UnLeadership

48Leadership and Education

DR. MAYDIANNE ANDRADE IS A professor of biological sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough. For the last 15 years, she has done extensive research on knowledge translation with respect to equity in the workplace and academic contexts. She is the founder and current cochair of the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Equity (TIDE) and cofounder and president of the Canadian Black Scientist Network (CBSN), a national organization aimed at increasing the visibility and inclusion of Black people in STEM in Canada. Maydianne also served as vice dean of faculty affairs and equity, which supports faculty across 15 departments at the University of Toronto Scarborough, from recruitment through retirement, and acting dean for six months.

Alison had the opportunity to sit down with Maydianne, who shared that TIDE arose from her personal experience in academia; in 23 years, she had never had a Black colleague in the sciences. She began looking at the literature on equitable representation and unconscious bias. She found that a major review of the literature on university practices in Canada and the United States offered two critical findings: the importance of engaged leadership and policy and that those on the ground enacting policies need to be more educated on their goals and how to implement policy equitably. Most institutions had staff who did equity or brought in specialists. However, these individuals had no experience on the ground. The report ...