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 21^st 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."   

What It Takes to be a Successful Nonprofit Leader in Changing Times?

Successfully managing and leading a nonprofit is very challenging—particularly in times of change like we are now in.  This is why Bay Path’s Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy program trains students to be critical thinkers and creative problem solvers so they can develop novel solutions to the uncharted challenges their organizations are likely to face in the future.   

These program goals came to mind this morning while I was out walking my dog, Charlie, and listening to a Podcast (Episode 128) about how a consulting company in Copenhagen uses the human sciences to help solve the hardest business problems of their clients.   At minute 34 a particularly interesting discussion begins about the different skills a successful CEO must exhibit in stable vs. dynamic times.   Essentially, the discussants say that in stable times a successful CEO can simply oversee the regular performance of routine operations while in changing times s/he must also ask and answer the “why” questions in order to correctly understand--and proactively meet-the change that is occurring inside and outside their organization.   Thoughts?  

(Don’t be put off by the “cool/hip” language of the interviewers.  The guest speakers are thoughtful and interesting.)