Diversity

See where we’ve been and where we’re going.

KIMWA

The Kelley Indianapolis MBA Women’s Association is a community of students, alumnae, faculty and staff supporting and promoting women in the Kelley MBA program to achieve their personal and professional goals. Through women-led networking events and workshop opportunities, students develop supportive connections among their peers, who often become mentors as well as lifelong friends and colleagues.

“There’s never been a question in my mind at any point during the MBA as to whether I fit in here at Kelley. Faculty and staff are huge supporters of KIMWA, and do anything they can to help us succeed. KIMWA provides women with an outlet to talk to other women who are all working and going to school to share learnings, opportunities, advice and friendship.”

–Briana Bauer, BS’11, MBA’20

Center for Leadership Development (CLD)

The Kelley School of Business helped developed the Center for Leadership Development in the 1970s to foster the advancement of minority youth in Central Indiana as future professional, business and community leaders. In 1975, Kelley School Dean Jack Wentworth helped create a feasibility study on the potential to improve the quality and quantity of minorities in business and industry, which ultimately led to the development of the CLD. Former Kelley Dean Schuyler F Otteson became the first chairman of the CLD Board of Directors, and the school continues to support CLD’s Business Orientation Program on the IUPUI campus.

 Photo Credit: Center for Leadership Development

Women in Business Club

The Women in Business Club (WIB) at the Kelley School is a professional development group providing support and educational opportunities to undergraduate business students. WIB hosts professional women as guest speakers to discuss their career experiences and also business recruiters to talk about interviewing and resume best practices.

“Women should not have to be held back from being their best selves simply because of gender discrimination. I love the opportunities WIB can provide women by giving them information, resources and stories from other women in leadership. It is great to be part of something that is bigger than just a club, and Women in Business is definitely a family.”

–Lauryn Groce, BS’21 | WIB President

PhD Project

The Kelley School is a long-time supporter of the PhD Project, an organization working to increase workplace diversity and minorities in leadership positions by increasing the diversity of business school faculty who encourage, mentor, support and enhance the preparation of tomorrow’s leaders. Kelley faculty remain involved in the PhD project and our school promotes all open PhD positions through the PhD Project.

IUPUI Partnerships

The Kelley School of Business is a campus leader in supporting collaborative efforts with the wider IUPUI campus to foster diversity and celebrate various cultures. This includes sponsorship of important dinners hosted by the Multicultural Center, such as dinners to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez and Harvey Milk. Our Evening MBA is also a proud annual sponsor of Soul, Salsa and Sushi, a signature event of the National Black MBA Association, Prospanica, and Indianapolis’ Asian American Alliance. Each year we celebrate the success of our graduating minority students through special events such as the Celebration of Black Graduates and Latin@ Graduation.

The Kelley School also supports the IUPUI Office of Community Engagement as they work with Indianapolis Public Schools to build a pipeline for students interested in the school of business. This includes an entrepreneurship camp for high schoolers. BOSS Summer Camp, hosted at George Washington High School, fosters an interest in business and provides high school students with life skills they can use in college or trade school.

Grant to Increase Women in Business

Two Kelley faculty members are working to advance women in the workplace. Through a year-long series of workshops funded by a grant, M. Kim Saxton and Charlotte Westerhaus-Renfrow are leading a program to understand barriers a cohort of women face, and then provide skills training to increase their advancement potential. The program provides skills training at no cost to a cohort of Linking Indy Women, a group of more than 2,000 professional women in central Indiana seeking to increase their advancement potential. Through this project, Saxton and Westerhaus-Renfrow hope to better understand the barriers women face when trying to advance their careers, and then use that knowledge to provide specific training with measurable results.

“Women’s advancement in the workplace is stuck. The needle isn’t moving. If women aren’t advancing in central Indiana, the wage gap won’t move either. Indianapolis needs to be a place where the best talent wants to come and stay – and that includes women. Frankly, it’s not just about promoting women because we believe they deserve it, it’s because they DO deserve it.”

–Charlotte Westerhaus Renfrow, clinical assistant professor of business law and management

Herman B Wells

Before becoming Indiana University’s progressive and longest serving president, Herman B Wells earned a degree from what is today the Kelley School of Business, which he also led as dean from 1935 to 1937. During his visionary tenure as IU president, he worked to desegregate the campus, community, and intercollegiate athletics prior to the civil rights era.

“Our victory can have little meaning or significance unless we proclaim our belief in the brotherhood of all men, men of all races, classes, and nations, and personally practice our belief by extending the cordial hand of fellowship to all men.”

–Herman B Wells, March 5, 1944

IUPUI and IU Bloomington: Excellence in Diversity

National Diversity Case Competition

Accounting Leadership Weekend

Business is better when there is diversity of thought and experience at the table. Good leaders know that, and good companies know that. Our hiring companies invest in programming at Kelley that promotes inclusivity and respect for diversity in all forms.

Ash Soni, Dean, The SungKyunKwan Professor, Professor of Operations & Decision Technologies

Diverse Voices

The ROI Podcast presented by the Kelley School of Business features a variety of business voices from our community. Professionals from all walks of life provide listeners with actionable insight to their respective industries and specialties.

Listen Now

At Kelley, I was able to accept myself as gay for the first time after having many discussions with a fellow classmate going through the same realization. Since then, I realized that being your true authentic self at school and in professional business settings is encouraged by most companies today.

Tanner Snider, BS'18, Business Analyst, McKinsey & Company