Equity and Social Justice Award

Nomination Deadline: March 8, 2024

Background:

The OCUFA Equity and Social Justice Award celebrates the outstanding contributions of OCUFA members whose work has contributed meaningfully to the advancement of members of the academy (professors, academic librarians, and other academic staff) who belong to historically marginalized groups, including but not limited to:

  • First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples
  • Women
  • Racialized persons
  • Disabled persons
  • Persons who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+ (2-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer and / or questioning, intersex, asexual or ‘+’: people who identify as part of sexual and gender diverse communities, who use additional terminologies)
  • Francophones and all persons whose first language is not English
  • Immigrants and persons of all legal and immigration status
  • Members of equity-deserving ethnic and religious identities
  • Persons facing ageism
  • Persons disadvantaged by class and socio-economic status

The Award honours and recognizes dedicated members whose leadership has improved the lives and working conditions of equity-deserving members of the academy and, by extension, their families, friends, and colleagues. The Award celebrates OCUFA members whose tireless work, done frequently without recognition, demonstrates an exceptional commitment to advancing equity and social justice that is both particular and intersectional as it pertains to the improvement of the profession within local university settings and/or across Ontario universities.

The OCUFA Equity and Social Justice Committee recognizes that individuals deserving equity may be disadvantaged particularly by one aspect of their identity (for example, Indigeneity, race/ethnicity, sex, gender, gender identity, age, class, sexuality, or ability), while others may be disadvantaged intersectionally by multiple aspects of their identities. The award welcomes nominations of candidates whose work is attuned to the nuances of equity both as a particular and an intersectional concern.

Eligible Candidates:

Candidates for the award will meet the following criteria:

  1. Be a member in good standing of an OCUFA-affiliated faculty association.
  2. Have a record of active involvement with and distinguished achievement in contributing to the advancement of equity-deserving members of the academy.

a.This may be demonstrated over an extended period or in a single project, either currently or in the past.

b. Examples of types of achievement may include:
      i. Organizational leadership
      ii. Implementing new policy
      iii. Initiating educational programs benefiting equity-deserving members of the academy
      iv. Achieving political, legislative, or collective bargaining gains; and/or
      v. Performing distinguished service in support of equity-deserving members of the academy  within their own and / or other university organizations.

     3. Have participated in one or more of the following leadership roles:
          a. Organizational leadership: 

    • Candidates have led, or lent distinguished service to, an organization in such a way as to forward the situation of equity-deserving members of the academy.

b. Collective bargaining leadership:

    • Candidates have, through collective bargaining, advanced the situation of equity-deserving members of the academy.

c. Policy leadership:

    • Candidates have developed or implemented policy, whether for a faculty association, OCUFA, or government, that advances the situation of equity-deserving members of the academy.

d. Educational/raising awareness leadership:

    • Candidates have initiated educational or public awareness programs that benefit equity-deserving members of the academy.

e. Scholarly leadership:

    • Candidates have demonstrated leadership in teaching, research, or publishing that has advanced the situation of equity-deserving members of the academy.

Criteria:

Impact: The extent to which the nominee’s leadership has advanced the situation of equity-deserving members of the academy.

Service: The time and effort the nominee has devoted to advancing the situation of equity-deserving members of the academy.

Originality: The degree to which the nominee’s achievement was/is groundbreaking locally within their university setting or across Ontario universities.

Collegiality: The nominee’s record of work in consultation, engagement, and collaboration with others to advance the situation of equity-deserving members of the academy.

Exemplariness: The extent to which the nominee is a role model/mentor amongst equity-deserving members of the academy.

These criteria must be applied keeping in mind the nominee’s career stage, discipline, and ability to contribute.

Nomination procedure:

1) Nominees and nominators should be members of an OCUFA-affiliated faculty association.

2) Nominators will provide a letter of up to three pages that outlines the nominee’s contributions and achievements in terms of the above-listed criteria.

3) Nominators will receive consent from the nominee and provide their curriculum vitae.

4) Up to two (2) letters of support for the nominee are also required as part of the nomination procedure.

 

The Committee will gather additional information about nominees, if necessary, to help make its decisions.

Please submit all nominations through OCUFA’s online portal.