I love this time of year. It is the time when I get to hear people’s stories; where they grew up, their family make up, where they went to college, and their life experiences, mostly professional, many personal. I enjoy learning about people. I am an Admissions Officer and a substantial number of MBA admissions offices around the country are also hearing directly from applicants about what makes them unique and well positioned to excel in a particular school’s MBA program. I also happen to be a Diversity Officer, so while I take as unbiased an approach to the process as possible (candidly we all have biases,) I admit I enjoy the unique perspective my diversity lens offers the admissions process.
When I was hired at Darden, I had the opportunity to meet with Dean Bruner. At the time, he was dealing with many situations that required some change in Darden’s strategic plan. One key area was (is) diversity. Dean Bruner believes that the cornerstone for our students’ success, the case method taught by top faculty, could not be successful without leveraging the diversity1 both in and outside of the classroom. He stressed that students would have a more satisfying two year experience if our community came closer to leveraging the diversity around them. He looked me in my eye and told me “Kellie, I believe you can help us do that.” Whoa! I thought to myself, “This is the type of leadership I can get behind.” It is the most rewarding and challenging work I have ever done and I can’t think of a better place to do this work. There is something about a community that embraces the tension of meeting the challenge that comes from bringing together people with different viewpoints and ideas who actively engage by sharing those perspectives, solicited or otherwise. I always share with prospective students that the main reason why the case method works so well at Darden is because of this very notion – people share their diverse perspectives shaped by their uniquely different experiences. Frankly, diversity works here. It doesn’t always feel good, or happen neatly, or come tied in a bow. It requires a willingness to engage, share, grapple, challenge, articulate and support the discourse and the resulting actions. I’ve often been frustrated and struggled with my colleagues’ and students’ views or actions but I’ve just as often, if not more so, learned from and been awed by them. We are getting better at leveraging our differences and we keep pushing ourselves to get even better at it.
The Office of Admissions and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Darden have put together a video series titled “I Am Diversity”. It was designed as both an internal and external catalyst for conversations beyond traditional discussions about diversity. We believe that when connections to diversity happen on a personal level with people we know or can identify with in some way then understanding happens. We hope to keep building on this series over time. For our launch, we have 14 students who volunteered to share their personal stories and thoughts on diversity at Darden. A trailer for the series is below. The link to the entire series follows: Diversity Video Series
We hope you enjoy it.
The Darden School has as a core part of its mission to foster a diverse community that broadens understanding and elevates performance. We believe diversity is not captured purely in numbers or visual manifestations. Diversity is a combination of backgrounds, ideas and perspectives all shaped by our own unique experiences. It is most elegantly captured in the individual stories that make up the deep, textured fabric of a community. We invite you to hear our stories through this video series.
Kellie Sauls
Associate Director of Admissions
Director, Diversity Initiatives and Programming
[1]Leveraging Difference is a topic introduced to Darden by Professor Martin Davidson who has done research and dedicated a website specifically addressing the topic.
