Dr. Arig al Shaibah is McMaster’s inaugural Associate Vice-President, Equity and Inclusion. In addition to overseeing the Equity and Inclusion Office, she is currently responsible for championing inclusive excellence and leading the development and implementation of institution-wide strategic equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) priorities at McMaster.

Arig has worked in higher education for over 20 years. Prior to arriving at McMaster, Arig was Vice-Provost (Student Affairs) and Acting Executive Director (Human Rights & Equity) at Dalhousie University, and, before that, Assistant Dean (Student Life and Learning) at Queen’s University.

Arig holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and a PhD in Education (Cultural and Policy Studies). Her doctoral research involved a study of the perspectives of senior administrators with respect to the equity barriers and enablers in higher education.

While in her administrative posts, Arig has held adjunct faculty appointments in Interdisciplinary Studies, Gender Studies, and Sociology Departments. She has maintained a teaching load, instructing upper year students in courses such as Race and Racism, Feminist Pedagogy, and Diversity & Human Rights Inquiry.

As a scholar-practitioner, Arig continues to engage evaluative action-research projects related to EDI. student experience, and inclusive excellence. Her areas of academic and professional interest are intergroup relations, race and racism, social inequality, as well as questions of how to foster inclusive leadership and mobilize organizational EDI change.