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The purpose of this site is to engage the MIT community in dialogue and action which promotes an increasingly inclusive community. This site will grow as faculty, students, staff and alums add resources, share stories and engage in dialogue. Discuss, Share, Act!

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Institute Diversity Summit 2013

Thank you to all who attended the Institute Diversity Summit 2013 for helping to make it such a stimulating and engaging event!  Videos of the day's panels and keynote speaker can now be viewed on MIT Tech TV here.

 

Meritocracy and Inclusion at MIT: Principles or Practices?
January 30, 2013, 8:30am-4pm
Co-sponsored by the Committee on Race and Diversity, the Council on Staff Diversity and Inclusion, and the Office of the President

What do you think of when you hear the word “meritocracy?” Come join us for this year’s Institute Diversity Summit 2013 on Wednesday, January 30, 2013, to learn and discuss this year’s theme, “Meritocracy and Inclusion at MIT: Principles or Practices.”

The Summit -- a collaboration among faculty, students, and staff -- will be an opportunity to hear perspectives from various members of the MIT community, as well as leaders beyond MIT. We hope you can come to one or all of the sessions and participate in the conversation. This year’s Summit will be an inspiring follow-up to last year’s theme of diversity and excellence and we look forward to seeing many students, faculty and staff in attendance. Come add your voice! 

Download the schedule as a 3-page pdf.

Schedule of events: January 30, 2013, 8:30am-4pm

Time

Location

Topic
8:00-8:30
Kresge Lobby
Breakfast and Networking
8:30-8:45
Kresge Auditorium
Introductions
Prof. Ed Bertschinger, Dept. of Physics; co-lead, 2013 Institute Diversity Summit
MIT President L. Rafael Reif
8:45-10:00
 
Panel Discussion: “Meritocracy and Inclusion at MIT: Principles or Practices?”
MIT President L. Rafael Reif
Prof. Emilio Castilla, Sloan School of Management
Denise Lewin Loyd, Sloan School Career Development Professor
Marianna Pierce, Director of Policy, Compliance, and Labor Relations
Stuart Schmill, Dean of Admissions
Prof. Emma Teng, History, Foreign Languages and Literatures (facilitator)
10:00-10:15
Kresge Auditorium
Student Film by the PEACE Programming Board
Topic: “Let’s Talk About It: Honest Conversations about Diversity”
 
10:15-10:30
  
 Break
10:30-11:30
Workshops
Student Center
Workshop A: “Let’s Talk About It: Honest Conversations about Diversity”
Presenters: P.E.A.C.E. Programming Board
 
What are your thoughts on diversity? Are you interested in hearing about students' perspectives on diversity at MIT? Come to this engaging discussion on diversity at MIT, and how it has affected students. The workshop will be facilitated by a new multicultural programming board made up of MIT students from across the entire Institute.
 
Workshop B: “Creating an Inclusive MIT: The Role of Employee” Resource Groups (ERGs)
Presenters: Judith Stein, Organization Development Consultant and HR ERG Coordinator; co-leads from the three pilot ERGs and from MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s New Employee Network
 
What is an Employee Resource Group and why do they matter for MIT? Come and learn the basic facts about ERGs and find out how MIT is supporting three pilot ERGs to promote an inclusive working environment. You will meet the co-leads from the African, Black, American, Caribbean ERG, the Asian Pacific American ERG, and the Hispanic/Latino ERG, well as members from Lincoln Lab’s New Employees Network. You’ll also have the chance to participate in an actual ERG discussion group.
 
Workshop C:  “Preventing and Responding to Harassment, Bullying, and Incivility”
Presenter: Allison Romantz, Office of the General Counsel
 
Come test your knowledge and learn about what makes certain conduct that could occur at an institute of higher education unlawful while other conduct, however uncivil, is not and how to respond to both. Please come prepared to engage and participate! 
 
Workshop D: “How to be an Active Bystander"                  
Presenter: Toni Robinson, M.S., J.D.
Ombudsperson and Special Assistant to the President
 
This interactive workshop will utilize group discussions, case scenarios and/or short exercises to add to participants’ conflict management tool kits. Topics to be discussed include determining whether and when to intervene in others’ disputes, coaching others on constructive ways to communicate, and exploring options and resources for assisting others in addressing their difficult situations.
 
