Georgetown Launches Implicit Bias Training Program for MBA Students
Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business puts a premium on the ethical and social dimensions of business, both in terms of its curriculum and its expectations of MBAs. The Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) student club seeks actively to uphold McDonough’s attitude toward social responsibility. In 2017, GWIB announced the launch of its implicit bias training program.
The pilot program, which was developed as a collaboration with the MBA Program Office, seeks to increase awareness of implicit bias in the workplace and to integrate training against it as part of the MBA student experience. It helps participants looks at how implicit bias unconsciously affects actions and decisions related to hiring and promotion practices, client services, and organizational culture.
The goal of the new program is to offer more comprehensive training than those typically offered by corporate implicit bias programs.
GWIB researched curricula, trainers, and other details for more nine months before inviting Bryant Marks, a seasoned implicit bias trainer and the lead trainer at the National Training and Education Institute, to facilitate the pilot. Marks also has experience as an associate professor of psychology at Morehouse College and as the former senior advisor to the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
During its first semester the training program attracted 30 participants, including students, faculty, and administrators. Participants reported that the training was “relatable” and of the data Marks presented, “some were a revelation.”
According to Kerry Pace, associate dean of MBA programs, implicit bias training is absolutely vital for students. She elaborated in a press release that this type of training “better prepares students for successful careers as principled business leaders and continues to improve our amazing community. By spending time reflecting on and acknowledging our own biases, we are following our Jesuit heritage of women and men in service to others and to ourselves.”
To learn more about the new program as well as other social justice avenues to explore at Georgetown McDonough, read the original press release.
