SASSH wins 2022 Alan Shepard Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Team Award
The Society for Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (SASSH) recently received the 2022 Alan Shepard Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Team Award in recognition of SASSH’s contributions to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion in the community. This prestigious award reflects the commitment that SASSH (formerly the Ryerson Liberal Arts Society or RLAS) has demonstrated to prioritizing anti-racism, anti-oppression and decolonization activities in support of Arts undergraduate students and the broader community.
This commitment begins with the SASSH Board of Directors, the composition of which reflects the diversity of our student body, bringing unique perspectives and lived experiences to their work. This is the second consecutive year in which the entire executive team is female-identified, and for the first time included an EDI commissioner. The EDI Commissioner is tasked with overseeing and fostering EDI and Accessibility practices across SASSH initiatives. They also hold SASSH accountable for EDI and Accessibility commitments according to SASSH and Ryerson policies.
Their efforts have included establishing the SASSH Accessibility Fund to support projects that make the Ryerson community more accessible for persons with disabilities, aligned with SASSH’s aim to create more opportunities for persons with disabilities to take part in community activities, programs and services. This fund will also provide financial support to Faculty of Arts graduate and undergraduate students (both domestic and international) in financial need for whom accessibility issues are impeding access to education or events on campus, or hampering their individual success.
SASSH also offers a bursary to encourage academic engagement and support academic prowess, leadership development and community engagement within the Faculty of Arts. This award will be granted to 30 full-time undergraduate Arts students each academic year, and helps support student achievements.
SASSH has also founded the IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility) Incubator to support and advocate for students, academically, professionally, and socially, in matters of intersectional inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. The IDEA Incubator fosters conversation on these topics, implementing actions for addressing anti-racism, anti-discrimination and equity within Ryerson University and the Faculty of Arts.
The Celebrate Success event series was another important contribution that SASSH made to the growing dialogue around equity, diversity and inclusion at Ryerson. Founded in 2020 in an effort to continue meaningful conversations and amplify underrepresented voices, this annual four-part series highlights the successes of people who identify as LGBTQ2S+, Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Colour. These discussions continue to inspire and empower those who share these identities, and focus on actions we can take to contribute to transformative change.
SASSH also made numerous contributions to the National Forum on Anti-Asian Racism: Building Solidarities, which was hosted by the Faculty of Arts in November 2021. SASSH played an important role in promoting and staffing the event, helping bring more students into the conversation. Multiple past and present SASSH Board members were also among the more than 100 highly diverse speakers at the event, which had over 1,100 registrants.
For more information on SASSH’s initiatives or to get involved, please visit sasshonline.ca (external link) or instagram.com/sasshonline (external link) .