A new position created at UNC Greensboro’s Bryan School of Business and Economics will focus specifically on school climate as it pertains to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). Continued
LaParia Speight ‘21 (Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies), ‘22 MS fell in love with fashion in the seventh grade. “I was in a home-economics class, and I learned I could make things on my own,” she remembers. Speight started sewing pillows and purses and selling them to family members. At the time, she dreamed of a career in fashion because of the freedom she’d have to stretch her creativity. Today, as a recent graduate of UNC Greensboro’s … Continued
When Leo Frietas was 17 years old, he found out he didn’t have the necessary credentials as a United States citizen to attend college. A native of Canada, Frietas spent most of his life going back to his home country every couple of years to renew his visa – but the attacks on September 11, 2001 hindered progress on his citizenship status. … Continued
On-Campus MBA in U.S. – Greatest Resources for Minority Students
Princeton Review, 2022
of our faculty identify as female as of Fall 2021
of our faculty are from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as of Fall 2021
of our student body are from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as of Fall 2022
UNC Greensboro was founded in 1891 as the State Normal and Industrial School. The school, the first and only public university in North Carolina founded for the purpose of educating women, provided instruction in business, domestic science, and teaching. There are two critical points here. First, business was one of the foundational disciplines at UNCG. Second, UNCG was founded to promote Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). The takeaway is that EDI is in the Bryan School’s DNA.
While, for the longest time, the concern was equity for women, increasing gender diversity in the workplace, and ensuring that women were included, our understanding of those has expanded over 130-plus years to embrace equity, inclusion, and diversity in all their forms, and without regard to whether it is for students, faculty, or staff.
I believe it is this commitment to EDI that has helped the Bryan School become the most diverse business school in North Carolina in student enrollment. As important, the Bryan School also graduates more African American undergraduate business students and the combination of African American and LatinX undergraduate business students, than ANY business school in North Carolina; no other business school is close.
If you ask why we are so successful, I can offer several reasons.
We are not perfect. Far from it. Nonetheless, EDI is important to us in the Bryan School, and we will continue to strive to improve. We will do so not because it is politically correct or popular, but because we value it. Furthermore, research has demonstrated that diverse perspectives yield better decisions. As we strive to develop, and be, exceptional problem solvers, EDI is imperative for our future success.