Incorporating diversity into course content can come in many different forms, depending on your subject area and the format of your course. Here are some examples and tips you may wish to consider when adding diversity to your course content:

• Supplement your course content with examples representing people of diverse backgrounds. Assistant Professor of Operations, Information & Technology Jann Spiess has approached this by highlighting the contributions of women and underrepresented minorities to the field of statistics. He also leverages the fact that he teaches in the winter quarter, a time he can highlight Black History Month in February and International Women’s Day on March 8. Jann explains:

I take a few minutes to tell my students about the impressive life stories [of contributors to the field] and what it shows about both the challenges and the accomplishments that in this case, specifically, African American research efforts have faced in the 20th century.

• Include course readings, cases, and examples that consider diverse perspectives, such as materials written or researched by authors from diverse backgrounds or case studies with diverse protagonists. Acknowledge upfront when certain perspectives are systematically underrepresented or absent and invite students to consider why this is the case.
  • Read more: The Stereotypes in MBA Case Studies
  • Find case studies with diverse protagonists or focusing on DEI-related issues: Stanford’s case study listing or the Case Compendium compiled by the Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership at the Berkeley Haas School of Business. Reach out to us at the Teaching and Learning Hub for assistance.
• Evaluate the presentation of materials to avoid tokenizing marginalized experiences or reinforcing stereotypes. When choosing examples and texts for your course, consider questions such as: what gender or race is being represented in leadership roles, consumers of specific products, or those in disadvantaged situations such as poverty?
• Be transparent about problematic examples or stereotypes, if these appear in an assigned text or resource. Acknowledge such shortcomings to students and explain why the example is relevant to their learning. See Writing Content Notices for further guidance on alerting your students to potential problematic material in course content.
• Leverage diversity in the classroom by asking students to share their experiences related to your course topics. Associate Professor of Marketing Szu-chi Huang does so by inviting students to meetings outside of class and encourages students to share their insights on particular topics. Szu-chi explains:

It is very important to build one-on-one relationships with my students. Usually, those are the contexts where difficult topics come up… That helped me realize that there are many stories or experiences [that are important to] bring to the class and give them a voice, especially those underrepresented students.

• Be authentic and open, acknowledging you may not be an expert, and that you are willing to learn. Here is what Jann Spiess has said about this:

I struggled a bit with how I should even go about talking about these topics, especially as somebody who is white, who is a man, and whose native language isn’t English. I never quite know which terms to use and how to use them. In the beginning, I shied away from having any discussions, but I decided it is too important to not do it. I try to be authentic about it even if I don’t have the right words.

Watch Jann Spiess’s Faculty Showcase presentation about how he diversifies his statistics course content.