Academic Well-being of Racialized Students Project: 2013-2014 Internship Opportunity at the Centre for Gender, Social Inequities, and Mental Health
The Academic Well-being of Racialized Students Project coordinated by Dr. Benita Bunjun is housed within The Centre for Gender, Social Inequities, and Mental Health at Simon Fraser University – Harbour Centre. The Project strives to promote the academic well-being of racialized students by centering interdisciplinary critical Indigenous, race and feminist scholarship, community knowledge, and social justice work. This Project derives from Benita’s earlier work with students through the Women of Colour Mentoring Program/Network, The Indigenous Women and Women of Colour Leadership Program and more recently with the RAGA Graduate and Undergraduate Students’ Networks.
Academic institutions within Canada, a white-settler society, remain troubling sites of racial exclusion and racial disentitlement with a lack of critical race and Indigenous scholarship and scholars. The Project focuses explicitly on providing relevant skills, networks, resources, and mentorship to racialized students while promoting their academic and overall well-being. The internship positions are open to University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University undergraduate and graduate students committed to promoting anti-colonial social justice work and building relevant partnerships with community groups in the Vancouver Lower Mainland. The Internship Program focuses on a four level-mentorship/peer framework which provides skills building, peer support and mentorship through a reciprocal process between undergraduate students, graduate students, and the CGSM Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Benita Bunjun.
The Project welcomes applications from racialized students (Indigenous students and students of colour) across their multiple intersecting positionalities of queerness, ability, class, citizenship, language, health, and area of study. Racialized students from Simon Fraser University and University of British Columbia will fulfill 4 internship positions from August 19th, 2013 to September 30, 2014. The following positions are open:
- 1 Undergraduate student from SFU
- 1 Undergraduate student from UBC
- 1 MA or PhD student from SFU
- 1 MA or PhD student from UBC
Interns will receive hands on experience:
- Assisting with the administration of the Internship Project, the Racialized Graduate and Undergraduate Students’ Networks
- Networking with community groups engaged in critical social justice work
- Developing and delivering workshops on academic well-being of racialized students in white academia
- Engaging in research focused on racialization and mental health in Canada and BC, including literature review, collecting data, and data analysis
- Outreaching, building and strengthening relations across Indigenous communities and communities of colour.
- Building a strong critical Indigenous, race and feminist scholarship
- Coordinating a Racialized Students Conference in the Spring of 2014
Most importantly, interns will build long-term sustainable relations amongst emerging racialized scholars/activists while strengthening cross generational relations with long time critical scholars and agents of social change.
Accepted interns are required to work a minimum of 15 hours per month from August 2013 to September 2014. An honorarium of $300 and a letter of acknowledgement will be provided to interns as a recognition for their contribution.
Interested applicants should submit a 1-2 page cover letter and CV to Benita Bunjun at bbunjun@sfu.ca by July 29th, 2013. In the cover letter, please answer the following question: “How does academia respond or does not respond to the multiple and interacting needs of racialized students?” For those interested in the project or who wish to contribute as a volunteer, please contact Benita.