Science Atlantic is proud to be partnering with Dr. Taq Kaur Bhandal, Partner at BIPOC Executive Search (BIPOC ES), for our next Science Atlantic Sessions for All event, Mentorship Magic: 3 Ways to Support BIPOC Students! Join Dr. Bhandal on May 17, at 1:00 p.m. ADT, as she shares her years of experience mentoring BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) students.
BIPOC ES is a multidisciplinary firm that provides recruitment and a range of other equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) services. They work with their clients to attract, develop, and retain a workforce that is truly representative of diverse populations. Additionally, they provide training to improve the culture of inclusivity across organizations.
We look forward to continuing Science Atlantic Sessions for All throughout the year. If you or someone you know has an idea for a future session, please let us know! We welcome you to share your ideas to ensure that these valuable and engaging discussions can continue!
Date and Location:
Mentorship Magic: 3 Ways to Support BIPOC Students
Do you feel a little lost when it comes to supporting your students or new faculty members who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Colour? Does it kind of terrify you to do or say the wrong thing? Is there something stirring in your heart where you desire to support them in more ways? If so, I’m excited to invite you to a session called Mentorship Magic: 3 Ways to Support BIPOC Students.
My teaching philosophy is based on the principles of “pleasure activism” (Brown, A.M. 2019. Pleasure Activism. AK Press.) and rooted in the intention to heal the “soul wound” (Duran, E. 2019. Healing the soul wound: Trauma-informed counseling for Indigenous communities. Teachers College Press.).
By the end of the Mentorship Magic session, participants will:
- Learn an easy-to-implement introduction technique to build rapport
- Understand Intergenerational Money Trauma and how to advocate for tuition assistance and scholarships
- Gain Insights from Taq’s work at BIPOC ES to help students with Resume and Interview Excellence
The knowledge from this session can be applied to undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and even new faculty members in your department. You may even find that it helps you in your career trajectory as well!
Speaker:
Partner, BIPOC Executive Search
Dr. Taq Kaur Bhandal
Dr. Taq Kaur Bhandal (she/her) is a Partner at BIPOC Executive Search and former faculty member at Dalhousie School of Social Work. She brings over 10 years of academic, research, and practice experience in social justice, public policy, and gender-based health analysis to the firm. She was born and raised just outside Vancouver, and currently lives on Mi’kmaq Treaty Territory in Halifax, NS, where she spends her weekends going on forest walks with her dog Hopper. Taq’s ancestors are from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan.
Taq specializes in decolonial approaches to recruitment and search, with a particular focus on bringing ancestral worldviews to solve modern-day problems. She has worked across the borders of Canada in post-secondary, non-profit, and healthcare settings in Vancouver, Toronto, and Halifax. Taq has also taught several courses on mental health, addictions, women’s and trans health, feminism, and anti-racism practice.
In her spare time, Taq runs a company called @imwithperiods and published a book titled Self-Care Down There with Simon & Schuster in 2020.
Taq has a doctorate from UBC’s Social Justice Institute, an MA in Health, Policy, and Equity from York University, and a BSc Hon in Biology (with a specialization in molecular evolution) from Dalhousie University.