Transforming education is a powerful vision that must be anchored in the strength of our people. As we strive to reach our strategic goals, we understand that true innovation will be shaped by the unique perspectives and contributions of our diverse campus communities and that well-being has a profound effect on achievement and engagement, particularly in times of great change.
Strategic Priority 6
Content Lead(s): Ian Crookshank
Initiative Description: Recognizing the impact of health on student success and employee engagement, Humber will establish a framework to guide future investments in student and employee well-being. Drawing on the Okanagan Charter and the social determinants of health, Humber aims to remove barriers and improve outcomes for everyone on campus.
2018/2019 Achievements: Humber adopted the Okanagan Charter and was the first public college in Canada to do so. Developed in 2015, the Charter calls on post-secondary institutions to embed health and well-being into all aspects of campus culture, and to lead in the promotion of human and environmental well-being, both locally and globally. Work is now underway to develop a holistic understanding of our students’ health habits, behaviors, and perceptions that will culminate in a Humber-specific wellness strategy. As part of its commitment, Humber went smoke free in January 2019.
2019/2020 Achievements: Humber established the pan-institutional Healthy and Inclusive Community Taskforce to guide the college through a planning and implementation process that aims to make Humber the healthiest campus in Canada.
2020/2021 Achievements: The Healthy and Inclusive Community Taskforce executed an environmental scan and research on leading practices for both student and employee health and well-being and held consultations with Humber students and employees to assess the effectiveness of Humber’s current polices and processes. A draft Well-being Strategy was created.
2021/2022 Achievements: Humber finalized its Well-being Strategy. The plan's first two interrelated dimensions seek to increase student assess to a diverse range of resources that support their physical and mental health and well-being. Initiatives will include a focus on campus culture given its impact on a student’s sense of belonging. The third dimension seeks to reduce systemic economic barriers to Humber’s programs and services. Key initiatives include developing and enhancing institutional policies and programs that improve food security and mitigate financial barriers. The final dimension aims to increase meaningful connections between students and the campus community through enhancements to campus infrastructure and opportunities to engage with one another.
2022/2023 Achievements: Humber’s Well-being Strategy rolled out several key initiatives focused on facilitating student wellness at an individual, organizational and community level:
A Spirituality and Wellness Centre (SWC): SWC provides a safe, respectful, and inclusive space where students can explore different cultures, religions and spiritualities. Offering a variety of resources such as mats, prayer rugs, and relaxation and meditation audio and lessons, the space enables students to further their knowledge on how different beliefs shape people’s lives.
Leadership Initiative Fund (LIF): LIF was developed to fund and support student-led equity initiatives. It recognizes the importance of student involvement and engagement in the creation of a vibrant campus community and aims to support students whose initiatives or events will contribute to Humber’s institutional and community values: health and wellbeing; equity, diversity, and inclusion; and sustainability.
Holistic Food Strategy: Still in development, Humber’s holistic food strategy moves beyond reviewing food services. It explores and provides recommendations to support the role of food in fostering a healthy, equitable, inclusive and sustainable campus culture. Affordability, food security, and quality of life will be important factors guiding its development.
Fair-Trade Coffee: Committed to the well-being of the planet, Humber serves exclusively Fair-Trade coffee at all Humber on-campus and off-campus events. The college secured a certified organic, Fair Trade, and SPP certified coffee that is grown and produced by Indigenous farmers. A percentage of every Birch Bark coffee bean purchase goes towards providing Belkraft water purification units for Indigenous peoples living in communities still under boiled water advisories.
Current Lead(s): Ian Crookshank, Kristan Lingard
Initiative Description: This initiative seeks to leverage Humber’s existing and new mechanisms that support student retention through student centric programming and advising as well as organizational supports for systemic sharing of knowledge and practices.
2018/2019 Achievements: Humber undertook a review of existing student attrition indicators, began the process of mapping existing advising business processes that support student success, and assessed how technology could support student advising.
2019/2020 Achievements: The college continued to implement and evaluate interventions aimed at enhancing student success and retention by identifying students’ needs and challenges, and offering a broad range of services and outreach activities to meet those needs. This approach is increasingly leading to enhanced student outcomes as well as building evidence-based knowledge to support student success.
