Spears Business names inclusion officer

Monday, July 13, 2020

The Spears School of Business has selected Dr. Alexis Smith Washington to lead a new school initiative to support and prioritize the elevation of diversity and inclusion in educational programs, resources and opportunities for all business students, faculty and staff. Dr. Ken Eastman, dean of Spears Business, has named Washington, an associate professor of management, the school’s new senior inclusion officer.

Though the glaring need to address racial injustice and inequality in the United States has once again come to the country’s attention with this year’s nationwide protests, Eastman approached Washington in 2019 with the idea for an inclusion and diversity effort at Spears. After years of celebrating progress in diversity, Eastman said he became concerned that the school had become too comfortable.

“I think we need to do more,” said Eastman. “We have gotten complacent.”

Improvements in diversity among students, faculty and staff at Spears Business have been made over a number of years, but in terms of inclusiveness, Eastman said he felt the school had plateaued.

“One of our Tulsa Business Forum speakers in 2018, Bozoma St. John, explained to me very powerfully the difference between diversity and inclusion and that it’s not enough to say you emphasize diversity,” Eastman said. “We need to get people involved in the fabric of Spears. That’s what I think we’re missing.”

Washington, a nationally recognized teacher, researcher and speaker on issues of gender, diversity, inclusion and bias in the workplace and the classroom, joined the Spears faculty in 2012 after earning her Ph.D. from Tulane University. She said that since coming to Oklahoma State, she has witnessed the school’s forward momentum, but what’s needed now is the “centering” of inclusion in the school’s educational mission, activities and messaging.

“Through this position, Spears is taking ownership of the process of including all of the different people represented in the school and making the effort to create the kind of educational community where people can be their best selves,” Washington said. “I believe we can be having more meaningful conversations about inclusion.”

Washington said her role will be educational and one that encourages self-examination of the school’s processes. “What practices and patterns have we been executing, consciously or unconsciously, that have helped or not helped with our goal of inclusiveness?” she said. “Inclusion starts with self-awareness, both as individuals and as an organization.”

Washington is now working to develop a Spears website that will be a clearing house for information and internal and external resources and events for the school. Also in development is a series of roundtable discussions or conversations focusing on major issues confronting the nation like injustice, equal opportunity and the #MeToo movement as well as others from an educational perspective, such as political and academic issues faced by international students.     

A Spears Business advisory committee will be appointed to work with Washington as she develops programs educational resources. Her office will work to expand on the school’s annual Diversity Week programming, first launched last year.

Washington said the Spears Business approach to business education, called the Power of Personal, is a good starting place to help students understand the value and necessity of inclusion both in education and in the world of business.

“We’re teaching our students that inclusion is personal by going beyond stereotypes and biases and reaching out and touching people on an individual level,” she said. “That’s an important step in the process.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Jeff Joiner | Communications Coordinator | 405.744.2700 | jeff.joiner@okstate.edu