Diversity

The importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout higher education and science is undeniable, and I strongly believe in the positive value of bringing diverse minds together. My experiences of living in Toronto, where 51% of the population is international, and my relationships with family members from underrepresented groups have instilled my awareness and appreciation of the differences in our experiences and perspectives. Each person’s unique set of identities—be they gender, race, sexuality, religion or otherwise—are strengths that adds value to the group, inside and outside of academia. These beliefs inform my teaching practices and role as an academic. For example, I encourage dialectical perspectives on knowledge that bring cultural variation into consideration. This includes fundamental assumptions about human nature, which may in fact be culturally bound (e.g., the independent model of self, individualist values), and that people as a whole cannot be understood through the lens of any single culture. I also facilitate a growth mindset among my students—a practice known to increase motivation and, among many other benefits, reduce racial achievement gaps by nearly half (Canning et al. 2019). To help foster a growth mindset in my own teaching, I explicitly communicate the benefits of persistence in the face of challenge and promote a positive interpretation of effort (i.e., finding something effortful is indicative of learning, and not a sign of poor ability).

I am mindful of the acculturative and linguistic demands international students can face by taking university courses in their second language. For example, courses like Marketing Research that teach a highly-contextualized vocabulary, are often opaque enough to English-monolinguals without the added challenges that a second language can bring. As an educator, I combat these challenges by using accessible language in my lectures and by making myself available in office hours for as long as students are willing to learn. My teaching evaluations and feedback from students reflect this effort. For example, one student wrote: “I really enjoyed your course…Your review session and office hour help me a lot. Our final project was most interest[ing] I have ever seen…If you teach any other course please email me [and] I will definitely register. By the way good luck with the faculty position.” Lastly, I foster diversity and inclusion by mentoring people who belong to under-represented groups in marketing. This translates into concrete, practical, actions such as reviewing award applications, teaching lab procedures, and providing career advice. Above all, my objective is to foster more diverse representation in science and academia.