Deans Corner
Dean Robert J. Swieringa
Issue date: 4/5/01 Section: Viewpoints
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At the State of the School event, I talked about our need to make our community more diverse and inclusive. The Johnson School experience is defined in large measure by our strong sense of community. Differences in our perspectives and experiences add richness to our interactions and relationships, especially when everyone is fully contributing.
The world is becoming increasingly diverse, and our community must reflect the rich demographic, cultural, and other aspects of the global marketplace. We need to prepare leaders for the challenges and opportunities in that marketplace and to meet the needs of our corporate customers, many of whom emphasize to me that they need to hire a diverse team of MBAs.
We face significant challenges. Although the number of women and minorities is increasing in the marketplace, the number and percentage of women and minorities in the Johnson School have decreased over the last five years. The Johnson School is now among the lowest of the top 10 business schools in both the number and percentage of women and minorities enrolled. This must change. We demand that it change, and so do our corporate customers. Diversity is a business imperative for our corporate community. If we accept the status quo, we may put on-campus recruiting at risk for some very important companies.
We are taking innovative and comprehensive steps to position the Johnson School for the future. In 1999, we established the Office for Women and Minorities in Business and appointed Johnson alumna Angela Noble, MBA '94, as its first director. Angela is charged with increasing the representation of women and minorities in our community and assuring that we all benefit from that enhanced diversity. She has worked with many members of our community to formulate an action plan and has successfully obtained initial funding for many of the important first steps.
Because the pool of talented women and minorities currently is quite small, we need to enrich and increase the leadership pipeline from secondary school to the corporate boardroom. We will reach out to prospective students to increase the pool of qualified students. Summer institutes and camps on campus will help young people become aware of career options in business and prepare them for success. We will leverage our alumni network across the country to increase awareness of the Johnson School to prospective students right where they live. Specifics include:
The world is becoming increasingly diverse, and our community must reflect the rich demographic, cultural, and other aspects of the global marketplace. We need to prepare leaders for the challenges and opportunities in that marketplace and to meet the needs of our corporate customers, many of whom emphasize to me that they need to hire a diverse team of MBAs.
We face significant challenges. Although the number of women and minorities is increasing in the marketplace, the number and percentage of women and minorities in the Johnson School have decreased over the last five years. The Johnson School is now among the lowest of the top 10 business schools in both the number and percentage of women and minorities enrolled. This must change. We demand that it change, and so do our corporate customers. Diversity is a business imperative for our corporate community. If we accept the status quo, we may put on-campus recruiting at risk for some very important companies.
We are taking innovative and comprehensive steps to position the Johnson School for the future. In 1999, we established the Office for Women and Minorities in Business and appointed Johnson alumna Angela Noble, MBA '94, as its first director. Angela is charged with increasing the representation of women and minorities in our community and assuring that we all benefit from that enhanced diversity. She has worked with many members of our community to formulate an action plan and has successfully obtained initial funding for many of the important first steps.
Because the pool of talented women and minorities currently is quite small, we need to enrich and increase the leadership pipeline from secondary school to the corporate boardroom. We will reach out to prospective students to increase the pool of qualified students. Summer institutes and camps on campus will help young people become aware of career options in business and prepare them for success. We will leverage our alumni network across the country to increase awareness of the Johnson School to prospective students right where they live. Specifics include: