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Office of Diversity, Equity & Sustainability Initiatives (ODESI)
100 McCaul St., Room 316
In-person office hours: Tuesday-Thursday from 9am-5pm 
Remote hours: Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm

Amanda Hotrum, Director - ahotrum@ocadu.ca 
Cathy Cappon, Manager - ccappon@ocadu.ca 
Victoria Ho, Advisor, Strategic Sustainability - vho@ocadu.ca
Tej Dhanoya, Programs, Outreach & Human Rights Advisor - tejdhanoya@ocadu.ca
Shamina Chherawala, Programs, Outreach & Human Rights Advisor - schherawala@ocadu.ca [on leave till Sept 2024]
 

Vision

OCAD University will foster a rich engagement with multiple perspectives and practices, and our students will be formed and informed by a wide spectrum of knowledge and experience embodied in an inclusive variety of communities, philosophies and ways of knowing. OCAD U will provide a work and learning environment that respects, supports and values all students, staff and faculty, and that promotes equitable access to, and participation in, OCAD U's ecology. OCAD U is committed to fostering a culture of regenerative building; that not only ‘sustains’, but serves to enhance life systems and apply high standards for planetary health and community wellbeing. OCAD U’s goal is to prepare students with the knowledge, disposition, values, and skills to cultivate a viable future through critical teaching and research, while demonstrating the possibilities of real-world sustainability in the fabric of our campus ecosystem and through our administrative decisions.

The Office of Diversity, Equity and Sustainability Initiatives (ODESI) supports this vision by:

  • Creating or supporting opportunities on campus to advance understanding and promote social change through collective and critical reflection, knowledge generation and mobilization, and art and design creation
  • Coordinating, informing or supporting organizational change strategies that are designed to acknowledge and redress systemic, structural and historical disadvantage in employment and educational policy and practice, promote a culture of inclusion and advance sustainability.
  • Providing information, training and educational opportunities, and capacity building in the areas of equity, accessibility, human rights and sustainable practices.
  • Advocating for high standards in policies, procedures and practices in the areas of human rights, equity and sustainability
  • Ensuring a fair and effective administration of OCAD U’s human rights policies and providing subject matter expertise on the principles of human rights, equity and accessibility and related obligations in the resolution of complaints.

Guiding principles

ODESI is committed to creating a collaborative ecosystem of constituent engagement and participation, and building reciprocal relationships and community collaborations with equity-seeking communities, locally and globally.

While ODESI plays a vitally important leadership and advisory role, the responsibility for human rights, equity and sustainability is shared within the OCAD U community.

Engaging the OCAD U community in collaboration and common purpose in understanding and advancing equity and sustainability is essential and continuous, and OCAD U’s Employment and Educational Equity Committee (EEEC) plays a vital role ensuring progress on OCAD U’s strategic equity and sustainability priorities. 

ODESI will continue to develop practices to increase its accountability and transparency to the OCAD U community, including regular reporting on ODESI activities and on information and issues of importance to the OCAD U community.

 

News


Building equitable access to post-secondary education

OCAD University is collaborating on a national research project that focuses on ways to make post-secondary education equitable for all learners. 

The three-year project, Innovating for Inclusive and Equitable Post-Secondary Education: A Pathway to Realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is backed by $870,000 in funding from the Government of Canada’s Sustainable Development Goals Program. 

Credit
Tea light holders from O-Days 2014. Photo by Sarah Mulholland.
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