The Action Plan for Racial Equity, announced in the fall of 2020, outlines a series of steps Harvard Business School will take to advance racial equity within the School and to educate leaders who advance racial equity in other organizations. As we approach the second anniversary of the tragedy that sparked this initiative, the murder of George Floyd, we’re taking a moment to share stories from the second half of the year from across the School that highlight how students, faculty, and staff are coming together to make difference in the fight for racial equity.
Here are selected activities:
- Last fall, as part of the HBS Action Plan for Advancing Racial Equity, 20 MBA students were selected as the inaugural recipients of the Recognizing Individuals Seeking Equity (RISE) Fellowship. The fellows were chosen for their demonstrated commitment to serving Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and other marginalized communities of color within the US prior to enrolling at HBS. In February we highlighted some of them to learn more about their work, motivations, and plans for the future.
- The African-American Student Union (AASU) hosted its 49th annual conference on February 18-19, 2022. "Rise Up: Bolstering the Momentum Around Black Excellence,” included the third annual Black Tech Masters series and the Black New Venture Competition. View the program
and read a Q+A with the conference co-chairs.
- To honor Black History Month in February, and to lead into Women’s History Month in March, we held a virtual event with Cathy Chukwulebe (MBA 2021), founder of the Little Black Library, and HBS alumnae Bonita C. Stewart (MBA 1983) and Jacqueline Adams (MBA 1978) discussing Black female leadership with Senior Lecturer Henry McGee. Stewart and Adams wrote A Blessing: Women of Color Teaming Up to Lead, Empower and Thrive based on their research data of four races and four generations of American so-called desk workers. View a video of “Women of Color Lead, Empower & Thrive.”
- In March, we featured the story of Haley Brown (MBA 2021), who worked closely with Professor Debora Spar to write "Linda Oubré at Whittier College" while she was a student. Brown compared the case writing process to creating a treasure hunt and appreciated the opportunity to write a case about a fellow woman of color, one that ensures that topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion are discussed in the MBA classroom.
- The Cash House dedication ceremony on April 11, 2022, celebrated and honored the building’s namesake, James I. Cash, the James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus. View a video of the ceremony. One of the first campus construction projects completed after the launch of the HBS Racial Equity Plan, the renovation reflects the Operations team’s efforts to partner with minority-owned businesses and bolster job site diversity.
- Also in April, we announced the inaugural cohort of the Institute for the Study of Business in Global Society (BiGS) Visiting Faculty Fellows. These scholarly researchers will join the School in the fall to work on specific projects related to issues of business and society, with a special focus on issues of race, diversity, inclusion, and inequality.
- We interviewed MBA Class of 2022’s Adriana Garcia Ceja, Ale Eguren, and Claudia Lopez about writing a children’s book addressing Latinx culture and identity. ¡Si, Tu Puedes! was inspired by Shekeyla Sandore Caldwell’s (MBA 2021) children’s book, A Name Like Mine.
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