ACCESS, COMMUNITY + BELONGING
Building and sustaining a vibrant and interconnected university requires that we tell a different and transformative story. Now, more than any other time in our history, we have the energy and know-how to create this story.
We encourage and support individual, collaborative and collective efforts to protect human rights and identify, address, and reduce inequities and barriers to access. We welcome and seek to enable community members’ contributions toward mutuality, reciprocity, responsibility and interdependence. We work together to integrate and enact these core principles in all that we do as we strive to build and sustain our vibrant and interconnected university community.
Beginning January 1, 2025, the Office of the Vice-Provost will embrace a new name: Access, Community and Belonging (ACB). This evolution reflects our unwavering commitment to creating a university where everyone feels valued, barriers to success are removed, and thriving connections are fostered.
Shaping a more equitable and accessible university
Rooted in the university’s deep commitment to community engagement and transformative collaboration, we work toward a university community where all have access to success and enjoy a meaningful sense of belonging.
As we navigate the challenges of the past few years and learn from our work we look toward the future with critical hope. Our action plan aims to unite and disunify expertise in diverse approaches and disciplines across institutional and unit plans, ensuring that our strategic priorities are integrated, interdisciplinary and dynamic.
Continuing Our Stories
“Continuing Our Stories”, released in May 2024, captures themes from extensive consultations within the university community.
Universities in Times of Crisis: Conversations across Differences
This event series, spearheaded by the Office of the Vice Provost in collaboration with portfolios across campus, addresses the role post-secondary institutions play in times of crises and societal transformation. Beginning with an initial period of 12 months, this series aims to enhance skills and build capacity within the U of A community, fostering spaces of care, courage and resilience across differences.
Services + Supports
At the U of A we work together, with the guidance and support of our dedicated services,
to create an environment that embraces a shared commitment to respectful engagement
and human dignity.
Events + Stories
From everyday champions to collectives working collaboratively, the work toward greater access, community and belonging is integrated into what we do and who we are.
Education
There are a growing number of resources available to help members of the University of
Alberta community champion EDI, including "how to" guides, workshops, and online tools.
Impact + Effect
Strategic renewal for EDI at the University of Alberta shifts the conversation to prioritizing the effect and outcome of this work. Extensive consultations underscored the need to tell a new story, and the words that were used most provide a clear path forward. The words access, community and belonging (ACB) offer us a common purpose associated with the overarching strategy.
Initiatives
We are working toward enhancing access, building interconnected and vibrant communities and promoting experiences of belonging for all members of our community. This work is taking place within colleges, faculties and units and collaboratively across our world-class university.