2021 GlobalMindED
The Future of Work is Diverse, Inclusive, Just and Equitable
GlobalMindED closes the equity gap by creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline through connections to role models, mentors, internships for low-income students, returning adults, First Gen to college and inclusive leaders who teach them, work with them and hire them.
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As we continue to celebrate Black History Month, meet Dr. Phyllis Keys from Morgan State University. Like many of our treasured Black faculty, Phyllis persisted despite many racist barriers that still exist within Higher Education. Eventually, she proudly took a faculty position at Morgan State University where she is one of less than 5,000 Black females nationally. She is a role model every day to force multiply those numbers and to graduate diverse talent to become as successful as she is. We salute you, Dr. Keys! Her story is below. Please share with your faculty, businesses and students with whom you work.
Join us for these Black History Month Equity Topics. Details and sign up below:
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2/23 STEM: Breaking Black Barriers in STEM: Creating a Capable Diverse Talent Pipeline
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2/24 Foundations/Funders: Building Communities of Inclusive Strength - ROI for Investment, Equity and Outcomes
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2/25 Tech: Black Education Leaders Normalize BIPOCs in Tech: Creating a Diverse Pipeline
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3/1 Health: Mobilizing Successful, Timely Vaccines in Communities of Color
The GlobalMindED YouTube channel has over 90 DEI webinars primarily led by leaders of color with panelists from a variety of backgrounds. Share with your colleagues in your company, your university or learning institution and your children, friends and family.
Recent Equity events:
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I was among the first generation from my grandparents’ line to go to college. I grew up in a very rural town in North Mississippi and attended a public school that had only recently integrated despite the ruling more than a decade and a half earlier. My dad was a pastor, and my mom was one of the first African American telephone operators in our county. Originally, I wanted to be a math teacher. One of my favorite teachers in high school was working on her doctoral degree and taught us far beyond what was expected for the rural county school where I graduated top of the class of about 30 students – with fewer than 10 percent who looked like me. I attribute what success I have to faith, family, and curiosity. I am grateful for the faith that was passed down in my family for generations, it sustained me through some valleys. I am grateful that my parents (perhaps unintentionally) shielded me from any feelings of poverty, although raising six children on the pay earned by a position with the phone company and a very rural ministry could not have been easy. And, I am particularly thankful that I was oblivious to racism in the classroom in elementary school because I was too curious not to be engaged. |
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I followed my older sister to the University of Mississippi where I received a degree in Engineering. During those years, there was a big push for minorities to go into the STEM fields. With high math outcomes and the possibility for scholarships, I chose Mechanical Engineering. I was the only African American in all of my engineering courses and, often, the only female. I remember one African American female professor who came to teach. I think she did not stay very long at all, and I never had her for a class. I applied for an internship once during my undergraduate program - I had no guidance, and I still remember the very colorful church dress I wore to that interview.
If I were speaking to other young women in STEM today, I would say take advantage of every opportunity that your university and STEM supporters send your way. Spend nearly as much time on your networks and your professionalism as you do on your studies. If what you are doing is not sparking a passion, do your own research to find out what alternatives there might be within STEM that is more in line with your interests.
After graduating, I went straight to a graduate program in Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. This time it was on a full ride fellowship from the National Science Foundation. I do remember that the first day I went by some offices to pick up my information packet, I was told that because I was from Mississippi they would get me a tutor – this was despite scoring in the 99th percentile on the math and logic portions of the graduate entrance exam. I was still the only African American female in my engineering classes, and this was compounded by the fact that I may have been the youngest in the program. I met quite a few African and Caribbean Americans through the programs hosted by the graduate dormitory which also introduced me to many other cultures on a weekly basis. I spent one summer on an internship at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas where I realized the only thing I enjoyed about the work I was doing was the computer programming. Returning to Illinois, I dropped out of the program and went to work as a bank teller. It was time for me to go back to Mississippi.
In Mississippi, I took a position as a sales auditor (much like the teller job) at a large department store and did several other part time jobs until I realized I wanted more. I took another graduate entrance exam and was given a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellowship to study for my MBA at Jackson State University, where I encountered my first Black professor. Right away, I loved economics. I remember searching for a topic in the University library for my Masters research project. I came across a paper about black economic progress which suggested it would be near impossible for Black households to catch up with White households unless a Black PhD was earned for every White in kindergarten. I sat on the library floor, read the whole article, and then made a copy because I was overwhelmed.
After graduation, I took a job in Human Resources at Entergy Corporation in their Jackson headquarters. One of my most memorable tasks dealt with a database on compensation for engineering jobs at nuclear power plants as input for union negotiations. However, about two years later, I went back to my professor and said I was ready to become an Economics PhD. That Econ professor told me to go study Finance. He said, “You will get more economics than you can stand and make more money when you finish.”
After four years at Florida State, I received a tenure track faculty position at the University of Delaware. When I was hired at Delaware, there was one tenured Black professor from Africa. The year before I left, there was something of an exodus from the business school by the few Blacks that were untenured. When I went on the market, I had several offers and decided to try an HBCU given the positive experiences in the classroom at both Jackson State as a teaching assistant and at Florida A&M University while studying for my PhD. I came to Morgan State University in 2006, and a high school friend sent me a boxed set of The Wire. When my students told me that the life was real, I admired their resilience and determination and decided I was all in. Since starting at Morgan, I have added an African American female (one of the first three to earn a PhD in Finance) to my group of mentors. I encourage students to find mentors that look like them and those that do not look like them.
