, used widely at UBC - Additional recommendations:
There is presently no Board policy on appointments and terms of Associate Deans. There is a need to development and implement one. - Notes of May 28, 2015 meeting
April 9, 2014: Gender Diversity in Faculty Leadership Forum
Participating faculties: Arts, Forestry, Land & Food Systems, Law and Sauder
April 9, 2013: Women Faculty in Leadership Forum
Participating faculties: Applied Science and Medicine
March 7, 2013: Coffee, Community, and Career Advancement
Faculty + staff
October 31, 2012: Women Faculty in Leadership Forum
Participating faculties: Arts, Education, Medicine and Science
An Investigation of the Representation of Male and Female Faculty in UBC Media: A Content Analysis (2007 - 2013) was a study with the goal to consider the representation in media stories and images of men and women faculty at UBC.
Read the report
November 14, 2014: Women’s Voices - What Difference Do They Make?
Informed Opinions founder, Shari Graydon, in Conversation with the Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell
Watch the video
February 25, 2013: The Top 7 Reasons Why Smart Women Should Speak Up
Find information below on the Gender pay equity initiative at UBC.
- Report of the Pay Equity (DATA) Working Group (2010)
- Report of the Structural Measures and Resolution Tactics (SMART) Working Group (January 2011)
- Report of the Gender Pay Equity Recommendation Committee: UBCV (July 2012)
- Report of the Gender Pay Equity Recommendation Committee: UBCO (October 2012)
- Gender Pay Equity – Joint Message from Provosts and Faculty Association (January 21, 2012)
- UBC's report to the BC Human Rights Tribunal on the Gender Pay Gap in Professorial Salaries at UBC (2018)
As part of a federal pilot program administered by the three research-granting agencies, the university seeks to identify and address barriers and inequities experienced by historically underserved, marginalized or excluded people within UBC’s research ecosystem. The UBC Dimensions pilot project is co-led by the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation and UBC's Equity & Inclusion Office.
UBC supports the needs of dual career couples for tenure-track and tenured faculty and some administrative positions.
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In an effort to improve access to on-campus childcare, the Provost’s Priority Child Care Placements Program provides a limited number of new faculty members with higher placement on UBC childcare waitlists to support strategic recruitment and retention priorities.
Learn More
This study, compiling the results of in-person interviews and online survey results, is a Behavioral Research Ethics Board (BREB)-approved study that was completed through the office of the Senior Advisor on Women Faculty. The results indicate commonalities with previous studies elsewhere and focus groups at UBC. Important topics specific to UBC are also highlighted. We expect that these results will be valuable to the UBC adminstration, UBC faculty,and UBC emeriti in their ongoing efforts related to faculty retirement. We highlight the main recommendations:
- Address negative environments toward senior faculty, reported significantly more often by women faculty
- Ensure that retirement options are used fairly and productively. While flexibility is a valuable aspect of the options, there must be vigilance to ensure options are applied consistently. Specifically, Faculty Relations needs to continue to work with Faculties on appropriate and fair use of the retirement options, and that the types of options and associated agreements are tracked and reviewed to ensure equitable use of these options.
- Increase awareness about retirement planning and options at the department and unit levels, among faculty members and their leadership
Additional valuable recommendations where made by participants, as provided in the Executive Summary.
THE REPORT:
- Executive Summary (August, 2014)
- Literature Review (including Bibliography)
- Introductions, Methods, and UBC Data
- Main Themes
- All Charts from online survey results and UBC faculty retirement data
Materials used in the study:
Research Team:
PI: Dr. Rachel Kuske, Senior Advisor to the Provost on Women Faculty
Researchers: Dr. Ellexis Boyle-Maslovat, Research Associate and Dr. Donna Lester-Smith, Postdoctoral Fellow
Research Assistants: Chany Chea, Kate Parisotto
Administrative Assistant: Kirsty Cameron
Report on "Transforming UBC and developing a culture of equality and accountability: Confronting rape culture and colonialist violence"
Read the report
Read the University's response
There are several commitments related to the Place and Promise strategic plan that are related to the University’s equity, inclusion and diversity mandate.
Learn More
Faculty resources and advances
Resources for all faculties and departments
View Equity + Diversity resources for selection committees when recruiting faculty.