2020/2021 Achievements: Humber commenced the development of an early intervention framework aligned to all critical points along a student’s journey where persistence risk is evident, with particular emphasis on further understanding access and barriers to success for all students and learners. The college continued retention and early intervention initiatives and pilots, and to scale up existing initiatives in alignment with the framework, including professional development for faculty and staff.
2021/2022 Achievements: Humber continued to scale up pilot programs and revise the draft framework based on the pilot program assessments. Initiatives included:
- Expanded professional development for faculty and staff to include a focus on student retention specific to racialized, Indigenous, and 2SLGBTQ+ students and students with disabilities and outgoing communications was reviewed to ensure they were psychologically attuned and provided timely references to student supports.
- A review of the Black African Student Engagement (BASE) and LGBTQ+ Resource Centre to better determine scope, mandate and resourcing.
2022/2023 Achievements: Humber finalized its student retention intervention framework and outreach strategy. An implementation plan was created as new pilot projects continued to be launched to increase learner retention. Student communications related to academic standing and international students were reviewed and revised.
This initiative has been incorporated into Humber’s Well-being Strategy. Please visit initiative 6.1 under Healthy and Inclusive Community.
Strategic Priority 7
Current Lead(s): Nancy Simms & Ian Crookshank
Initiative Description: This initiative uses a multi-pronged approach to develop and implement an EDI framework and implementation plan that will lead to concrete and measurable equity, diversity and inclusion outcomes for both students and employees.
2018/2019 Achievements: Humber established its first EDI Taskforce composed of students, employees, community and industry partners, as well as alumni. The taskforce has embarked on its work to develop a strategy for inclusion that will identify opportunities to strengthen our diverse and vibrant campus.
At the same time, the initiative team undertook baseline activities in order to advance the framework. This included the relaunch of the Employment Equity Program and a review of 194 Humber programs in order to identify which incorporated EDI.
2019/2020 Achievements: Humber engaged a broad group of employees, students, alumni, community-based organizations and industry partners in a consultative and collaborative process to develop an institutional EDI framework. Draft goals and deliverables were created to guide the College’s policies and practices and support the advancement of inclusion throughout Humber.
2020/2021 Achievements: Humber strengthened its resolve to make its community more diverse, equitable and inclusive by endorsing the BlackNorth Initiative and signing the CEO Pledge, along with more than 200 other leaders from the private, public and non-profit sectors. By signing, Humber committed to removing systemic barriers that negatively affect the lives of Black persons within its community. The college also endorsed the Dimensions: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Canada Charter, thereby committing to applying these principles to its policies, practices, and culture.
Along with over 500 employers, Humber accepted the 50-30 Challenge, an initiative between the Government of Canada and Canadian businesses and diversity organizations. The signees agree to strive for gender parity and increase representation of other under-represented groups on their boards and within senior management to thirty percent.
Humber completed the first draft of its EDI Framework and Strategy. To support the framework’s development, the college conducted EDI management training and launched Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for Black/African and 2SLGBTQ+ peoples - the first college in Ontario to do so. ERGs bring together individuals who share common interests, backgrounds or demographic factors, such as gender, race or ethnicity. Led by the employees, the groups offer the members an opportunity to be heard, valued and engaged in their workplace.
2021/2022 Achievements: Humber finalized its EDI Framework and Strategy and undertook several key initiatives to strengthen its ability to create a system of equitable and inclusive practices:
- A review of all employment systems, policies and practices to identify barriers to the full employment of Indigenous and equity-deserving groups by occupational group or category.
- Continued the development and implementation of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that bring together individuals who share common interests, backgrounds or demographic factors, such as gender, race or ethnicity.
- The creation of an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion curriculum toolkit to assist with the integration of EDI into curricula and promote programs and services for students from equity-deserving groups.
- Continued education and training in equity, diversity and inclusion, and Indigenous Ways of Being, Knowing, and Doing to increase the capacity of employees to advance an inclusive Humber culture where employees and learners feel a sense of belonging.
2022/2023 Achievements: Humber continued to implement initiatives stemming from its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy:
- EDI Community of Practice (CoP): The College launched the EDI Community of Practice (CoP), a forum for critical discussion and exploration of teaching and learning strategies. Meeting once a month, the CoP aims to increase equity, inclusion and belonging in the classroom, and reduce systemic inequities and their impact on students.
- Employment Systems Review: The College finalized the Employment Systems Review and initiated an Employment Equity Plan.
