DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
Robinson classrooms are melting pots of ethnicities, ages, genders, countries of origin, socioeconomic statuses, and even personal circumstances. It wouldn’t be uncommon for a master’s program cohort to comprise a 23-year-old first-generation college student from Colombia, a 25-year-old accountant looking to transition into consulting, and a 55-year-old fulfilling her dream to go to grad school after raising three kids. Everyone looks at business problems through a unique lens. The conversations never grow dull.
Inclusive companies are 1.7 times more innovative and 120% more likely to hit financial goals. (Source)
Diverse companies enjoy 2.3 times higher cash flow per employee. (Source)
Highly inclusive companies see 1.4 times more revenue. (Source)
Diverse teams are 87% better at making decisions. (Source)
Racially & ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to perform better. (Source)
Racially diverse teams perform 35% better. (Source)
Companies with equal men and women earn 41% higher revenue. (Source)
Gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to notice higher financial returns. (Source)
67% of job candidates seek out diverse companies. (Source)
“I would find it boring to work with a bunch of carbon copies of myself. It’s fairly easy for someone like me to get a seat at the table. It’s incumbent upon people [at PwC] to hire people who might not have had the same advantages.”
Josh Sanders, B.B.A., accounting, 2013; Master of Professional Accountancy, 2014; manager, capital markets and accounting advisory services group, PwC
Robinson is like a family.
But we make an impact across the world.
Undergraduate Statistics
Graduate Statistics
We don’t strive for or hype diversity because it’s trendy. And we don’t admit students just to check off a box or meet a demographic quota. Enrollment is only the beginning of our partnership with students. Throughout their entire academic journey, we provide support, courses, and experiences that empower students to realize their full potential.
Take the Eric J. Joiner Achievement Academy, a three-year program that accelerates undergraduates’ careers with internships, mentoring, and scholarship opportunities. Or WomenLead, a university-wide initiative that emboldens females to harness their strengths and advocate for themselves. Or the Panthers Accelerated Career Experience, an undergraduate course in which students act as consultants to a company looking to solve a problem. Then there are our Panthers Immersion Programs: six-month professional development experiences culminating in four-day trips to New York City, Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley, uniquely positioning participants to strengthen their networks and compete for jobs.
WomenLead
Faculty members appointed to WomenLead endowed positions discuss research they have conducted on women-focused issues.
Charlotte Alexander, Connie D. and Ken McDaniel WomenLead Chair and director of the Legal Analytics Lab, discusses text mining letters of recommendation for gender bias.
Kris Byron, Meredith M. Leapley WomenLead Professor and professor of management, describes the impact of women directors on firms' engagement in socially responsible business practices.
Sarah Allen Gershon, Ray and John Uttenhove Women Lead Professor and associate professor of political science, describes findings on Black women’s electoral challenges and opportunities.
Women's History Month
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
When Angela Praseuth talks about the Atlanta spa shootings, she begins to visibly shake. On the same day and at the same time of the attacks, she and her sister were at a spa in another Atlanta suburb. What upsets her equally is how quickly the media moved on to the next story.
National Hispanic Heritage Month
Mariana Milan’s mother and father immigrated to the United States from Colombia and Mexico, respectively, and did everything they could to support their daughter’s academic journey. Her mother is a house cleaner and her father, a painting foreman. They provided as much financial support as possible. But since Milan’s parents didn’t attend college, she had to figure out processes like applications and financial aid by herself.
Arab American Heritage Month
African markets bring more than natural resources to the table, despite stereotypical images of oil, diamonds and gold. A lot of interesting work is going on there, in sectors including consumer goods, education, financial services and healthcare. Take Abdou Akkari, director of corporate finance at Tunisie Valeurs. He helped a Dubai-based private equity firm build and integrate North Africa’s largest private hospital platform. Akkari, a 2005 graduate of Robinson’s Master of International Business program, considers that his biggest professional accomplishment to date.
National Military Appreciation Month
As our elders age, we are at risk of losing our history. If we don’t ask loved ones about their past, those stories die with them—that knowledge is forever gone. Terri Amelio, a finance officer at the Robinson College of Business, has been diligent about recording her 92-year-old father Gerald Duke’s narrative. Though Duke has Alzheimer’s disease and possesses cloudy memories of his service in World War II, Amelio has preserved his story.
Pride Month
While Rejess Marshall was finishing her MBA at Robinson in spring 2019, the Supreme Court had not yet ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay and transgender employees. As part of her Legal and Ethical Environment of Human Resource Management course, Marshall wrote a paper on Supreme Court case R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The plaintiff, Aimee Stephens, was fired shortly after notifying her employer of plans to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Though the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in Stephens’ favor, Marshall conducted her research before the verdict had been reached. As part of the project, she reviewed previous EEOC cases in order to predict the outcome.
Black History Month
School of Hospitality Board Member Is on a Mission to Create More Black Hotel Owners
Less than two percent of hotel owners are Black, and less than one percent of them are Black women. Georgia State University alumna Davonne Reaves is part of that one percent. Reaves and fellow Georgia State alumna Jessica Myers co-founded Epiq Collective, a real estate investment fund, in 2019. The women have purchased more than $14 million in commercial real estate assets and recently procured Home2 Suites by Hilton El Reno, a hotel located just outside Oklahoma City. But there’s more to the Epiq Collective business model than driving real estate acquisitions. The other piece is helping more people of color become hotel owners and investors.
