As the summer begins, I want to thank each of you for your ongoing commitment and support of students and each other. The last 15 months have been difficult. Many of you have been coming to campus and adapting to evolving health and safety measures, while others have been working remotely delivering services and teaching in new ways. Everyone has been balancing work, home life and other responsibilities, coupled with the fact that we have not been able to spend time with friends and family.

Although there is some uncertainty about how the province’s reopening plan will continue to proceed, I hope you will have time this summer for some important rest and relaxation. Recognizing that everyone’s facing different challenges, please remember to connect with friends, family and peers regularly and to take advantage of the many supports available to you.

Some of these supports include:

• Specific training that will be made available to managers and employees by the Organizational Effectiveness department which will focus on supporting hybrid work arrangements, skills development and well-being. Find some of these resources using this link: well-being resources
• Access to resources available via our EAP services provider at https://lifeworks.com/en/resource

Looking ahead to the fall term, I know we are all eager to know how classes and our work will be impacted. We expect fall to be a term of transition, with increased opportunities for on-campus, and in-person interaction and activity. There will also be more employees working on campus. As departmental on-campus plans are completed by teams across the college this month, we will have a better sense of exactly what that will entail.

As we shared with students earlier this month, our plans for the fall are based on assumptions about the continued availability and public participation in the provincial vaccine rollout, as well as future public health guidelines and government regulations. Managers are actively planning for the academic and service models that will be needed when students return to campus in September. We will need to be adaptable to meet student needs as the fall term progresses and as public health measures evolve.

While we will have more on-campus activity, we are still following current physical distancing requirements which will impact everyone’s work interactions. Some employees will be asked to continue to work remotely, while others will be required to be on campus. Please speak with your manager over the next couple months to ensure you understand your team’s plans for the fall term.

We will continue to share updates this summer with employees by direct email and in Communiqué. Our Updates, FAQ and Return to Campus pages will continue to be updated to provide key resources and information about our current situation and what to expect when coming to campus.

As fall term plans continue to come together, we remain guided by the Humber at Home Pledge. Let’s continue to:

• Be respectful of individual circumstances and supportive of colleagues
• Prioritize our own health and wellness
• Be thoughtful about how we conduct meetings and use technology
• Be dedicated to opening the lines of communication
• Adjust our expectations and respect boundaries

Thank you for all that you do for Humber students and for each other.

Be well,

Lori Diduch
Vice-President, Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness

The Centre for Human Rights, Equity & Inclusion is pleased to invite you to its first Equity and Inclusion Dialogue for the 2021-2022 academic year, Gender Diversity 201.

Online registration is now open. Limited seating available.

Pride Month is a time to acknowledge and celebrate 2SLGBTQ+ communities and honour their continued struggle for recognition and equity. While we cannot hold the wonderful in-person celebrations that usually take place on our campuses in June, we still have the opportunity to recognize Pride Month and reaffirm our commitment to building a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Humber and Canada.

The Centre for Human Rights, Equity & Inclusion invites you to acknowledge the historical and current challenges of the 2SLGBTQ+ community in all their intersectionalities. Those of us who are allies must engage and hold ourselves responsible to end all forms of discrimination and harassment directed to the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

Humber provides support for 2SLGBTQ+ students through the LGBTQ+ Centre. Additionally, the College offers many educational and training opportunities throughout the year to assist us in building our capacities to work and teach effectively with our diverse students and employees.

Humber is deeply grateful for the contributions 2SLGBTQ+ students, faculty and staff make to the College and to our growth as an institution of higher learning. The College is committed to providing an environment where members are respected and feel a true sense of belonging.

The Culture's Compass team is looking for gallery submissions! 

Culture’s Compass navigating the wave of change is an impactful digital experience created by Humber students, highlighting stories of artist resilience and perseverance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital experience will accommodate the arts through a digital gallery, a docu-series, as well as contain information and resources on the Culture’s Compass website about the state of the industry in 2021.  

The digital gallery will hold works from both emerging talent and established artists of various mediums. It will also include aspects of augmented reality programmed within the gallery that the audience can view in their own home. For more information, please reference the attached brief on the opportunity.  

Applicants interested in participating can fill out the form here. We will get back to applicants as soon as possible. Please note that selected applicants will be compensated for their work.  

If you are not an emerging artists yourself we would appreciate your help in sharing the following information with emerging artsits/students in your network. 

Submissions are due by June 25, 2021.

THE SPECIFICS

Culture’s Compass Navigating the Waves of Change is an impactful digital experience led by Humber students. This digital experience consists of a website, a digital gallery, and a minidocuseries. The website will contain information and resources about the state of the cultural industries throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This website will also include a digital gallery housing works from both emerging talent and established artists of various mediums.

IS THERE A THEME?

There's always a theme. This year, the theme is resilience - we want your stories about perseverance and adaptability during the pandemic. We want to know how you've found success, overcome setbacks, and created opportunities for yourself and for your passions despite the worst this year has thrown at you.

And we want to tell the world about it.

WHO WE ARE

We are a diverse group of Humber students tasked with creating an impactful digital experience that highlights stories of artist resilience and perseverance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OUR MOTIVATION

The arts sector has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; to rebuild, advocacy is required. This website will be a platform for stakeholders to obtain a better understanding of the cultural landscape and to access resources allowing them to build back strong.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

Are you an artist or creative? We want to speak with you!

The Culture's Compass team is looking to record interviews, and help you tell your story. We'd love to showcase your work in our digital gallery and on our social media accounts.

The website will be created in the early weeks of June. By the second half of June interviews will be conducted and artwork will be collected. We're looking to collect footage, artwork, and stories which will be used to highlight the journey of the artist during the COVID-19 pandemic, how they’ve overcome difficulties and continued to pursue their passions.

We have a spotlight, and we'd like you to step into it.

Join us for a conversation on the impacts technology has on equity and how policy and innovation could bridge the digital divide.

Date: June 24, 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Microsoft Teams

Guest speakers include Alice Xu, Manager, Connected Community, City of Toronto, Mohamed Elmi, Director of Research, Ryerson University; and Nivedita Lane, Manager of Community Development and Partnerships, Humber College.

Nivedita will speak about how equity in digital access is connected to larger strategies related to workforce development, systems thinking, digital fluency, inclusive economic growth, and the interconnections between equity in digital access to collaborative, community development approaches that advance equitable outcomes overall for underserved communities.

Register here