About the Office of EDI

Executive Assistant to Dr. Malinda Smith - Vice-Provost and Associate Vice President Research (EDI) 

Email: rupa.shankar@ucalgary.ca

Rupa Shankar, (she/her)

Ms. Rupa Shankar is the Executive Assistant (EA) to Dr. Malinda Smith, Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Research (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) of the OEDI. 

With a career spanning several countries and regions, Ms. Shankar has extensive global experience working with people from diverse backgrounds. Before joining the OEDI at the University of Calgary, Ms. Shankar worked as an Executive Assistant and Compliance Training Lead in the Healthcare Compliance Department at Janssen Pharmaceuticals in Toronto.  

Ms. Shankar holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Administration and Communications. She completed her early schooling and graduation in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where she also started her career working with several ministerial and financial institutions. She has 19 years of experience in office administration, working with various sectors in different countries, including financial industries, aviation, construction, and pharmaceuticals.

Project Manager, Presidential Task Force Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (PTF-EDIA) 

Email: jdixit@ucalgary.ca

Jaya Dixit (she/her)
 

Jaya Dixit is the Project Manager for the Presidential Task Force on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (PTF-EDIA) at the University of Calgary. Prior to taking on this role, Jaya served as the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisor in the Office of Research Services. Jaya previously worked in policy and communications roles within federal Indigenous and Human Rights portfolios. She holds degrees in Sociology and Political Science and sustains research interests in the social organization of knowledge and discourses of self-improvement.

Jaya’s everyday professional practice weaves together a decade of EDI-informed advising experience at the University, intersectional lived experience, and a commitment to transformative change based on values of curiosity, creativity, excellence, and care. In her previous role as EDI Advisor in the Office of Research Services, she coached teams in developing EDI action plans for successfully funded applications in competitions ranging from NSERC Discovery Grant to Canada First Excellence Research Fund and supported the implementation of our institutional CRC EDI Action Plan. Jaya’s prior advising work with graduate students directly informs her understanding of the experiences of equity-deserving groups in our local context. She also co-chairs the UCalgary Dimensions EDI Racialized and Visible Minority Persons Equitable Pathways Working Group.

Academic Director, EDI and Academic Integrity

Email: seaton@ucalgary.ca

Dr. Sarah Eaton (she/her)

Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, is a multiple-award winning researcher, educator, and leader. Dr. Eaton is an associate professor at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada and holds a concurrent appointment as an Honorary Associate Professor, Deakin University, Australia. A humanist by training, Dr. Eaton has written and presented extensively on academic integrity and ethics in higher education. She advocates for holistic, transdisciplinary, and multi-stakeholder approaches to academic and research integrity that include, and extend beyond, student conduct. She is known for saying, “There can be no integrity without equity”. She regularly invited as a media guest to talk about academic misconduct, fraud, and corruption in higher education.
 

Academic Director, EDI, Disabilities and Accessibility

Email: gwolbrin@ucalgary.ca

Dr. Gregor Wolbring (he/him)

Dr. Gregor Wolbring is a tenured full Professor at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, Program in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies. He is presently also a member of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe, Germany and a senior fellow of the Institute for Science, Policy and Society, University of Ottawa, Canada.

Dr. Wolbring defines himself as an ability studies, disability studies, sustainability studies and science and technology governance studies scholar. 

Some of his awards include: Recipient of the University of Calgary’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award (Faculty and Postdoctoral Scholars category) (2022); Runner up, University of Calgary Sustainability Award (category Faculty Sustainability Research) (2020); Tanis Doe Award from the Canadian Disability Studies Association (2017); Bachelor of Health Sciences Research Mentor Award in recognition of making undergraduate students succeed in research (2014, 2016, 2018), the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal awarded by the government of Canada in recognition of the benefit of his academic work to the greater community (2013) and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, National Award (1998)

Some of the issues his research group works on include: ability studies (ability, ability expectation and ableism ethics and governance); disability studies; social, ethical, legal, economic, environmental, cultural and governance issues of existing, new and emerging sciences and technologies (S&T) such as quantum technologies, artificial intelligence/machine learning and reasoning, cognitive sciences, neurotechnologies, genetics, robotics, brain computer interfaces, human enhancement. They also explore the impact of S&T on marginalized populations, especially disabled people; sports; human security, global health; health- (technology assessment, law, care and policies); sustainability; conflict studies; peace; ecohealth; climate, water and energy issues; environmental education; environmental activism; emergency and disaster management; burnout; and equity, diversity and inclusion.

Senior Advisor Anti-Racism and Racial Equity

Email: ghada.sfeir@ucalgary.ca

Dr. Ghada Sfeir, (she/her/elle)

Ghada Sfeir, PhD, is the inaugural Senior Advisor, Anti-Racism and Racial Equity with the Office of EDI at the University of Calgary. Dr. Ghada Sfeir holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. Her research interests focus on Cosmopolitanism, Multiculturalism, Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization, Anti-Racism, and Global Citizenship Education. Using the cosmopolitan lens, which entails the “equal moral worth” of every individual across all categories of difference, Dr. Sfeir advocates for implementing the fundamentals of EDI and anti-racism to identify and remove systemic barriers facing underrepresented and racialized groups educationally, socially, and politically.

In her previous role at Concordia University, Montreal, she taught her graduate and undergraduate courses from a social justice perspective. She has recently co-edited the International Journal of Talent Development and Creativity (2022) special issue to promote cosmopolitan pathways for Canada’s growing diversity from coast to coast to coast and beyond. Her advocacy is not limited to her publications and teaching from a social justice perspective but also includes various academic initiatives to advance collective public understanding of the principles of justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and decolonization.

Senior Specialist, Communications, EDIA

Email: shannon.black@ucalgary.ca

Shannon Black (she/her)

On leave.

Shannon possesses a passion for projects, organizations and initiatives that leave a legacy and create meaningful and tangible systematic change. She joins the University of Calgary’s OEDI after working in marketing and communications for a number of organizations over the past decade, including not-for-profit organizations and, most recently for Alberta’s first and only free workplace Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Hub, the Gateway to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Hub.

Shannon has and continues to lend her time and talent to creating inclusive spaces and workplaces for equity-deserving groups, with a significant focus and passion on supported employment and the inclusion of folks with disability within the workforce. Since 2020, Shannon has been an active committee member on the Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM) Alberta Provincial Steering Committee and has been instrumental in creating a formal provincial strategy and brand and securing provincial grant funding. Shannon has also volunteered with the Calgary Stampede since 2013.

Shannon possesses a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from the University of Calgary, has successfully completed Anti-Racism Organization Change (AROC) Training, and is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).