Newly-appointed Associate Dean of the Office of Diversity and Climate at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), Annette Vincent is on a mission to create a supportive and inclusive setting, not only for its own university, but also across Education City.

The new leadership role at CMU-Q, a partner university of Qatar Foundation, came at a time when there were intense global conversations around racial discrimination and various other forms of inequalities.

“Our goal at CMU-Q is to lead and support the university-wide initiatives that promote diversity, equity and inclusion for faculty, staff and students, but what the terms mean to us in Qatar is different. We aspire to create a supportive climate, not only at CMU-Q, but also across Education City by collaborating with other universities and departments, to promote mutual respect and equal treatment among members of our community and make everyone feel as a valued member,” Vincent told Qatar Tribune in an interview.

Vincent joined the CMU-Q faculty in 2012 and has served as a program director for Biological Sciences since 2016. Being the campus’ first Associate Dean of Diversity and Climate, she will be at the helm of the unique initiative in overseeing and guiding the campus’ efforts to become a more diverse, inclusive and equitable learning and working community.

In the first year of her new role, Vincent aims to build a team that can take the mission forward that includes developing orientations programs for new faculty and staff members and rolling out “teaching with intention” workshops for faculty. These initiatives will ensure that right strategies have been put in place to foster more inclusive and equitable classrooms, and to make students feel safe to contribute and to learn.

During this academic year, Vincent’s office is working on bringing the “Bias Busters” program from the home campus of CMU-Q. The program, built in collaboration with Google, encourages people to look at their biases and confront them, at the university, while also developing it to become more relevant to the region’s context. It is an established program at universities in the US. Besides this, the Office of Diversity and Climate is “also looking to create a student organization called Diversity and Climate Advocates (DC Advocates), where the students will be the voice within the student population.

Vincent said, “We also aim to engage our Student Majlis, as well as other student clubs at the university in the things we do and assess how many more initiatives we need so that people feel empowered to talk about these topics in their everyday lives.”

Similarly, the new office also looks at equipping students and faculty with strategies to create a more equitable education through workshops, and innovation in education. Vincent’s new role is a continuation of tasks and projects she has already been involved in.

The university started two main initiatives prior to this role: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Action (IDEA), which concentrated on creating a five-year strategic plan to improve diversity, inclusion, climate and equity within its learning and working community. It has also established the Campus Climate Committee, which Vincent was co-chairing with the Chief Information Officer. They worked to structure the university’s programs based on having students, faculty members and staff from different parts of the world to build a family where student and faculty interaction is always encouraged.

Vincent, who originally hails from Singapore – a country full of diverse populations and races that live in harmony – added that growing up in such an environment helped her adapt to the community here in Qatar. “I brought that culture with me in my small microcosm to a bigger element now with CMU-Q community,” Vincent said.