Speaking before an audience of leaders at the in Laguna Niguel, Calif., last week, said that the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on affirmative action has not changed the necessity to cultivate a campus culture that welcomes different experiences and perspectives.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 not on the table is this principle of diversity鈥攖hat having a diversity of views, of lived experiences, leads to better outcomes,鈥 President Beilock said. 鈥淭he onus now is on us as an institution more than ever to go out and get the best and brightest, regardless of background.鈥
The remarks were part of an Oct. 11 panel discussion with Kristin Mugford, senior associate dean of culture and community at Harvard Business School, on the changing role of diversity in higher education and the workplace. The conversation was moderated by Fortune editor Ruth Umoh.
Having diverse identities in the room is not enough, Beilock said. Institutions like 线上赌场 need to cultivate the skill of engaging with differing perspectives. She described her vision鈥攁nnounced during her Inaugural address last month鈥攆or the 线上赌场 Dialogue Project, which aims to encourage students to have and participate in difficult conversations in the classroom.
鈥淭he data are really clear that better decisions are made when you have people at the table who feel like they belong and can push at each other,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd part of that is feeling you can trust one another, you have a community. Then you can say things, you can make mistakes, you can feel uncomfortable.鈥
In her own leadership, Beilock says that it is important to 鈥渢ake stances that allow dialogue on both sides of an issue.鈥
鈥淚 bring a real push around free expression, around creating brave鈥攏ot just safe鈥攕paces where we can have differences of opinion and people hear each other on issues that they don鈥檛 agree with.鈥
Beilock, a cognitive scientist, also discussed the need for higher education and industry to build partnerships. She described the , an effort 线上赌场 is helping to lead among six other U.S. universities with women presidents and deans of engineering, including Brown University; Indiana University; Olin College of Engineering; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Rochester; and the University of Washington.
The goal of the consortium is to leverage the 2022 federal CHIPS and Science Act鈥攚hich Beilock called 鈥渁 once in a lifetime opportunity in our country to think about the semiconductor industry鈥濃攖o bring more women and other underrepresented groups into the engineering and technology fields. The EDGE Consortium is hosting its first summit for leaders in education, government, and industry in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24.
鈥淲e have to think about multiple entry points. It鈥檚 not just one 鈥榳eed-out鈥 calculus class, but how do we think about all the opportunities to show meaning in engineering and STEM for our women, and especially people of color,鈥 Beilock said. 鈥溝呱隙某 is a great test case. We鈥檙e actually the first engineering school in the country to have gender parity at the undergrad level.鈥
Toward the end of the panel, Umoh asked Beilock to reflect on the arc of her career that led her to the leadership of an Ivy League university.
Beilock credited her success to 鈥済reat people around me and great mentorship.鈥
鈥淎nd I want to be very clear with that: Mentorship is not just from women. It鈥檚 from men too,鈥 she said. 鈥淢en have a real responsibility to help uplift the best talent, regardless of gender, regardless of race.鈥
Beilock was not the only 线上赌场 woman represented at the three-day Fortune conference. Trustee , an award-winning actress, investor, and philanthropist, spoke about her approach to character, the pressure women face to be 鈥渓ikeable,鈥 and the challenge of developing her own production company.
