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Equity Action Plan

Indigenous STEM Success Program

Submitted on behalf of Alumni and Development.

Alumni and Development is partnering with units across campus to support the initial stages of the Indigenous STEM Success Program. This 樱花影视 program will increase Indigenous student enrolment in STEM and ensure long-term success and representation in these critical fields by ensuring structural, academic and cultural supports.

In the first phase of this initiative, six of the nine faculties offering undergraduate degrees and the Office of Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement were supported by the Development Team to articulate the goals and vision of this project. Having internal clarity about the project has been crucial in building out the case for support and resulting donor proposals.

While the project is not yet fully funded, the goal is to create a holistic program that will connect with and support other existing and emerging initiatives on campus that offer:

  • outreach to Indigenous high school students;
  • engagement with prospective Indigenous applicants to STEM programs at UVic; and
  • opportunities for Indigenous students in first year STEM programs (such as dedicated first-year course sections and tutorials for program participants)

Combined these strategies seek to support not only Indigenous student enrollment but also retention and success.

Connection to the EAP

 This activity advances Relationality and belonging, Action 5:

Expand and enhance opportunities for scholarship rooted in different worldviews that advance equity, diversity and inclusion. Leads: VP Academic & Provost, VP Indigenous, VP Research & Innovation

Impact

So far, fundraising efforts situated across IACE, the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Science and the Principal Gift team have raised over one million dollars to support this initiative. The Faculties of Engineering and Computer Science, Science, and Social Sciences have each committed to providing one section of Sessional Instructor funding and one full Teaching Assistant position per year for the first five years of the program.

Faculties with STEM programs and the Office of Indigenous Academic and Cultural Engagement will also provide significant in-kind support through the engagement of Associate Deans in the administration and supervision of the program. 

Learnings and reflections

Staying focused on the goals and values of this project has been key to the success of this initiative so far as Leitha Cosentino, Director of Faculty Development remarked “Of course there are the typical challenges that come with working across different interests, but we were able to agree on why this project is important.” She noted that when it comes to communicating with donors, it's important to “tell the story” of the project in a way that resonates with those outside the university community. For the Indigenous STEM Success Program that story is about our values as a university and our commitments to reconciliation. Now, the challenge the development team faces is finding donors who want to be a part of this project, and the broader calls for equity, diversity, inclusion and reconciliation.