Diversity prepares Simon students for global communication

Diversity prepares Simon students for global communication

July 10, 2023 | By Bret Ellington

At Simon, we have a long-standing history of creating an equitable, diverse, and inclusive learning environment. While our primary motivation is to increase opportunity and access for all students, a diverse student body has many benefits, including giving graduates a competitive edge in global communication. According to Janet Mejias, Simon’s director of equality and inclusion, these values have informed the School’s culture for decades— and for many reasons.

“Beyond weaving equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) into our principles, strategic plan, and our transparent accountability, we value it as part of our lived experience by creating spaces beyond the classroom for our global community to continuously learn from each other,” said Mejias. “We believe that the level of understanding, need, and interest will vary with each person, their country of origin and their lens. We are intentional about finding different ways to educate and strengthen our diverse community as we prepare it for global leadership and understanding the lens of those around it.”

How does diversity help students?

In a recent webinar hosted by The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, leaders in business and business education discussed the business case for EDI in education. A consensus was reached that a culture of inclusion contributes to a quality business education by broadening perspectives and enhancing critical thinking.

Business schools, the panel said, should reflect the world we are living in; because, new data shows a multi-cultural future, which will influence company’s long-term strategies. Additionally, diverse teams have a variety of backgrounds and perspectives to share so they can bring new thoughts and ideas to the table to address these changes in demographics.

But how diverse is Simon? Let’s look:

At Simon, diversity is in our DNA. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment, welcoming to every gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, and professional background and it shows.

In 2022, our full-time MBA Class of 2022 hailed from 19 different countries, while 46% of domestic students were from historically underrepresented groups, and 42% were women.

In fact, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Simon Business School MBA program the most diverse of the top-50 business schools in the US.

What is Simon doing to sustain this diverse educational environment?   

We are constantly holding ourselves accountable to this commitment by reporting our efforts and progress to our staff, students, alumni and other shareholders through our EDI Public Action Plan. Embracing diversity by increasing opportunity and access is one of the pillars of our strategic plane, Simon 2025, which is roadmap to maximizing Simon’s impact on the future of business.  

Our character is defined by our motto, “Meliora,” which is a relentless endeavor to be ever better, which for us includes battling injustice and a dedication to inclusiveness. Inclusion is infused in to the fabric our institution, and embracing diversity is one of Simon’s four guiding principles, which are a set of values defining who we are.

How long has Simon been committed to creating educational environments mirroring the global business world?

While the discussion of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) issues has become more common in recent years, Simon’s commitment to EDI goes back decades.  

In 1968, Simon was the fourth business school to join The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Simon has been a member school of The Consortium for more than 50 years, and continues to partner with them and like-minded institutions to develop educational content to advance equity on campus as well as the workplace.

Diversity in thought is achieved by creating an inclusive learning environment where people from all walks of life can share ideas. This cultivation of global awareness opens a world of potential—not only giving students unique new insights but also the ability to create more innovative solutions to business problems.

In our experience, embracing diversity is not only morally correct, but it also creates better business professionals in the process.

Bret Ellington is a senior copywriter at Simon Business School.

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