End of Week Update from Dean Slaughter
October 23, 2020
Dear Students and Colleagues,
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2019 approximately 50.8% of the U.S. population was female, and 39.9% of the U.S. population self-identified as something other than White non-Hispanic – including 13.4% as Black.
And yet, in the private sector and public sector alike around the world, women and minorities are woefully underrepresented. As of January this year, in the S&P 500 companies women accounted for only 26.5% of senior executive roles, 21.2% of board seats, 11.0% of top earners, and just 5.8% of CEOs. Of the Fortune 500 companies, today only three have a Black CEO – all men – and in 2018, minorities held only 16.8% of their board seats. Currently only nine of the 50 U.S. governors are women, and only four of the 50 are ethnic minorities.
Central to driving organizational performance is diversity. Greater diversity contributes to greater innovation, productivity, and overall employee engagement and commitment. Even more important than this business case for diversity is its moral imperative. Our world continues to be plagued with gender discrimination, with systemic racism, and with other political and social structures that constrain far too many people from flourishing in their work and in their lives. Leaders have a responsibility to raise people up by helping take these structures down, to allow people to thrive as their authentic selves.
Earlier this week, the Deans’ Office, the Tuck Student Board, Black Students at Tuck, and the Tuck Association of Diverse Alumni shared this update with the Tuck community on our School’s progress in addressing some of these issues. I greatly appreciate the dedicated work of so many here, in particular Dia Draper, Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
This weekend and next weekend, Tuck again convenes two important events as part of our shared DEI efforts: our 16th annual Women in Business Conference, and our 26th annual Diversity Conference. This year’s WIB conference, the rich schedule for which is here, is organized around the theme, “Charting Uncharted Territories.” Its keynote speakers will be angel investor Elisabeth Hartley T’05 and Cassie Young T’11 of Primary Venture Partners. DivCo’s theme this year is “Empowering Every Voice,” and you can see its own rich schedule here – including keynote speakers author Ramsey Jay T’05 and Mariana Garavaglia T’08, Chief People Officer of Peloton.
In addition to being important events for our admissions colleagues as they identify and recruit the great Tuck class of 2023, both these conferences offer abundant learning opportunities for all of us. I encourage you to join as many of the events as you can. Many thanks to all the faculty, staff, and students involved – especially to the T’21 WIBC co-chairs Deepika Bhargo, Jane Maglaque, Saachi Shah, and Anna Vaughn – and to the T'21 DivCo co-chairs Greg Dessources, Kristen Hughes, Rukhaam Mahar, Kristin Ng, Elisabeth Sum, and Nichula Witharana.
Mark your calendars, enjoy the events – and keep safe!
Dartmouth has formed a high-level task force to plan for and manage possible disruptions related to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, monitor federal and state recommendations, implement guidance, and communicate with our community.