Operationalizing Institutional Commitments on EDI through Inclusive Internationalization

Anver Saloojee

Professor and Interim Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion

Ryerson University

Anver Saloojee is Full Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration, (since 1987) and a member of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies, at Ryerson University. Beginning March 1, 2022, he will serve as Interim Vice President, Equity and Community Inclusion.

Between 2005 and 2008, Anver was a Special Advisor in the Presidency of the Government of South Africa.

Anver was the Dean of Record and the Interim Dean of the Faculty of Law at Ryerson (2015 and 2020). Along with an exceptional team of colleagues, Anver worked to secure all the necessary permissions for Ryerson University to open a Law School. He was the Assistant Vice President (International) at Ryerson University between 2016 and 2020. In March 2020, he was appointed as a Senior Fellow of Massey College.

Anver served as President Ryerson Faculty Association between November 2009 and May 2014. He is a past President of the Laidlaw Foundation, and between 2011-2014 he was Vice President of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), and a former Chair of the CAUT Equity Committee.  On 25 November 2011, he received the inaugural CAUT Equity Award; in 2015 he received the Ryerson Faculty Association, Distinguished Service Award 2015; and the Alan Shepard Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award in 2018.

Anver does research on and has published in the area of Anti-Racism, Equity Diversity and Inclusion, and has been invited to numerous national and international conferences and workshops where he has presented papers on a wide array of topics related to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Carolyn Russell

Associate Vice-President International Education

Vancouver Island University

Carolyn Russell, Associate Vice-President, International Education at Vancouver Island University has a number of key responsibilities including recruitment and admissions of international students, the promotion of student success, the provision of relevant supports for international students and oversight of international partnerships, global engagement and internationalization activities, and international mobility.

Carolyn has two decades of experience as a senior university administrator and for the past 10 years, she was in a variety of positions at the University of Victoria (UVic), most recently as Executive Director Global Engagement. In this role, she worked with institutional colleagues and local, provincial, and national partners to advance Canada’s academic reputation and attract high-caliber partners to the region. She also led the development and implementation of an international plan to support the university’s strategic framework, led and oversaw the implementation of international agreements, led the development of new strategic global partnerships and developed an institutional global strategy. Prior to joining UVic, Carolyn spent a number of years at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in a variety of roles related to international education and engagement.

Carolyn received the 2012 BC Council for International Education Award for Service Excellence in International Education. She holds a Bachelor’s in International Studies from UNBC, and a Master of Public Administration from UVic.

Meghna Ramaswamy

Director, International Office

University of Saskatchewan

Dr. Meghna Ramaswamy is the Director of the International Office at the University of Saskatchewan, where she leads the internationalization portfolio for the university comprising of international research and partnerships. She has travelled and worked extensively with institutions, government, funding agencies and businesses around the world, including those in Europe, Africa, China, Russia, Philippines, Brazil and India. She loves interacting with people from different cultures and backgrounds, and uses these deep learning experiences to build vision, and guide sound strategy development for international education, focusing on sustainable research and partnerships.

She is a strong advocate for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the role it plays in International Education. She serves as an Executive Committee member of the Commission of International Initiatives at the Association of Public Land Universities in the US and as a Steering Committee member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities Higher Education and Sustainable Development Goals Network in the UK. On a local level, she chairs the Saskatchewan Education Alliance working group on international research, development and the SDGs in partnership with the Government of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Dr. Ramaswamy has authored multiple publications on the SDGs including those on zero hunger, interdisciplinary research, partnerships and transformative leadership and most recently published an article in the Journal of Studies in International Education on “Reimagining Internationalization in Higher Education Through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for the Betterment of Society”.

Prior to joining the University of Saskatchewan in 2018, Dr. Ramaswamy led the Centre for AIDS Reagents at the National Institutes of Biological Standards and Control, a UK government agency that works in the field of biological standardization. Here, Dr. Ramaswamy orchestrated key international partnerships with the World Health Organization, the European Commission, the National Institute of Health, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In an advisory capacity, Dr. Ramaswamy has served as an Expert Advisor to the World Health Organization and chaired many External Advisory Committees for European projects, funded by the European Commission. As a principal scientist, Dr. Ramaswamy attracted over $19 million in funding.

Dr Ramaswamy was also an adjunct lecturer in Kings College London, and taught undergraduate courses to medical students. Meghna earned her BSc degree in Microbiology from Kings College London, a MSc degree in Virology from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Clinical Infection from University College London.