SBA学生将实现更具包容性的工作场所

SBA student Torey Green had never really thought about disability as a facet of diversity, 股本, 和包容 (DEI) until he had the opportunity to listen to two speakers from Leader Dogs for the Blind at a capstone event for SBA's 实现 程序.

格林说:“不是生活中的一切都是看得见的。. “我永远不会知道其中一位演讲者有视力障碍. So, 给我机会听听他们的意见, it allowed me to feel for them and understand something that I never would have thought about."

That's just one example of how SBA students are gaining valuable perspective through the 实现 程序's new focus on DEI. 所有SBA本科生必须完成实现, 一系列三门课程，教授学生包括沟通在内的核心能力, 网络, 专业, 批判性思维, 道德决策. The 程序 began incorporating DEI as one of its key focus areas in the 2021-2022 school year.

"There's a business case and a human case to be made for students graduating from 365英国上市官网 ready to be inclusive business professionals,实现项目经理维吉尼亚·麦克姆恩说. “这是雇主想要的一套技能和能力, 并得到了国家协会和基于研究的最佳实践的肯定. 和, 我们的学生很高兴有机会更多地了解DEI, 尤其是包容性实践, 作为实现的一部分."

实现's DEI focus began with a pilot led by former 实现程序 Manager 和rea Mill and OU Marketing Professor Steven Stanton. 米尔和斯坦顿曾与布朗博士合作. Deirdre Pitts，公开大学副院长 & Staff Affairs and Professional Development, to create a DEI lesson for one of the 实现 classes. The trio went on to write a comprehensive plan to incorporate DEI elements into all three 实现 classes, including adapting Pitts' presentation into two videos that are shown in each of the first two 实现 classes. 第一个视频深入探讨了DEI的含义及其重要性, while the second focuses on inclusive leadership skills and how to promote DEI in the workplace.

"We've really recognized that the more touchpoints students have to build their capacity for diversity, 股本, 和包容, 更好的,麦克穆恩说. “将DEI融入每门课都有好处, 或者在学生参加的每一项活动和经历中. 所以我们一直在深思熟虑地深化它在实现中的样子."

在志愿者中建立DEI实践

实现志愿者Mark Guthrie, 加布里埃尔Minaudo和茉莉花海恩斯(从左到右)

实现 has also prioritized DEI in training the more than 90 active volunteers who support the 程序 – and McMunn says that idea actually came from a volunteer.

“很多志愿者都是招聘人员, 这样他们在招聘的时候就知道自己要找什么样的人了,她说. "So they bring those suggestions to us and give us the opportunity to give that awareness to all SBA students, 这真的很强大."

现在，实现的志愿者培训项目包括包容性指导, and its email newsletter for volunteers has shared articles on topics such as recognizing unconscious bias in discussion of topics like 专业.

“我们的志愿者真的分享了我们对DEI的承诺, both in being inclusive with our students themselves and in teaching our students about how to be equitable and inclusive business professionals in their future careers,麦克穆恩说. "They've been really open to just making it an honest dialogue about how we can all work to promote more inclusion in business."

茉莉花海恩斯, 在火箭中心获得志愿者和高级人才关系经理, says she appreciates 实现's heightened emphasis on DEI because DEI is also a major focus for her employer.

“我认为重要的是让人们能够坦然地带着他们的全部, 真正的, 独特的自我不仅仅是工作, 但是任何空间, 每一天,海恩斯说.

加布里埃尔Minaudo, 实现 volunteer and Campus Recruiter for Northwestern Mutual’s Mirabella Network Office, 他说，实现是一个重要而独特的项目.

"I work with a lot of different campuses and none of them have anything like 实现,” she says. “I feel like it is very valuable for the students to learn these things that they might not normally learn in the classroom, 但在他们的职业生涯中，这些都是很好的经验教训."

接触不同的经历

戴夫·班恩，盲人领犬组织的企业关系主管

The culminating component of 实现's DEI 程序ming is a capstone speaker event focusing on DEI topics, 由365英国上市官网信用合作社赞助. McMunn says both the Capstone events from 2022-23 were widely popular and encouraged students to think about disability as part of DEI. 秋季活动邀请了公开大学教授达琳·格罗姆斯, 职业康复研究人员, 而冬季活动则由杰夫·霍金斯担任主角, 顾问和领队训犬师, 戴夫·班恩, 企业关系总监, 还有导盲犬.

McMunn and her staff connected to Leader Dogs for the Blind through 实现 volunteer Mark Guthrie, AM General高级总监兼首席信息官. Guthrie recalls the enlightening but uncommon experience of learning from a blind floormate while he was at OU himself, and says he's glad a large group of current students (including Green) had a similar experience through the 实现 capstone event.

“这取决于(学生的)背景或他们在哪里长大, 他们可能无法接触到(拥有不同生活经历的人), 更别说欣赏了,格思里说. "It's so valuable to be leaving the university and then entering the workplace having the benefit from the exposure to these kinds of 程序s."

实现的顶点活动对格林和许多其他学生产生了重大影响. 瓦Lezama, 刚从小企业管理局毕业, 被班恩和霍金斯关于在社交场合被忽视的感受的描述打动了吗.

"My biggest takeaway is that we don't have to judge anybody for the way they look,她说. "We have to include them in activities, even if they are different or have different capabilities. 我们需要以同样的尊重对待他们，让他们感到舒适. 也许直到有人让你看到那部分你才会意识到."

DEI为更美好的未来

实现 student, Cameron Wright, and 实现 student assistant, Erin McElreath (left to right)

SBA students report that 实现's DEI 程序ming is having a major effect on their growth as business professionals. 在最近的调查中, students ranked "preparation for 股本 和包容 in business" as one of 实现's greatest contributions to their career development. Over 80% of students have also agreed that 实现's DEI videos promote better self-awareness and 批判性思维 about 股本 和包容.

实现讲师, 特洛伊·尼尔森和米歇尔·英格利希, are both exceptional educators who continually think about how the 实现 程序 can best support students. "It's so powerful for the 实现 team to read the responses from students and to see how they say they're going to take what they've learned into their future careers,麦克穆恩说.

SBA student Cameron Wright says he was pleasantly surprised by how much he learned about DEI in 实现.

“老实说，一开始我的想法是，‘DEI是一个每个人都会回避的话题. 必须这么做才能拿到分数，对吧?’”他说. “一旦它开始发生，它就变得超级有趣. 我认为在今天这个时代，DEI要重要得多. Introducing young professionals entering the workplace to that is just going to set them up for a better future."