ON CAMPUS

Moving Up

Programs build skills for young professionals

BY MARY K. PRATT

Two Bentley programs — one with a 16-year track record, one brand new — are at the starting gate to help professionals in the first decade of their working lives.

The annual Gearing Up conference is hosted by the Center for Women and Business (CWB) and takes place virtually on June 10. Designed for women and nonbinary individuals, it engages the twin engines of career development: networking and mentoring.

“We want people to have the tools and confidence they need to thrive in a long-term career,” says Becky McDougal, CWB’s assistant director of events.

Keynote speaker Tiffany Jan is the founder of TMI Consulting and an author of four books focused on diversity and inclusion. The day also includes learning sessions, self-reflection exercises and opportunities for group exploration. Goal-setting sessions help attendees carry lessons forward. Members of the CWB team will follow up with participants at 30, 60 and 90 days post-conference to check on progress.

“It’s action-oriented,” says McDougal. “Our goal is to help people advance and support their aspirations.”

MANAGING UP AND ACROSS

The second program aimed at young professionals, Strategies for Emerging Leaders, focuses on managing up and across an organization. The skill-building takes aim at one of the toughest moves a business professional can make.

“The jump from individual contributor to leader or manager is a key transition. It derails many talented, aspiring leaders,” says Lisa Dinsmore, director of Executive Education, which launches the virtual program in fall 2021.

Over five sessions, participants focus inward and outward. Topics include leveraging your own strengths and communication style to foster team work; strengthening the ability to ask for, receive and provide feedback; and learning to encourage dialogue and action around equity, diversity and inclusion. Participants leave with a five-year career plan based on their insights.

“It’s a real challenge to expand your mindset from a focus on individual work,” says Dinsmore. “We want to help people find and own their influence, power and voice in an organization.” Program details, including discounts for alumni, are available at bentley.edu/gearing-up and bentley.edu/emerging-leaders.

Pushing Forward on Racial Justice

BY KEVIN WONG

In the months since the national response to the Black Lives Matter movement, and campus-based activism inspired by Black at Bentley on social media, the university has made steady progress toward becoming a more actively anti-racist institution. Work is underway across campus to foster diversity, equity and inclusion.

Strategic goals developed last summer by the President’s Cabinet jump-started Bentley’s next steps on racial justice. From devising practices that make classrooms and the workplace more inclusive to analyzing diversity within “We’re grateful for the activism of our alumni and students. offices and among outside vendors, the initiatives reach

It demonstrates the passion we every division of the univerall have for creating a stronger, more united Bentley.” Katie Lampley ’96, Chief Diversity sity. Many changes are already in place and updates are posted regularly at bentley.edu/and Inclusion Officer cabinet-goals.

Also last summer, 114 faculty, staff, students and alumni stepped up to join the Racial Justice Task Force. Members met throughout the fall and winter, charged with uncovering systemic ways that racism, white privilege and unconscious bias have operated at Bentley. Many also led conversations within their own teams and areas of influence. The task force is developing a document and resources to share this spring with the Bentley community; it will include calls to action to guide the work ahead. The task force shares updates at bentley.edu/racialjustice.

Longtime staff member Katie Lampley ’96, who was appointed chief diversity and inclusion officer in August, is encouraged by the progress.

“I have seen so much positive change within our community and am looking forward to continuing the difficult work we need to do on the road ahead,” she says. “We cannot lose the momentum that has propelled us to this time in Bentley’s history.”

HONORING ACTIVISM

Black at Bentley movement earns leadership award

BY KRISTEN WALSH

In a year like no other, the Dr. Earl L. Avery MLK Leadership Award went for the first time to a cause, not an individual. Joining the annual MLK Jr. Day celebration in January, organizers of Black at Bentley — Lakeya Graves ’11, Edith Joachimpillai ’12 and Stephanie Hartford ’12 — accepted on behalf of the movement.

“Their contributions led to the creation of the Racial Justice Task Force, strategic goals developed by the President’s Cabinet, and the passion for change we are seeing from students, faculty, staff and alumni,” says Matt Banks, assistant director in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. “They did this work to not only hold Bentley accountable for these changes, but also to make Bentley a more equitable, anti-racist institution.”

Their advocacy stems in part from personal experiences. Texas-native Hartford began her education in advocacy at the predominately white School for the Talented and Gifted.

“During school picture day in first grade, I came home with pencil shavings and gum in my hair,” says the alumna, who traveled a half-hour to attend because neighborhood schools lacked funding. “The next day, my mom showed up at the school and we addressed it right away.”

A TALE OF TWO WORLDS

Like Hartford, Graves grew up in a Black neighborhood and attended predominantly white schools for her whole academic career. “I struggled to find my place in both the white world and the Black world. These experiences helped shape my desire to advocate for change.”

More recently, Hartford, Graves and Joachimpillai were moved by accounts of systemic racism that surfaced in the Bentley community and elsewhere following the murder of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, by police officers in Minneapolis.

The Black at Bentley movement launched via an Instagram account (@blackatbentley) to create a safe, public platform for sharing stories; but it didn’t — and couldn’t — end there.

“We knew that, if we were going to do this, it wouldn’t be just to complain about the racism at Bentley,” says Hartford, a senior manager of global web implementation at Brink’s Inc. “We wanted to work with our classmates to develop ways for the university to make changes.”

Graves, director of marketing for Connecticut-based King School, finds satisfaction in “making changes in the places where I have been, like my alma maters. I try to do whatever I can to make sure other people have a better and more inclusive experience than I had.” Lakeya Graves recently became a board member for the Falcons of the Last Decade alumni group; see story on page 29.

Lakeya Graves ’11

Stephanie Hartford ’12

WAYS TO BUILD RESILIENCE

AS TOLD TO MICHAEL BLANDING

Clarissa Sawyer joined Bentley in 2013 after a successful career in organizational development. Her focus was helping teams at Arthur D. Little, the Federal Aviation Administration, the MITRE Corporation and others learn to work more effectively. Here, the lecturer in Natural and Applied Sciences shares strategies for boosting your ability to recover from setbacks — whether minor or pandemic size.

GIVE YOURSELF A TIMEOUT

Lately we’re spending so many hours online and consuming social media, we aren’t spending enough time with our own minds and emotions. The world’s great wisdom traditions teach how important it is to become aware of one’s inner experience. So, stop and press the pause button. Stare out the window, take five slow breaths, stretch, sip green tea or simply be alone.

LOWER THE WALLS

Research professor Brené Brown has spent two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy. Her findings point to vulnerability as a strength, not a weakness. Acknowledging our own vulnerability makes us more accepting of ourselves — and others. Within teams, admitting to fears and insecurities allows people to trust in each other. This creates a support system to help us get through tough times.

LEARN FROM SUCCESS

People often assume the best route to a solution is to look at how something got broken. But that doesn’t necessarily tell you how to fix it. If you are struggling with an issue or problem, can you think of a time you were successful in a similar situation? The stories of our successes often contain seeds of ideas and solutions we can apply in other cases.

CULTIVATE CONNECTION

During the pandemic, experts urge us to “social distance” from each other. But even though we’re forced to be apart physically, people still need social connection. In my classes, structured breakout groups help create community and give students an opportunity to share their stresses and ways of coping. Even when students say they don’t feel like sharing, they often do.

REST — BUT NOT TOO MUCH

We underestimate how important sleep is for our health. Only in the past few years have researchers learned that, during sleep, cerebrospinal fluid is clearing our brain of toxins. At the same time, there’s an intimate connection between the wisdom of the body and how it connects to the brain — it’s literally “move it or lose it.” Both rest and motion are important for building resilience of the mind and body.