Arig al Shaibah is Associate Vice-President Equity & Inclusion at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada where she is also an Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies. She is a scholar-practitioner with over twenty-five years of experience working in higher education, the last fifteen as a senior administrator. With a Master of Public Administration and a PhD in Education (Culture and Policy Studies), her academic and professional work has been grounded in the critically-oriented theory and practice. Her interdisciplinary research and teaching interests are in the following areas: human rights and social justice; critical intercultural and intergroup relations; and ‘diversity’ discourses and political ideology; higher education leadership and governance.

Select publications:

• al Shaibah, A. (2026). Social change declarations and actions in Canadian universities: Implications of and for leadership and governance epistemologies. “Higher Education, Transformative Leadership and EDIA”. In Shirley Steinberg and Awad Ibrahim (Eds.), SAGE Handbook of Critical Leadership in Education. In press
• al Shaibah, A. (2026). Faculty diversity statements: A contested terrain. In R. Kashif, C. Chua, & H. Shan (Eds.). Special Issue “Critical and Emerging Issues in Post-Secondary Context for Leadership, Policy, & Governance.” International Journal for Leadership in Learning, 25 pages. In press
• al Shaibah, A. (2026). Leveraging a model of intergroup competencies: A reflexive tool to cultivate diversity leadership in higher education. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 17 pages. In press
• al Shaibah, A. (2026). Advancing EDI goals in and through higher education: Implications for policy reform in Canadian academe. In H. Schuetze, M. Osborne, R. Zhang & A. Yirga Adamu (Eds.), International Higher Education Reform Conference Proceedings, (29 pages). Manchester United Press. In press
• al Shaibah, A. (2025). Navigating intergroup distrust: Reflections of a senior university equity leader. In S. Ilcan, P. Ensari, and L. Gonzalez Balyk (Eds.). Special Issue, “From Antagonism to Care: Reimagining Academic Freedom and Justice in Higher Education.” Studies in Social Justice, 19(3), 519 – 528.
• al Shaibah, A. (2025). Diversifying the professoriate in Canadian academe: A case study of search processes and outcomes in a Faculty of Science. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 206, 151-168.
• al Shaibah, A. (March 2024). The role of the senior equity leader in getting beyond a ‘diversity crisis’ mode of planning. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/ca/education
• al Shaibah, A. (2023). EDI leadership and change agency: analysis of democratic discourses of senior leaders. Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal, 55(1), 101 – 124.
• al Shaibah, A. (August 2022). How to mobilize and sustain EDI change in the academy. University Affairs.
• al Shaibah, A. (2022). Building a race-conscious institution: A guide and toolkit for executives and senior university administrators enacting anti-racist organizational change, Ottawa, ON: Universities Canada.
• al Shaibah, A. & Poinar, S. (2021). Managing campus expression and equality rights: Contemporary considerations for Canadian universities, Canadian Journal of Human Rights, 10(1), 73 – 122.
• al Shaibah, A., Condra M., Jama, S., & Stewart, M. (2017) Q Success: Supporting underrepresented students in transition. Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO)  
• Bond, S., al Shaibah [formerly Girgrah], A., Burrow, J, Ingersoll, M, Vandermullen, C., Spaling, M., & Areemanpattnil, S. (2009). A World of learning: Canadian post-secondary students and the study abroad experience. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE).
• al Shaibah [formerly Girgrah], A. & Prah, H. (1995). New Directions: A Guide to Medical/Legal Services for Immigrant, Refugee, and Women of Colour Survivors. Sexual Assault Centre, Kingston. Funded by Health Canada.