What’s the focus of your research? My research examines how machine learning methods can enrich managers’ and regulators’ understanding of consumer and firm behavior. I use methods from computer vision, natural language processing and machine learning to answer research problems in topics such as e-cigarette taxes, consumer data privacy and corporate culture.
How might your findings affect the everyday life of the average person? One of my working papers proposes a novel approach using machine learning that addresses the privacy and scalability concerns of managers who need to transfer firms’ sensitive customer data to third parties such as researchers. Another working paper proposes publicly available employee reviews as an information source for consumer harm crises — managers can assess culture at their firm and regulators can flag firms at risk of a crisis.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered in the course of your research? Customers, employees and other stakeholders often voice their views publicly online. The answers to questions that managers, investors and regulators seek could be hidden in plain sight, but inaccessible due to the scope and scale of the data. What is fascinating about machine learning is that these tools can be very useful to automatically extract signals from large-scale unstructured data, such as text and images.
What’s the focus of your research? My research focuses on financial reporting, with a specific focus on standard setting. Standard setting is the process through which a regulator issues new accounting rules — also referred to as accounting standards.
How might your findings affect people’s lives? The findings of my work could affect which information is presented to investors and how it is presented, which would assist in their decision-making process.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered in the course of your research? The most surprising thing I discovered is how complex the standard-setting process is. The standard setter has to balance the needs of various interested parties. For example, an accounting rule might provide more precise information to investors but come at the cost of divulging some of the firm’s proprietary information. Standard setting is a delicate balancing act that requires input from various parties, including academics.
What’s the focus of your research? My research focuses on how accounting information and measurement can change business decisions. My most recent research examines how alternative rules for loan loss measurement influence bank lending decisions.
How might your findings affect the everyday life of the average person? My findings show how accounting rules can affect the availability of credit in the economy — or whether people can get mortgages to buy new homes or loans to start a new business.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered in the course of your research? I found it fascinating to develop a toolkit that allows me to provide an evaluation of the effects of new accounting rules before they are even implemented. Many banks and politicians offered intense criticism when standard setters issued a new rule for loan loss measurement and asked for an ex-ante (or beforehand) evaluation of the economic effects. So far, however, we have only quantitatively examined the economic effects after rules have been implemented. With my research, I show a way to do this ex-ante, which can be a valuable tool for standard setting in the future.
Ali Kakhbod Assistant Professor of Finance
Ali Kakhbod
Assistant Professor of Finance
What’s the focus of your research? I am a financial economist with research interests in financial intermediation, liquidity, contracts, banking, financial crisis, big data and machine learning.
How might your findings affect the everyday life of the average person? My research looks at various informational settings and their financial and economic implications. For example: How does information disclosure in over-the-counter markets [in which participants trade directly, without an exchange or broker] affect market efficiency and liquidity? When does securitization lead to financial crisis? Why is there heterogeneity in the means of providing advice in corporate governance?
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered in the course of your research? A common concern about OTC markets is their opaqueness. Given the important role they played in the global financial crisis, many regulators have attempted to shed some light on these so-called dark markets. Perhaps the most notable reform aiming to increase market liquidity was the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act, implemented after the 2008 financial crisis. My research shows that more transparency, via the public disclosure of additional information about past trades, paradoxically makes the markets more opaque by reducing market price informativeness. However, this opacity is beneficial because it increases market liquidity and welfare. Therefore, there exists a trade-off between price informativeness, liquidity and welfare in the OTC markets.
Natalia Piqueira Assistant Clinical Professor of Finance
What’s the focus of your research? My areas of research are related to financial markets and empirical finance, and in particular the fields of short selling, behavioral biases and market microstructure.
How might your findings affect the everyday life of the average person? The trades of certain groups of informed investors reveal information about subsequent stock returns. Informed traders may actually exploit other investors’ behavioral biases.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered in the course of your research? We found evidence that even groups of investors considered sophisticated and informed may be susceptible to behavioral biases, such as anchoring biases associated with recent price peaks.
What’s the focus of your research? My research explores new ways of designing and managing healthcare delivery systems. I have collaborated with customer contact centers and hospitals to address issues relating to access.