- Inclusive Hiring Strategy: Beginning with the Faculty of Liberal Art & Sciences, an inclusive hiring strategy was rolled out to increase representation of Indigenous and Black full-time professors. Five of the six positions were filled by year end (March 2023), with work continuing to secure the final position.
- Service reviews: The Black Student Support and Engagement and the LGBTQ+ Resource Centre underwent service reviews. Both programs offer a dedicated on-campus space for equity-deserving students to access resources, build community and undertake initiatives that promote inclusion across the college.
- EDI Taskforce: After five years of exceptional work, Humber's EDI Taskforce met for the final time in March 2023 to recognize the achievements and dedication of its members while acknowledging the remaining work needed to advance Humber's commitments. The Taskforce provided a final report of their achievements including recommendations to complement the 2022 EDI Framework and Strategy.
Current Lead(s): Marianne Davitjan
Initiative Description: Humber recognizes that employee engagement is an essential ingredient in creating a healthy, inclusive, high performing and committed employee community. This initiative seeks to structure, strengthen, and harmonize Humber’s commitment to creating a healthy and inclusive community through the development and implementation of an employee engagement and wellness strategy.
2019/2020 Achievement: This initiative was scheduled to commence in 2019/2020. Humber created a draft Employee Engagement Framework based on current leading practices that recognize the links between an employee’s physical, mental and emotional well-being and their capabilities, productivity, and social networks. The college defined the elements that will drive goals, strategies and programs to achieve our commitment to creating a healthy and inclusive community.
2020/2021 Achievements: Humber delivered on its commitment to develop an employee engagement plan that promotes well-being. Employees prioritized the elements they wanted to see included in Humber’s Employee Engagement and Wellness Strategy, resulting in 15 drivers. Based on this feedback, Humber finalized the formal framework and developed a roadmap for implementation.
2021/2022 Achievements: Humber commenced the implementation of its Employee Engagement and Wellness Strategy through professional development programming and the introduction of the Hybrid Work Training series. These initiatives focused on the two dimensions that employees identified as most needed by them during the COVID19 lockdowns: Growth and Development and Work-Life Balance. Given the move to remote and hybrid work over the last year, Humber revised its strategies to focus on those components that support the employee transition to hybrid working and teaching.
2022/2023 Achievements: Humber continued to focus on employee engagement and wellness strategies that incorporate hybrid working and teaching.
Current Lead(s): Marianne Davitjan
Initiative Description: Talent acquisition, development, rewards and enablement are central strategic drivers for business success. This initiative focuses on enhancing Humber’s strategic approach to attracting and retaining employees through support and development of their potential.
2019/2020 Achievements: This initiative was scheduled to commence this year. Humber created a draft Talent Road Map and draft Succession Framework and tabled them with key stakeholders.
2020/2021 Achievements: Humber delivered on its commitment to develop a talent roadmap to support the recruitment and retention of its people. After completing a talent review, the college identified its talent needs and defined a succession strategy for executives and directors and aligned it with the new EDI framework.
Additionally, as Humber employees moved to remote work during the pandemic, the college developed new processes and policies to guide working and work-life balance employee relationship management during the pandemic. Employees were encouraged to recognize the differential impacts of the pandemic on their colleagues and to support the prioritization of their health and well-being. Recognizing that remote working will be part of Humber’s future, a remote work policywas instituted to guide the transition to a blend of on-campus and virtual working experience.
2021/2022 Achievements: Humber continued to improved talent acquisition processes and enhance efficiencies.
2022/2023 Achievements: Humber completed drafts of its Talent Acquisition Framework, Performance Management processes, and Succession Framework.
Strategic Priority 8
Current Lead(s): Lindsay Walker
Initiative Description: Through the engagement of students, staff, faculty, and campus committees, Humber will develop its next five-year sustainability plan (2019-2024) to outline its next steps as a national leader in developing sustainable campuses. The new plan will include timelines and responsible parties for every action and align with STARS and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
2018/2019 Achievements: Humber embarked on the development of its second five-year sustainability plan maintaining momentum in providing national leadership in the development of sustainable campuses. Adding to our successes in social and environmental innovation, Humber was named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for the fourth consecutive year and, after receiving recognition for social and environmental innovation through a Fair Trade designation at its Lakeshore campus last year, the North campus received the same honour this year.
