Message modified from the Head's announcement:
The Department of Political Studies is pleased to announce that Fikir Haile has been hired as Anti-Racism Advisor for summer 2021/2022. Fikir is a doctoral student in our department. Fikir is heavily involved in efforts to improve anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion across campus. She has served as PSGSA co-chair, has been a member of the Equity Issues Committee, has also served as a graduate representative for the Queen’s Black Academic Society and still works closely with QBAS executive members.
The Anti-Racism Advisor position is a fairly new addition to the Department. Doctoral candidate Celia Romulus held this position in its inaugural term, spurring many important conversations and changes in the Department. The Department expresses gratitude to Celia for her work as the Anti-Racism Advisor and commitment to EDII. Some of Celia's work can be found in the General Resources section of our website, including the POLS Anti-Racism Curriculum Revision Tool.
The mandate for this position includes the following:
- Advise on long-term curriculum and program development
- Consult with instructors of 384 and 385 and other courses, as requested by the instructor, about BIPOC and anti-racism materials that could be added to these courses
- Consult with field convenors and Undergraduate Chair about curriculum development in one or more fields
- Recommend speakers to the Colloquium Committee who have expertise on race/racism
- Continue to develop resource bank on anti-racism and BIPOC issues/authors for department use
- advise course instructors on use of the resource bank
- Liaise with FAS Black Graduate Student Caucus
- Participate in (or advise) Equity Issues Committee
- Prepare a final brief report on activities for September’s departmental meeting
All faculty are welcome to contact Fikir if they want to initiate a discussion about anti-racist curriculum development in any of their courses. The same is true for field convenors who wish to initiate changes in their fields. Fikir can be reached by email at 18fgh@queensu.ca.
Thank you to Fikir for her willingness to assist the department in its efforts to create a more equitable and inclusive curriculum and learning environment.