Dialogue Day: Building your Anti-Oppression Toolbox

Dana-Lyn Mackenzie, Senior Manager of EDI.I, Faculty of Applied Science and Faculty of Land and Food Systems

Dana-Lyn (born Wilson) is a member of the Hwlitsum First Nation, based in Canoe Pass, BC and a lawyer. Dana-Lyn is an elected councilor of her Coast Salish nation, serving since 2021. She has practiced criminal law and continues to practice administrative and employment law as an Associate at Acumen Law. She is a double alumna of UBC, having obtained her Bachelors of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees here. 

As Senior Manager, EDI & Indigeneity, Dana-Lyn is currently leading the decolonization and Indigenization efforts in the Faculties of Applied Science and Land and Food Systems. In this role, Dana-Lyn supports EDI.I  education, engagement and support for the two Faculties. Leading the impactful UBC Orange Shirt Day Intergenerational March for the past two years has been an honour. Recently, Dana-Lyn and Erin Keely visualized and created the Weaving Relations course, an educational opportunity meeting Goal 2 of UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan.

Dana-Lyn has worked as a university administrator since 2012 in Indigenous awareness, programming and student affairs capacities. Dana-Lyn led Indigenous focussed programming during her tenure at the Peter A. Allard School of Law with UBC, where she was recognized in 2016 for the UBC President’s Staff Award on Advancing Diversity and Inclusion.

Lastly, Dana-Lyn has been a Board member of RESEAU-CMI, Networks of Centres of Excellence – Knowledge Mobilization since December 2021. 

Dana-Lyn spends her spare time with her family, and being a mother of two young adults is her proudest achievement.

Bashir Mohamed, EDI.I Coordinator, Faculty of Applied Science

Bashir Mohamed is the EDI.I Coordinator in the Faculty of Applied Science. In his free time, he is a researcher and writer focused on Black Canadian history in Western Canada. His primary interest is researching the legacy of Black Civil Rights movement in Western Canada in the early to mid 1900s. He has written for the Canadian Encyclopedia, CBC, and The Globe and Mail. He is a current Naval Officer in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve.

Shannon Robinson, CTLT Indigenous Initiatives Educational Consultant for Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning (ART-L)

Shannon has joined the Dean’s Office for a portion of the time. She grew up in Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 territories, scrambling around on either side of the Red Deer River. She holds an undergraduate degree in Art History and First Nations & Indigenous studies from the University of British Columbia. Shannon's professional background is in education, programming and curation and she has held roles at the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, the Museum of Anthropology, and other spaces where community voices and institutions intersect. She approaches her work with the aims of disrupting colonial systems and embodying care through practice. 

Sheryl Staub-French, Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Faculty of Applied Science

Dr. Staub-French is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science. She is Director of the BIM TOPiCS Lab where she leads inter-disciplinary research focused on developing methods and tools to support the digital delivery of sustainable building construction projects through effective and collaborative use of building information modeling (BIM).  She has published over 100 papers in leading journals and conferences on BIM and related topics. Her lab has made significant contributions in developing BIM guidelines and best practices; collaborating with industry and government to advance technology transfer; and developing tools to support virtual design and digital delivery.

As the first Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in the Faculty of Applied Science, Dr. Staub-French is a strong leader and advocate in advancing EDI in engineering and leading the Faculty’s EDI initiatives. She received her BS in Civil Engineering from Santa Clara University and her MS and PhD from Stanford University.