2019/2020 Achievements: Humber launched its 2019-2024 Sustainability Plan. It outlines a bold approach to shaping healthy, inclusive and sustainable communities through cultural change, leadership and collaboration. Humber achieved a Gold ranking in the Sustainable Tracking and Assessment Rating System (STARS), a self-reporting framework for colleges and universities internationally to measure their sustainability performance. The college was designated once again as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers.
This year’s accomplishments included:
- Receipt of Canada’s first retrofit Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) Design for the NX building on Humber’s North Campus
- Receipt of the Edward Burtynsky Award for Humber’s Forest Nature Program
- Hosting of the first Good Food Challenge focused on tracking the origins of campus food
- Launch of Soupbar at the North campus by Ignite
- The formation of the Social and Sustainable Procurement committee
2020/2021 Achievements: Humber continued to implement the actions outlined in its 2019-2024 Sustainability Plan. Specific initiatives this year included:
- Completion of the 2019 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory to capture all indirect and direct emission from across Humber’s campuses
- Updating Humber’s purchasing and procurement policies and guidelines to include more sustainable practices
- A refresh of the majority of the hallway recycling and waste bins at North Campus to reduce contamination rates and reduce waste
- The development of campus-wide printing metrics (to be implemented once on-campus activity resumes) in order to communicate department/faculty usage and monitor effectiveness of future print reduction initiatives
For more details visit Humber’s 2020-2021 Sustainability Report.
2021/2022 Achievements: Humber continued implement the actions outlined in its 2019-2024 Sustainability Plan. Year three initiatives included:
- Hosting “Connecting for Sustainable Futures” in partnership with Youth Climate Lab (YCL), a Canada-based, global non-profit organization that accelerates youth-led climate policy, projects and business with over 30 partners and thousands of young people in more than 77 countries.
- The installation of electric vehicle charging stations
- Development of the Climate Action & Resilience Plan to identify key college initiatives that will bring Humber closer to carbon neutrality
- Development of Zero-Waste solutions for Humber events
Humber was yet again designated one of Canada’s Greenest Employers in 2021.
2022/2023 Achievements: Humber continued to lead the province in sustainable campus development by qualifying for the 8th year in a row as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers and receiving a Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS) Gold designation. Humber scored within the top 10 of all universities and colleges in Canada who reported to STARS in the last three years.
Key initatives undertaken this year as part of Humber’s 2019-2024 Sustainability Plan included:
- Sustainable construction: Opening in 2024, the Humber Cultural Hub will be one of the most sustainable developments in Canada and a showcase for global best practices in sustainability and energy efficiency – meeting net zero energy and carbon, and LEED platinum standards.
- #ReuseHumber: Humber’s reusable food container programs are cost effective alternatives to single-use, throw away containers. Since 2021, Humber has averted 250,000 containers from landfills and oceans.
- The Office Bin project: To increase employee awareness of consumption and help Humber meet its waste reduction goals, office waste bins and their plastic liners were removed. Employees now use communal bins.
Current Lead(s): Spencer Wood
Initiative Description: The initiative will review current standards, research best practices, and develop and implement a plan to ensure Humber applies universal design principles to its living and working spaces.
2019/2020 Achievements: This initiative was scheduled to commence this year. To evaluate the accessibility of Humber’s facilities and exterior spaces, the college employed an external auditor to perform an accessibility audit and make recommendations that exceed building code requirements. The auditors identified several opportunities for the college to consider and improve the usability of its campuses for all people.
2020/2021 Achievements: Emanating from an accessibility audit of its facilities and exterior spaces, Humber began implementation of priority level one projects to improve campus usability. The changes to the campus exceed the current building code. One of the projects involved installing seventy-six alarms in single accessible washrooms across both campuses, providing a direct line to Public Safety in case of emergency.
2021/2022 Achievements: Humber continued to implement the recommendations from the accessibility audit of its facilities and exterior spaces. The highest priority items were completed, and work commenced on the next priority level items. These include adding visual strobes into the washrooms for emergency notification and upgrading ramps.
2022/2023 Achievements: Humber continued to implement the recommendations from the accessibility audit of its facilities and those that have been recommended by Humber community members. This year, tactile strips were installed on Humber stairwells at North campus and on parking lot curb cuts. An exterior tactile path was installed between Humber’s North campus residence and K building to support persons with visual impairments.