The following message was shared with students on Tuesday, September 28. 

Dear Humber and Guelph-Humber Students,

As we approach the end of September, we hope that you are finding opportunities for learning, wellness, and connection. Over the past several weeks there have been multiple stories about acts of sexual violence on post-secondary campuses. It is important to recognize the impact of these events on those who have experienced sexual violence and to commit to real change in our own communities.

Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber are committed to creating a safe campus experience free from violence for all members of our community. We take this commitment seriously and work diligently with campus and community supports, programs and services to ensure violence is addressed and survivors are supported.

Humber’s Department of Public Safety provides many services to ensure our community members are safe on campus. Some of these include emergency response (call 416.675.6622 x4000), the Campus Walk program, and the Humber Guardian app. Students living in Residence can also access safety supports such as the Resident Assistants on-call, the Front Desk, and the Residence Life Coordinator on-call.

Students who are impacted by sexual violence are encouraged to reach out to the many on- and off-campus supports available, including:

• Student Support & Intervention Coordinators (SICsupport@humber.ca or 416.675.6622 x2102)
• Counselling Services (counselling@humber.ca)
  • 416.675.5090 (North & Carrier Drive Campus)
  • 416.675.6622 x3321 (Lakeshore Campus and the International Graduate School)
• Office of Student Community Standards (oscs@humber.ca or 416.675.6622 x4357)
• Good2Talk (1.866.925.5454)
• Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape (416.597.8808)

Students seeking to make a formal complaint of sexual violence are encouraged to contact the Office of Student Community Standards or Department of Public Safety.

As we think about the responsibility that we all hold to ensure a safe campus, we encourage you to participate in our Take Back the Night programming taking place this Wednesday, September 29. Take Back the Night is an opportunity for us to come together as a community to protest sexual violence and march in solidarity with survivors; this year’s programming will include:

• Keynote Speaker Cheryl Nembhard; participants can register to attend in person or virtually
• Sign-Making from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at North and Lakeshore
• North Campus March from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Lakeshore Campus Rally from 6:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Learn more by visiting the Take Back the Night website.

Students who would like to learn more about sexual violence, consent, bystander intervention, and supporting survivors of sexual violence are encouraged to participate in our various learning opportunities, including:

• It Takes All of Us learning module in Blackboard & CourseLink
• Bringing in the Bystander two-hour workshop

Follow the Consent Peer Education Program on Instagram or visit their website to learn about upcoming initiatives.

Let’s work together to create a respectful campus free of violence.

Enhancing Institutional EDI Knowledge of Disability and Academic Accessibility: 

• Many students with disabilities require more time to consolidate and process what they have learned. This may involve advanced access to and frequent review of their readings and notes ahead of any quizzes.   

• Quizzes are practical scaffolding tools and if they are part of your lesson plan, please set these to be completed outside class time or provide a scheduled date. Pop quizzes during class or directly after class put many students, including those with disabilities, at a disadvantage.  

• Consider an alternative to quizzes such as a take-home application assignment or written reflection due by the next class.  

Visit our Accessible Learning Services faculty site to learn more about accommodating students with disabilities.  

Please email us at accessible-learning@humber.ca with suggestions for key accessibility-related topics that you would like us to address through the Communiqué.

Wouldn’t it be nice to bridge the gap between effective collaboration and co-production through building a model utilizing innovative tools and techniques, to enable active co-creation with communities facing “wicked challenges” (e.g., COVID economic recovery, vaccine passports, housing shortage, immigration policies)?

Humber’s Office of Research & Innovation (ORI) is applying for a New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration Grant to develop a new model of collaboration. The goal of the Exploration stream is to inspire high-risk, high reward and interdisciplinary research. ORI’s goal is to weave faculty from four areas of focus: business, arts, not-for-profits, government affairs, to begin building bridges between these four disciplines to support government initiatives. 

The research focus will build on the co-creation, co-production, co-responsibility model of knowledge creation where governing bodies are not solely responsible for the outcome of an initiative.

Our Research Philosophy: Collaboration without trust is difficult. We believe building trust requires transparency, equity, and tactical empathy. This can be difficult to do between sectors when there is a perceived risk (perhaps from vulnerability) due to loss of control and lack of understanding of others’ perspectives. This can lead to dis-trust. The success of an initiative requires risk to be reduced in order to navigate through uncomfortable issues and challenges that can derail a project. Trust is a necessary component to reducing the risk.

Emerging Research Question: “How Might We develop a roadmap for Co-Creation, Co-Production, Co-Responsibility as an effective and efficient collaboration model by utilizing innovative tools and techniques to foster/encourage community building?”

Potential Research Outcomes: Creation of a new Co-Creation/Co-Production/Co-Responsibility Model; empowering communities to be active co-creators of their own creative change; building transparency, equity, fairness, openness to build trust; navigating polarizing perspectives; development of a new eclectic, values-based, model for leadership and followership.

Research Team:

Raeshelle Morris, Innovation Program Manager: Raeshelle Morris holds a Master’s in Leadership from the University of Guelph, a double major honors Bachelor’s Degree in Management and Organizational Studies from the University of Western Ontario. She is also a certified project manager (PMP). In addition, she is trained in Creative Problem Solving, Values-Based Innovation through Values-Perspectives, Design Thinking, Change Management and Human-Centred Design. She has also obtained her Green Belt in Innovation Strategy Management through Innovation 360.

Debra Pickfield, Innovation Specialist: Debra Pickfield holds an MBA in Leadership from Royal Roads University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences (Economics) her passion is committed to creativity and innovation. Creating ThinkSpot Burlington in 2009 as a vehicle to bring people together and connect and co-create on a deeper level, Debra witnesses the power of human connection in a biophilic environment. The outcome is stronger trust and relationships, empowering teams to move forward through opportunities and challenges.  Debra is a licensed practitioner in Simplexity Creative Problem-Solving, Lego® Strategic Play®, Values-Based Innovation through Values-Perspectives, and Green Belt in Innovation Strategy Management through Innovation 360.

Dianna Dinevski, Research Specialist: Dianna Dinevski is a PhD Candidate in Management and is currently working on her doctoral dissertation from Walden University. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration (2005) from the University of London, England, a Master’s of Philosophy in Management (2020) from Walden University, USA. She is also trained in Creative Problem Solving, Values-Based Innovation through Values-Perspectives and has obtained her Green Belt in Innovation Strategy Management through Innovation 360.

Darren Levine, Grant Writer/Leadership Educator: Darren Levine holds a Doctorate and Master's in Education from the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, a Graduate Certificate in Values-Based Leadership from Royal Roads University, a Leadership for the 21st Century Executive Education Certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, and experience and training leading and facilitating Human-Centred Design innovation and intrapreneurship processes. Darren is also Associate Faculty in the Graduate School of Leadership at Royal Roads University. 

If you would like to take this journey with us, please contact me, Raeshelle Morris at raeshelle.morris@humber.ca.

The College Employer Council has posted Management Bargaining Team Update September 24, 2021: Mediation – The CEC Embraces the Chance for Dialogue on its website.

For more information, visit https://www.collegeemployercouncil.ca/en.