“Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn’t” Fireside Chat with Frank Dobbin, Ph. D. and Alexandra Kalev, Ph. D.

Register for the hybrid event: https://bit.ly/fireside-diversity (a webinar link will be sent via email to virtual attendees)

Please join us for a conversation with Frank Dobbin, the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Harvard University, and Alexandra Kalev, Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University. 

Dobbin and Kalev are the co-authors of Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn’t. Their research is informed by more than thirty years of data from 800 companies and in-depth interviews with managers. They will share why there’s a need to challenge dominant approaches to increase diversity and why focusing on changing systems rather than individuals may lead to greater success.

This event will be moderated by Tracie Jones-Barrett, Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences & Molly McInerney, Assistant Director for Training, Institute Community and Equity Office.

A Q&A will follow the conversation and will be open to virtual and in-person attendees. 

About the Speakers:

Frank Dobbin is Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, and chair of the Department of Sociology, at Harvard.  His Inventing Equal Opportunity (Princeton U. Press 2009) shows how HR managers and activists defined what it meant to discriminate in the eyes of the law, elaborating the definition over time. His Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn’t with Alexandra Kalev (Harvard U. Press [Belknap] 2022) looks at the effectiveness of dozens of different diversity programs, in over 800 companies across more than 30 years, to answer the questions: Which programs help, which hurt, and how can harmful programs be improved? His research has been covered by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Boston Globe, Le Monde, CNN, National Public Radio, Fast Company, and Slate.

Alexandra Kalev is associate professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University. She studies organizations, work, inequality and diversity across a range of national and economic contexts. With Frank Dobbin, she has been developing an evidence-based approach to managing diversity in corporations and universities. Their book, Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn’t, was published in 2022 by Harvard University Press (Belknap). They are now studying gender and racial inequalities in academic hiring and retirements during periods of crisis. In another project, she examines effective innovations for reducing age inequality and managers’ ambivalence about older workers. A third line of research focuses on the integration of Israeli Palestinians in Jewish labor markets in Israel. Her research has been funded by major foundations in the U.S. and Israel, published in top-ranked journals and covered widely in the media.

Photographs and/or videos may be taken at this event. 

By entering and attending this event, you acknowledge and agree that your likeness and/or voice may be included in photos and videos of the event and used by MIT in connection with communications about the Institute Community and Equity Office or in other MIT communications. If you do not agree to this usage, please notify the event organizer or do not enter the event.

We are committed to making this event fully accessible to everyone who wants to attend. Please let us know if there is anything you need to participate fully in this event by e-mailing Divya Mathew at divya96@mit.edu 

Sponsored by the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; School of Engineering; Schwarzman College of Computing; Institute Community and Equity Office

Details

• Date: Tuesday, May 2
• Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
• Category: Fireside Chat
• Location: Hybrid event: Hayden Library Nexus, 14S-130 and webinar