University of Guelph to hire new Aboriginal professors, provide grants
On March 3, 2016, the University of Guelph announced that it would be hiring five tenure-track Aboriginal faculty members across multiple disciplines. The hiring process will take place immediately, and the new professors are expected to join the University of Guelph faculty within the next 18 months.
“This initiative will help the university transform its learning environment and further enhance our existing student support,” said Charlotte Yates, provost and vice-president (academic), in a March 3, 2016 news release. “We expect they will pursue new lines of research inquiry and inspire future generations of scholars.”
In addition to the professorship hires, the University of Guelph also plans on creating five new Aboriginal scholarships. These scholarships include $30,000 for PhD students, $15,000 for master’s students, and a new $45,000 postdoctoral award for a researcher of Aboriginal descent.
The university will also expand undergraduate research opportunities, and create an Aboriginal artist in-house residence. In addition, the university will help sponsor the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Toronto in 2017.
Cara Wehkamp, the manager at the University of Guelph’s office of intercultural affairs, said that she thinks the announcements will make a real impact.
“Aboriginal people are still underrepresented in the post-secondary system,” said Wehkamp Wehkamp, in a March 3, 2016 interview with CBC News. “I think the importance of having the [Aboriginal] faculty on campus does affect the climate.”
The announcement of the university’s new initiative follows the Truth and Reconciliation Commission final reports released last December.
Yates said that these reports are a call to action for universities to embrace. Statistics Canada has shown that approximately seven per cent of Aboriginal students have a university degree, whereas around 21 per cent of non-Aboriginal students have completed their university education nationwide. In Ontario, the numbers are around nine and 23 per cent respectively.
Reconciliation means recognizing Aboriginal people’s “ways of knowing” and supporting Aboriginal educators, students, and their communities, Yates added.
“It’s an important announcement in response to TRC recommendations,” said Wehkamp, in the same March 3 CBC News article. She added that there is a climate of excitement for students to broaden their learning experience on campus. “It’s a good stride in making sure [that] we are doing the work that needs to be done to shift the understanding and ensure that we’re respecting Aboriginal cultures and ways of knowing,” said Wehkamp.
Wehkamp stated that it is important for Aboriginal learners to feel like “university is a place for them.”
The University of Guelph’s initiative will “increase knowledge creation by Aboriginal scholars and encourage training of the next generation of scholars,” said Yates, in the same March 3 news release.
The university believes that the plan will benefit individual students, and the entire school.
“This type of strategy that is working to ensure there is Aboriginal scholars at both the faculty level, as well as support for students, is important,” said Wehkamp, to CBC News. “I see this initiative as being the next step.”
The University of Guelph is the latest school to act following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s findings. In January, Trent University announced plans to offer a new program next fall to boost Aboriginal numbers among teachers. Lakehead University also announced, in January, that they hired the first Aboriginal woman to be appointed as the dean of a Canadian law school.