丁香园AV

Yabome Gilpin-Jackson is a scholar and organizational development leader who joins 丁香园AV this month as the university鈥檚 inaugural vice-president, people, equity and inclusion.  

She recently sat down with our video team to introduce herself to the 丁香园AV community and to chat about her priorities toward creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive space where all feel welcome and appreciated, learning, teaching and working.鈥�

Q: You have a deep background in HR and organizational development, and have worked in a number of fields, from healthcare to gaming. Why 丁香园AV?

Yabome Gilpin-Jackson: 鈥榃hy 丁香园AV?鈥� for me is easy. 丁香园AV as university and an institution of the calibre that it is represents everything that I care about in terms of using education and research to address the very real opportunities and challenges that we鈥檙e facing at this moment in time in the world.  

In many ways, I feel that my experience going out into the world 鈥� whether in private sector, non-profit, or the public-sector experience I have gathered 鈥� allows me, at this moment in time, to bring that outside thinking into 丁香园AV, and think about where, in my role, I might serve in supporting these very real challenges that we face, from a place of engaging community and, specifically, engaging the people at 丁香园AV.

Q: In addition to your professional background, you have a deep academic background. How do these work together for you?

YGJ: That question is very much in the same continuum for me. I鈥檝e always considered myself a scholar-practitioner. I remember distinctly as a practitioner, having left 丁香园AV, the MBA program at the Beedie School of Business, and going out and working as an organizational development consultant. I remember facilitating a group through a very complex scenario. And as we were working through, I remember this moment where I thought, 鈥業鈥檓 out of tools. I need to know what theory-base I should be standing on right now to support this group of people to move forward from where they are stuck.鈥�  

I鈥檇 always played with the idea of doing a doctorate. That moment for me, solidified my decision to go back and to understand the theories behind how groups behave; how people work together; and how to facilitate the conditions that support them to bring their best. With that mindset, I chose the scholar-practitioner program and have moved through the world in a way that allows me to apply theory to practice. And to use practice to think back and reflect back on how I might inform the theories that I鈥檓 already using or look to build new ones.

Q: Tell us about your connection to 丁香园AV?

YGJ: My connection to 丁香园AV goes deep and wide. At this point in 2022 鈥� 23 years long. I arrived at 丁香园AV as a student. I actually arrived in a circumstance that really gives me a lot of connection to the possibility of an equity, diversity, inclusion office, which is part of the role that I鈥檓 taking on. I arrived in very unusual circumstances.  

We鈥檙e all standing in this moment, looking at what鈥檚 happening in Ukraine. I left under very similar circumstances from the country of Sierra Leone in West Africa. I therefore arrived here with no transcript. I arrived here with none of my papers and had to work through getting credits transferred and getting entrance into university under very unusual circumstances. It was because of a very kind staff person, here at the admissions office, who talked me through some of what I might demonstrate who I am, as we waited to see whether I would have my paper work. That landed me here as a conditionally accepted student.  

I stayed on and got those papers, figured it all out, finished my undergrad and did my MBA here in the Beedie School of Business. And then immediately left. So I am an alumnus, but came back and worked on staff for about two years with the then-learning strategies group. And then left again at about 2020 to go into healthcare, but was then quickly recruited back to the Beedie School of Business as adjunct faculty.  

I鈥檝e had the honour of serving as adjunct faculty for the Beedie School of Business and as a sessional instructor in lifelong learning. So really, I tell people, I came to 丁香园AV and I鈥檝e never left.

Q: This is a new position, and there is some chatter around 丁香园AV that it won鈥檛 be an easy one. What do you think?

YGJ: So what I think about this position potentially not being easy 鈥� is that the people who are concerned about that are not wrong. It鈥檚 a huge role. It鈥檚 a new role for the university. It combines the continuum of people experience in a way that traditionally hasn鈥檛 been done here and as we know, not very much around the country.  

But I would say, is that I am confident in the ability of people here at 丁香园AV to accomplish what is needed when we all put our minds and our heads and our hearts to it. I know that it is possible, not because I believe I鈥檓 going to come and wave a magic wand and it will all be done, but because I believe that we have everything that we need here at the university. This is a post-secondary, educational institution, we have all of the research we need to understand how we might unpack some of these issues. 

We have all the experience we have about what has worked and what鈥檚 not worked. To think about what we need to do to elevate ourselves, whether that鈥檚 in the space of people and organizational development, or equity and inclusion, or faculty relations, I鈥檓 really looking forward to how to put our best thinking together and weave together people experience that while we haven鈥檛 stepped into these waters to try before, I know we will do exceptionally well once we all think of them together. I鈥檓 looking forward to that.

Q: What are your priorities as you get started in your new role?

YGJ: It is very much, again, thinking about the different areas of the portfolio and for each of them, thinking about what are the immediate needs? I know that there is some, just from very initial, onboarding conversations and making sure we can address those areas that would immediately relieve some of the pressures that we have around people and experiences here at the university.  

鈥淏ut once that鈥檚 done, my priority across the board, whether that鈥檚 with people and organization department, faculty relations or equity and inclusion, is to develop very clear frameworks of what we will do to serve the university in each of those areas. What it looks like. What the journey will look like for people at 丁香园AV. And to be very focused and intentional about delivering that to the university.鈥�

Q: What are you most excited about?

YGJ: I鈥檓 excited about the possibilities. I鈥檓 excited about what it will look like to take the engaged university and all the ways we鈥檙e engaging research, we鈥檙e engaging community, and think about how we will engage people across the campuses here at 丁香园AV in a way that allows us to think and work and interact with each other in new ways that will position us even better for the challenges that we鈥檒l face as an educational institution, but also as an educational institution, that through teaching and research is serving the world in a very critical time in history. I鈥檓 excited. Lots of possibilities.鈥