The Georgetown McDonough Approach to DEI

Longtime McDonough community members Patricia Grant and Michael O’Leary have participated in efforts to improve DEI at the school since before DEI became a widespread movement.

Grant, senior associate dean for the Undergraduate Program, has witnessed the data-backed success of programs such as Smart Start, a McDonough initiative designed to help underrepresented first- and second-year students find success (see page 12 for more on Smart Start’s success). O’Leary, teaching professor and senior associate dean for Custom Executive Education, has helped design programs that draw business leaders from around the world who want to make their workplaces more equitable, and edited the book 60 Years of Alumnae: Memories, Milestones, and Momentum. Now, Grant and O’Leary are helping to develop a systematic approach to DEI at Georgetown McDonough as co-chairs of the school’s Standing Committee on DEI. Below, the two offer perspective about those efforts.

Why is establishing a systematic DEI effort important?

Grant: At the root of it, we’re trying to create an environment where all members of our McDonough community feel like they have not only a stake, but a place and a sense of belonging that allows them to have a voice that’s recognized and valued. That’s not to say that it doesn’t exist currently, but there are times when different members of our community feel like they are outsiders looking in. That’s true for every organization, but for us, we decided that’s not okay. This is an opportunity for us to address any gaps in our organization.

What framework are you using?

Grant: We’re using a “7 Cs” framing that allows us to have a compass for the work that lies ahead. It’s an opportunity to recognize that curriculum and co-curriculum have a role to play in addition to our student, faculty, and staff composition. We’re looking at how we approach careers and how we communicate our values and our vision. We’re thinking about how all of those elements create community and culture. O’Leary: There are aspects of diversity that have to do with people’s identities that are not always visible. We also have objective measures and legal standards, like those of the AACSB (McDonough’s accrediting organization). We’re working on an approach that takes everything into account.

e 7Cs

of DEI

Culture

Community Composition

Communication

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

Curriculum

Careers Co-curriculum

Our approach includes a central coordinating function and resourcing, which we have through our standing DEI committee. From there, we’re taking a more organic, decentralized approach, recognizing that in academic aspects of the school, changing things like curriculum or culture within a department or area is most successful if it happens from the bottom up. (See page 9 for Baker Trust McDonough DEI Fellows.) Grant: In many ways, committee members, fellows, and students coming up with ideas around DEI in the curriculum and co-curriculum serve as diversity champions. That’s helped us to marshall resources that weren’t really connected before and hopefully will allow us to be even more systematic as we go forward.

What role do Georgetown’s values play in this?

Grant: We focus on a couple of our core values very keenly: cura personalis and women and men for others. But as we talk about our DEI efforts, we begin to talk about community in diversity and are also thinking a lot about academic excellence, who that touches, and whether or not it touches all students at present. Academic excellence is not just something on a list—it’s our responsibility as a university to create a learning environment that is equitable, accessible, and inclusive. There are areas to tighten up so all students can achieve the academic excellence they expect from a place like Georgetown. O’Leary: Being at a Jesuit-based institution, a moral and ethical case is a natural one to make, but I think our faculty also are interested in helping people think about the business case—the reality that companies will be more successful when they focus on DEI issues too. The companies that are hiring our students are very interested in these issues too. They’re interested, by and large, in hiring a diverse group of employees and creating inclusive organizational cultures. So there’s a connection between what we’re trying to do and what one key stakeholder group—employers of our students—is trying to do.