Laurier launches initiative to hire more Indigenous and Black faculty members

Sept. 29, 2021
For Immediate Release

Waterloo – Wilfrid Laurier University is launching its Inclusive Excellence hiring initiative, which will see the university hire at least six new Indigenous faculty members and six Black faculty members.

The initiative, first introduced in May 2021, demonstrates a significant step toward Indigenization and reconciliation and equity, diversity and inclusion and proactively seeks to increase the representation of Indigenous and Black faculty throughout the university.

Beginning Sept. 29, job postings for tenured and tenure-track positions across all Laurier faculties — Arts, Education, Human and Social Sciences, Liberal Arts, Music, Science, the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work and the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics — are now open. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply at their earliest opportunity, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and recruitment efforts will continue until all positions are filled.

Prior to the recruitment phase, academic units at the university submitted expressions of interest outlining how the addition of one or more of these positions would advance their scholarship and teaching priorities along with an onboarding, support and retention plan for Black and/or Indigenous colleagues.

“We received an extraordinary number of expressions of interest from across our university, which is reflective of our commitment to hiring diverse academics,” said Anthony Vannelli, provost and vice-president: academic. “Importantly, it’s not only faculties that will benefit from this initiative, but students, who will learn from these instructors and see themselves reflected more in the classroom.”

The hiring initiative was developed in collaboration with the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association. The new hires will further Laurier’s Indigenization strategy and the university’s role, duty and responsibility to support reconciliation in Canada.

In addition to hiring new Indigenous faculty, Indigenous forms of teaching, research and scholarship are  included in Laurier’s tenure and promotion criteria, including research and preservation of knowledge consistent with Indigenous traditional practices.

The Inclusive Excellence initiative is one of a series of policy changes and initiatives to address systemic discrimination and racism outlined in Laurier’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Indigeneity Action Plan.