Workshop E: “The Bamboo Ceiling:  Information about and Strategies for Managing Cultural Barriers in the Workplace”
Presenters: Chris Yu, Ph.D., Sensor Systems Division Leader, Draper Lab, and Ann Joyce, Principal Director of HR, Draper Lab
 
What is the Bamboo Ceiling? How do Asian and other cultures inadvertently create these ceilings? What strategies can you use to help overcome these (and other) ceilings?
 
The workshop will consist of a 20-minute presentation on this theme followed by 20 minutes of group discussion on the audience’s personal experiences and perceptions on various “ceilings.” The final segment of the workshop will be a summary of these group  experiences and  formulation of a follow-up action plan.
 
11:45-12:30
  
 Lunch
12:30-1:20
Kresge Auditorium
Keynote Address: “The Impostor Syndrome” - Valerie Young, EdD.
 
Valerie Young’s academic research focused on understanding and eliminating internal barriers to women’s achievement. Young is an internationally known expert on the Impostor Syndrome and author of the best-selling book, The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It
 
She has addressed over 60,000 men and women, and her client list includes such diverse organizations as Intel, Chrysler, Boeing, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Ernst & Young, McDonalds (Europe), American Women in Radio and Television, Society of Women Engineers, Harvard University, MIT, and Stanford.
 
1:30-2:30
Kresge Auditorium
Panel Discussion: “Disability as an Aspect of Diversity: Navigating Higher Education with a Disability” -
Moderator: Kathleen Monagle, Associate Dean, Disability Services; Prashanth Venkataram  Course 8 Year 3; David Hayden Course 6 Graduate student; Ian Smith Course 6  BS '10; Joshua Frisch Course 18 Year 2; and Benjamin Jones Course 21L CMS Year 4.
 
Disability is a critical component within the dialogue of diversity and inclusion.  Students with disabilities are entering higher education in increasing numbers, yet still remain an underrepresented group on college campuses. This panel features MIT students who will share their stories of navigating higher education with a disability, including insights into creating inclusive campus environments.
2:30-2:45
 
Check In
 
2:45-3:45
Concurrent Sessions
Student Center
Workshop F: “The Role of Religious Diversity in Building Community”
Presenter: Ora Gladstone, Coordinator of the Addir Interfaith Dialogue Fellows Program
 
In addition to a group discussion on the topic, the workshop will provide an opportunity to share who we each are as a person of faith, spirituality or as a “non-believer” and how that does or does not identify how we see ourselves in our communities and the world.
 
Workshop G: “Why Gender Matters at MIT: Gender Equity, Implicit Bias, and What You Need to Know”
Presenter: Sally Haslanger, Professor, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
 
Although we have made great progress in countering explicit discrimination with regard to gender equity, problems remain. Why is it that we still see gender as major divide in the advancements and leadership of the STEM fields? This workshop will explore a variety of sources of inequity and what we can do to make it more equitable.  All are welcome.
 
Workshop H: “Out With the Old and In With the New: How to Replace Your Impostor Pattern with a New Healthier Mindset”
Presenter: Valerie Young, EdD.
 
All “impostors” share certain traits. These include things like experiencing shame at failure, over-estimating others knowledge and abilities and under-estimating our own, and perpetually waiting to be “found out.” At the same time our “inner impostor” has his or her unique experience. This is your chance to unravel your personal impostor pattern and thus gain valuable insight into those automatic and largely unconscious thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that kick in response to external impostor triggers. Once exposed to the light of day you’ll have the information you need to create a new healthier way of responding so you can finally begin to see yourself as the bright, capable person you really are.
 
Workshop I: (repeat of Workshop D from morning session)
“How to be an Active Bystander”             
Presenter: Toni Robinson, M.S., J.D.
Ombudsperson and Special Assistant to the President
 
Workshop J: (repeat of Workshop E from morning session)
“The Bamboo Ceiling:  Information about and Strategies for Managing Cultural Barriers in the Workplace”
Presenters: Chris Yu, Ph.D., Sensor Systems Division Leader, Draper Lab, and Ann Joyce, Principal Director of HR, Draper Lab
3:45-4:00
 
 Break
4:00-6:00
Student Center
 
Post Summit: Networking and “Dialoguing”
 
January 31:
1-2pm
Student Center
Post Summit: Networking, “Dialoguing,” and Debriefing