College of Health and Medicine

College Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee Chair Lisa Foa talks about the committee, its aims and achievements so far.

What is CIDEC?

CIDEC stands for the College Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee. We are a group of individuals who are committed to the principles of inclusion, diversity and equity (IDE), and want to see these principles become a part of all we do across the College.

The committee work with the College Leadership Team to devise ways in which we can improve equity across the College, with initiatives ranging from looking at language in policy documents to establishing and organising opportunities for mentoring conversations.

What are some of the main aspirations of the committee?

Our overall aspiration for the committee is that we are not necessary. This would mean we have a diverse workplace that is completely equitable for all.

Until this day comes, we aim to raise awareness of, and implement strategies to improve, IDE issues across the College and University. This includes improving the gender equity position of the College.

Can you tell us about some of the more recent projects undertaken by the committee?

Recently we have been working on an action plan to improve gender equity within the College and assist in the University’s application for the Athena SWAN Bronze award. You can find more information on this process by following the link http://www.utas.edu.au/gender-equity/sage-pilot-of-athena-swan.

We have created a new IDE intranet page for the College (https://universitytasmania.sharepoint.com/sites/health-and-medicine/SitePages/Inclusion,-Diversity-And-Equity.aspx?web=1). The page will ensure staff are kept up to date on what the committee is doing to improve IDE within the College, as well as any relevant news and events. If you have an interesting story that you would like to share, whether it is a story about an upcoming cultural or religious event or a celebration of achievement within the College, we would love to hear from you.

What are the next steps for CIDEC? Where and how do you plan to broaden your scope in the near future?

The Committee are working on a 5-year IDE plan for the College which we hope to have finalised in the near future. This will ensure we have attainable goals that will make a real difference to the people within the College. After finalising what it is we want to do, we will work on items from this plan, such as implementing a mentoring conversations program.

Mentoring conversations are an initiative of the Committee, aiming to address some of the perceived barriers to promotion and providing opportunities for staff to understand where they want to go and how to get there. Keep an eye on your emails and the IDE intranet page for more information on these coming to a campus near you in 2019.

CIDEC are always looking for new members. If you are interested in further information, or feel you have something to contribute to the committee, please contact Lisa Foa – lisa.foa@utas.edu.au. 

CIDEC team