Gender stereotypes may be less prevalent now than they were when I was younger, but so often I heard "girls are not good at math." Around 2008, I had a young student who came into class with an attitude indicating she did not want to be in this required finance course for all business majors. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I am not good at math so I know I am not going to do well in this class." I told her that I did not accept that statement, and let her know that the math she would be using in my class would be taught by me. I demonstrated some faith in her ability to succeed. I think it boosted her outlook and she did very well in the course with no extra help on my part.
I have friends who ask if I regret not staying in Engineering. I do not think so. I believe it was a great choice and has helped me do well in what I do today. An engineer is a problem solver, and the exercises I went through in both programs gave me the critical thinking skills to look for pertinent information, see the alternatives, and make informed decisions. All great skills for finance professionals. One of my greatest joys in this profession has been traveling to so many countries to teach, share my research at conferences, or just engage with people from various cultural backgrounds.
I learned of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the MBA program at Jackson State. The bottom three items in that pyramid are physiological needs, safety needs, and a sense of belonging and love. My family, my church, my community, and the government-provided free lunch tickets put a reasonably strong foundation at the base of my pyramid. I am hopeful that the next generation of thought and policy leaders will be seriously concerned with addressing the economic inequality that exists around the world as it is a likely contributor to health disparities and social deprivation. Likewise, those organizations that are implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives need a proper system to make a meaningful difference.
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Click below to watch the Inclusive Leader Award Ceremony featuring inspirational messages from the diverse Award Winners
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GlobalMindED and the SDG Impact Fund are delighted to announce GlobalMindED's Donor Advised Fund. 2020 is the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations and the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Women's Declaration and Action Platform. Many from around the world are thinking of 2020 as the gateway to our most vital decade for delivering equity, the Sustainable Development Goals, and a world where all can thrive. Our key time for these outcomes is 2020-2030.
GlobalMindED DAF and the SDG Impact Fund are a powerful combined force for good as the 2019 year comes to a close and we reflect on the gratitude and the commitments we make to the causes we care most about. The DAF offers immense power and flexibility for giving prior to the year's end as you plant seeds of generous intention for 2020 and the decade ahead.
When you contribute to GlobalMindED, you support First Gen students. We have served more than 400 students by connecting them to role models, mentors, internships and jobs. Your generous support will allow us to take our work 10x and reach these talented students at scale who lack the resources and support we provide. Your support also helps teachers who can't afford the conference fees, faculty at colleges which are under resourced and students who persist at those universities despite food insecurity and/or housing insecurity.
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Links to read about Inclusive Leaders, many of whom are African American and people of color:
Curated sessions from GlobalMindED 2020 YouTube channel:
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From the Center for Positive Organizations:
From the Economist:
From Forbes:
From Harvard Business Review:
From the World Academy of Art & Science and UN; Geneva Global Leadership in the 21st Century econference:
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Listen here for an interview with Pam Newkirk, GlobalMindED speaker and author of Diversity Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion- Dollar Business.
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Meet GlobalMindED Founder, Carol Carter as interviewed by Tim Moore on his podcast Success Made to Last: From Success to Significance
Listen to Part 1 of Carol's interview
Listen to Part 2 of Carol's interview
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Recent GlobalMindED Newsletter Profiles:
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Since 2006 when the flagship TGR Learning Lab opened its doors in Anaheim, CA, TGR Foundation has had a lot to celebrate, including its most recent milestone of one million students impacted by TGR EDU: Explore, alone.
Developed in partnership with Discovery Education, TGR EDU: Explore is a free digital resource library that offers interactive web experiences, lesson plans, training videos and tools for educators, students and families to explore new disciplines and gain skills for a modern and expanding workforce.
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As you start the New Year, are you looking for ways to re-engineer your classroom culture? Check out Designing the Future: How Engineering Builds Creative Critical Thinking in the Classroom. The associated website has lots of activities, projects, and resources you can implement immediately. Our fall workshops using the book as a roadmap for change have been highly successful. Start designing the future today - try using the customized Study Guide for a book study in your PLC. Or contact ProjectEngin or Solution Tree to learn how you can bring professional development based on Ann's book to your school, district, or conference.
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THE FLYOVER NATION
Energy's Role in a Troubled Heartland
By J.C. Whorton
A unique and timely discussion of the challenging issues facing the country’s troubled Heartland.
Since the beginning of westward expansion into the Heartland’s vast regions, natural resource development has played a historic role in shaping its communities. Today, domestic oil and gas development offers one of the strongest prospects for the Heartland’s present and future prosperity as well as the nation’s re-emergence as a dominant player in the global energy economy.
The U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, two circumstances that are universally disrupting international geopolitical order. The earth has a finite supply of natural resources and a rapidly growing and over consuming population.
As America positions itself for a very uncertain and constantly evolving global marketplace, will the Heartland become America’s “great connector” or “great divide”?
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J.C. Whorton is a senior level energy and financial professional with over forty years of essential experience. Having a ranching and Native American heritage, Mr. Whorton is a strong advocate for rural education and economic development initiatives.
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