NorQuest College is honoured to be the 2017 Alberta Business Awards of Distinction winner of the Diversity Leadership Award.
Left to right: Dr. Jodi L. Abbott (President & CEO), Laurel Evans (Executive Director Workforce Development & Human Resources), Lidia Surman (Chief of Staff and Strategy).
The Alberta Business Awards of Distinction recognize businesses and organizations which have demonstrated outstanding achievement and contribution to their community while having developed business acumen and management practices to ensure long term sustainability. NorQuest College received the award at the February 24 ceremony at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel.
"NorQuest College is well known as an educational institution serving a very diverse population of students and employees," said NorQuest College president and CEO Dr. Jodi Abbott. "We are often looked to by the broader community to lead the way as an inclusive organization. We are honoured to be formally recognized for our efforts with this prestigious award."
While NorQuest College has always served a diverse population, a concerted effort to embrace diversity and inclusion and make it part of official college policy was undertaken over the past five years.
NorQuest College created the Centre for Intercultural Education to support diversity and inclusion on campus and in the community, by offering resources to support intercultural competence and to facilitate immigrant integration. The centre has established a reputation for innovative and applied approaches to creating inclusion within Alberta, across the country, and internationally. As a learning organization, the centre integrates NorQuest's developing knowledge into the training and educational products the college creates.
In particular, NorQuest College is striving to do more for Indigenous students. Statistics show that the Indigenous population in Alberta is young and one of the fastest growing populations in the province.
"Indigenous students are more likely to enter college as mature students, and often have dependents," explains Roberta Bear, Indigenous Relations Manager at NorQuest College. "The status quo regarding education for Indigenous students is clearly not working, which is why NorQuest is making every effort to create higher learning opportunities and accommodate for their specific cultural needs. We must respect a balance between academics and the spirit of learning and nurturing each student as a whole."
NorQuest College also hosts or supports a number of campus events that promote diversity and inclusion such as our annual Canada Day event at our Westmount campus where many students celebrate Canada Day for the first time. Other events include Inclusion Fusion where students and employees participate in activities to celebrate the rich diversity of our community.
Rather than being considered extra efforts, NorQuest's attempts to be more inclusive and be a leader in diversity in Alberta have become the norm at the college.
"In many ways, NorQuest is a microcosm of the Canadian multicultural reality," says Abbott. "Our focus on celebrating diversity and embracing inclusivity constitutes a learning opportunity for all of us; one that has the potential to make our country a much better place as a result."
