Monday, March 10, 2014

Bay Path College's New Nonprofit Graduate Course on Diversity is Well-Received by Students

In a previous blog, I spoke about the changes we made to our nonprofit marketing class.  In this blog, I want to spotlight the changes we’ve made to NMP 610: Diversity in Nonprofits.  We wanted the course to go beyond a simple acknowledgement that we live in a multi-cultural world and to help students explore the implications of this reality through the lens of self-awareness, effective organizational leadership, and the societal concept of social justice. 

To that end, Gina Joseph Collins, a former Dean at Bay Path College and diversity expert, has done a fabulous job totally redesigning the course to achieve the following learning outcomes:

·       Define concepts and frameworks related to diversity and inclusion;
·       Examine key challenges and opportunities for nonprofits in the 21st century;
·       Assess leadership styles and communication skills;
·       Make the business case for diversity and inclusion;
·       Evaluate and build on diversity initiatives within organizations;
·       Design measurements and results oriented strategies for organizational change;
·       Explore the meaning of social justice; and
·       Reflect on the value of diversity for nonprofit organizations.

Professor Collins finished teaching the new course last week for the first time and here is a student’s reaction to the course:

"My first lesson learned is that the work to be aware of the value of diversity and inclusion is never ending.  We must regularly self evaluate to determine how well we think we're doing on the issues and how well we actually are and how we will measure our success and areas for improvement.  

My second lesson learned is productivity and job satisfaction go up when diversity and inclusion have organizational top to bottom importance.  Failure to do the work, to walk the walk and talk the talk, can cause both issues to be relegated to annual seminars that receive emphasis one day a year and then forgotten.  Organizations can't afford to do that. 

I thought the course was informative and taught me that as much as I thought I knew about diversity coming into the class, there is still a lot left to understand about myself and the environment around me."   


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