About Us

We acknowledge that the University of British Columbia Okanagan is on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Sylix (Okanagan) Peoples.

The Psychology Department is committed to promoting equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) efforts that benefit all current and future members of our Department, including underrepresented people at every career stage and role in the Department.

The discipline of Psychology, like many scientific fields, has a history of racism, misogyny, ableism, and anti-2SLGBTQIA+ discrimination. Our broad goal is to focus our efforts within our Department to create and maintain an environment where everyone can thrive and to reduce barriers to undergraduate and graduate study. We also aim to bring equity to research and the clinical practice of Psychology. We have three groups dedicated to these aims: the Action for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (AIDE) Committee; the Psychology Allyship, Community, and Equity (PACE) committee, and the Reconciliation in Action committee. Given the recommendations from the Inclusion Action Plan and the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Reports, we will take action on the following, including but not limited to:

• Developing and implementing methods for equitable practices to increase the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, staff, and students
• Developing, monitoring, and responding to goals and metrics for EDIA within our Department
• Building community within our Department around topics related to EDIA such as through reading and discussion groups
• Reduce barriers to entry to graduate school for underrepresented groups, such as by assessing graduate applications through an EDIA lens
• Facilitating ongoing training for faculty, staff, and students in EDIA-related areas