Thank you to everyone who joined us for the virtual Town Hall on June 8. There was a tremendous turnout – more than 500 people from across the college – and an engaging series of questions posed by attendees. I am grateful that we are able to continue to come together as a community and share important updates and information while working from home. For those who were unable to join us for the session, the recording can now be found here (your Humber login is required for access).

The session included opening remarks and an overall college status update from President Whitaker, along with presentations about Fall 2020 plans from Laurie Rancourt and myself. We were joined by other senior leaders who shared their insights and all of us answered some of your questions.

While the session yielded a range of questions, some top themes emerged, including:

• Supports and communications geared to full-time, part-time and partial-load employees
• Work from home arrangements
• Protocols and requirements related to resumption of on-campus activities
• Academic and mental health supports available to students
• Impacts on international enrolment and students
• Online teaching and assessments
• Key academic calendar dates and plans for the Winter 2021 term
• Anti-Black racism initiatives at Humber
• Impacts on construction projects

Given the time constraints of the session, we were unable to respond to all questions in that forum. We are still working through them and are in the process of transitioning staff questions from humber.ca/updates to an enhanced Human Resources page that will launch in the coming days. Once it is live, a notice will be posted in the Communiqué newsletter.

In the meantime, I hope you will join me for a follow-up Human Resources-focused Town Hall for staff. This will take place as a Teams meeting on Thursday, June 25 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Please register here.

Please submit questions in advance by sending them by email to humanresources@humber.ca. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions during the Town Hall.

Thank you again for your engagement and your thoughtful questions. I know there will continue to be more as we move forward with the Summer semester and prepare for the Fall term. We will share new details as they become available.

As always, I would encourage you to visit humber.ca/updates for the latest information as well.

Lori Diduch
Vice-President, Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness

Culture’s Compass: How the Industry Keeps Beating is a free two-day virtual conference to discuss solutions and ideas for the arts and culture industry moving forward during this time of crisis

The conference will take place on Thursday, June 25 and Friday, June 26, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Organized by students in Humber College’s Arts Administration and Cultural Management program under the supervision of the Humber College Centre for Creative Business Innovation (CCBI), and in partnership with WorkInCulture, the free two-day event will be delivered via CrowdCast.

We are excited to confirm that conference speakers will include:

• Dr. Anthony Schrag (keynote speaker)
• Shawn Newman (Toronto Arts Council)
• Gaëtane Verna (The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, PowerUp)
• Julie Nagam (Artistic Director, Nuit Blanche)
• Menon Dwarka (Soundstreams)
• and many more

A variety of live artistic performances will be included throughout the conference including a live poetry reading by Nicole Sealey and John Murillo. 

Culture’s Compass will utilize live polling and interactivity to collect community data and feedback which will be shared with the arts community as an online resource through the creative leveraging of the tools available in virtual communication platforms.

For more information and to register visit our website at culturescompass.ca.

And follow us on social media:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Challenging Anti-Black Racism in the Virtual Environment
Thursday, June 25 at 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Anti-Black racism is prejudice, attitudes, beliefs, stereotyping and/ or discrimination that is directed at people of African descent and is rooted in their unique history and experience of enslavement and colonization (Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unity, City of Toronto). Anti-black racism is not new; it has persisted for hundreds of years. However, recent media coverage of the impacts of anti-black racism has brought greater awareness to the issue, and the need to act. This 2 hour workshop will examine anti-black racism in the virtual environment and explore the impacts of power in higher education and discuss strategies for challenging anti-black racism.

Registration is required for this session. To sign-up, please visit our website.

Challenging Anti-Black Racism in the Virtual Environment: Part II
Tuesday, July 7 at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Anti-Black racism is prejudice, attitudes, beliefs, stereotyping and/ or discrimination that is directed at people of African descent and is rooted in their unique history and experience of enslavement and colonization (Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unity, City of Toronto). Continuing the conversations from the first session, this follow up workshop will use scenarios and case studies to go deeper into the impact of anti-Black racial microaggressions in the virtual environment and what anti-Black racism looks like in higher education. This session will also continuing exploring strategies used to challenge anti-Black racism.

Registration is required for this session. To sign-up, please visit our website.