- Hiring checklist (includes items for planning a search)
- Hiring checklist example, including recruitment plan
- Faculty Recruitment Guide
- UBC Ad template and sample text
- PRESENTATION: Equity and Diversity in Recruitment (Foundations)
- VIDEOS: Hiring Orientation Videos
- Equity in the Recruitment and Selection Process for Faculty Positions at UBC: Summary
- Sample faculty search criteria
- Research in Unconscious Bias
- Unconscious Bias: Studies and Resources
- Unconsious Bias in Peer Review: Letters of recommendation, Evaluations of CVs
- Breaking the Ice/Cracking the Glass Ceiling (Toni Schmader, UBC Psychology)
- Harvard Implicit Association Demonstration
- WWEST Unconscious Bias Handout
- Reviewing Applicants: Research on Bias and Assumptions
- Candidate Pools, Pipelines and Peer Comparisons - Databases
- Conflict of Interest: Summary
- Access and Privacy Guidelines for Selection Committees
- What May I Ask?
- Sample form: Collecting Input on Candidates
- Quick Facts about Faculty Recruitment
How to Use Equity Employment Surveys and Workforce Availability to Track Diversity in Searches
1) The Hiring Committee identifies key words and qualifications from the ad which are used to identify workforce availability and peer comparisons, depending on field and level. There are a number of sources for data on workforce availability available here. These resources can be used to generate an approximation of the representation of equity groups that you should be seeing in applicant pools.
2) The Faculty or department sets up an employment equity survey (EES) to track the diversity of their applicant pool. For more information and instructions on setting up an Applicant EES in your Faculty or department, please see contacts and instructions below.
3) As the hiring process proceeds, comparisons to workforce availability and diversity of applicant pool are done as long lists, short lists, interview lists and finalist decisions are made, as a double-check for any potential unintentional biases that may be creeping in. If the short lists are not as diverse as these other indicators, there needs to be a thorough reporting about the applicant pool and the review process that led to the short list.
The EES is an anonymous survey of applicants that is a standard way to see whether the proactive recruitment is reaching the broadest possible groups. The results of the EES give an idea of whether the recruitment methods are successful in attracting diverse groups. These results can be compared to long and short lists as a check to see if these are reflecting the diversity of the pool. It is administered by sending a link for the anonymous survey to each applicant, which they complete voluntarily. Responses are recorded anonymously and summarized for presentation to the hiring committee.
Creating an Applicant Employment Equity Survey
Standardized survey text and questions have been generated and are available for use by all Faculties. The template contains the UBC Employment Equity Statement, notes UBC’s commitment to the Federal Contractors Program and mentions the Federal Employment Equity Act as the basis for collecting data on candidate and employee diversity at UBC. The survey asks questions related to the four designated equity groups identified in the Federal Employment Equity Act (women, visible minorities, Aboriginal people and persons with disabilities). Additional questions related to the sexuality and gender identity of the applicant are also asked to line up with the UBC Employment Equity Statement which includes these equity groups. Definitions are provided to aid applicants in responding correctly.
The sample text of the survey will be available soon.
You may wish to ask additional questions of your applicants. We ask that you minimize these questions so as not to dilute the intention of the anonymous survey which is to gather data related to diversity. An appropriate example may be to inquire where the applicant discovered the job description or advertisement so that you can promote future vacancies effectively. Also, should the same survey be used for multiple postings, a drop down menu with the available vacancies may be included to organize the received responses.
All survey text must be sent for approval to the UBC Equity and Inclusion Office before distribution to applicants.
Distributing an Applicant Employment Equity Survey
The survey will need to be hosted on a website. Your own in-house Faculty IT staff may be able to help with this. Features to look for in survey hosting software include the ability to easily send survey links to applicants, to allow for anonymous information to be collected easily and for anonymity to be maintained when the data is summarized and distributed.
If you do not have access to in-house IT support, UBC IT has a UBC tool that can be used for this purpose.
Here is a sample of email text to use when inviting applicants to participate.
Contacts
Equity and Inclusion Office: Jude Tate
Faculty of Science: Carola Hibsch-Jetter
All other Faculties please contact Jennifer Love with questions or to aid in the setup of an EES for applicants.
If you do not have access to in-house Faculty support, UBC IT has a UBC tool that can be used for this purpose. It is hosted in Canada, and survey data can be recorded anonymously.
Learn More
Mentoring programs help our faculty members meet their full potential and can be a rewarding experience for mentors. The Provost’s Office supports mentoring through the Academic Leadership Development Program. Many of our faculties and departments also have mentoring programs for their faculty members.
Guidelines for Mentoring Faculty
Learn More
As part of the Gender Pay Equity Initiative, UBC is working with its Faculties to foster best practice in annual faculty merit and performance salary adjustment (PSA) awards. Here we provide a guide for designing and ensuring effective and transparent processes for these awards.
View the guide
Several UBC Faculties have articulated maternity/parental/adoptive leaves policies and momentum following leaves in detail. Below is one example from the Faculty of Science:
View the policy