How might your findings affect the everyday life of the average person? My main goal is to improve the access/cost trade-off in service systems; most recently, I’ve been focusing on healthcare systems. Anyone who doesn’t like to wait should benefit from the results.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered in the course of your research? Not surprising, maybe, but: To improve something, you need to measure it to compare it and get better results.
What’s the focus of your teaching? I aim to help raise awareness around strategic business communication and give students the opportunity to practice ways to improve oral, written and intercultural communication in the workplace.
How might the topics you teach affect the everyday life of the average person? In my course, we highlight various practical skills, including strategy and structure around better writing and presenting, confidence around public speaking, and implementing new communication skills. These skills may sound basic, but can really improve relationships and outcomes you have with your audience, whether they are colleagues, peers, family or friends.
What’s the most surprising thing a student might learn from one of your classes? From the very start of the MBA program, during Launch, students in my course are required to submit an oral and written assessment as a benchmark of their communication skills. By the end of the semester, many are surprised and really proud to see the progress they’ve made, not only in their academic work at Rice Business but also their own contributions at work — mainly through active participation, sharing feedback with peers, and of course practice.
COVID radically changed the business world. Which changes are likely to last?
COVID radically transformed the way we live our lives — and the way we do business. Which of these changes are likely to stick around?
The COVID-19 pandemic revolutionized the way we work, shop, socialize and study — along with nearly every other aspect of our lives. And while the crisis seems to be subsiding, things may never get back to normal, or at least not the normal we knew. In the business world, remote work and video conferencing transformed workplaces; entire industries pivoted to offer virtual services and online ordering; business travel and even handshakes became unheard of. So which changes are likely to fade away, and which will become a permanent feature of our new normal? Rice Business editor Jennifer Latson asked professors to weigh in on how the pandemic is reshaping the ways we’ll do business long into the future.
Interviews have been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Creativity could blossom, but managers need to keep the mindset going.
By Jing Zhou, Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Management
The pandemic was an externally imposed shock to the system that encouraged every employee to tap into their creative potential. They may have been just going to work as a routine and now are questioning why things are done in certain ways. That prompts them to question which process is really good for the company or their work and which may be out of date or inefficient. This mindset of challenging the status quo and coming up with new and better ways of doing things is the essence of creative idea generation at work. It could lead to process improvements, as well as new product or service developments. If any company can hold onto that mindset after the pandemic, they could really benefit.
How can managers keep it going? They really need to see themselves not just as a manager, managing their employees’ creativity, but first and foremost, start to think about themselves as a leader: How can they lead by example and engage in creativity themselves? Have they mastered the tools that facilitate creative idea generation? Second, they have to build a system that not only encourages and coaches employees on how to generate creative ideas, but also how to evaluate and implement them. Employees really need to know what happens to their ideas when they share them. Some people try really hard to come up with an idea, but they never hear anything back from management or receive feedback on how to come up with ideas that can truly add value. Or employees submit great ideas, yet managers really only want to hear ideas that would create low-level, incremental change, not truly disruptive change. Part of the solution to that is to train managers to recognize creative ideas and to provide constructive feedback. Maybe you’re not going to use the idea right now, but you need to let the employee know that it’s a valuable idea and you can hold onto it for some time in the future.
A lot of companies don’t have a system in place for encouraging creativity, and that held them back during the pandemic. Not surprisingly, their focus has just been to survive — they’ve been reacting to challenges, and next week there’s something new, so they just make decisions on the go. One company that did have a system that worked well is Memorial Hermann. They have a chief innovation officer, and they were already working to digitize healthcare before the pandemic hit. The infrastructure was already in place to make telemedicine possible, and that made it so much easier to help patients during the crisis. They had a great vision for innovation, a senior executive in charge of innovation and a core group of people in place to generate and implement creative ideas. They realized that a digital transformation was coming and they needed to be ready. In the pandemic, their innovation saved lives.
Downtown business districts will survive, but office space will look very different.
By Jefferson Duarte, Gerald D. Hines Associate Professor of Real Estate Finance
The pandemic is not going to be the death of the downtown business district. There are many CEOs that want their office workers back, so I don’t think downtowns will become ghost towns. There may be less demand for some of that office space for a while, but I think much of it will come back. But the design of office space is going to change. We believe people innovate better when they’re working together in person, so the office could become more of a hub where people enjoy going in to meet with their peers and exchange ideas. It becomes less of a place where you just go and do your work. The design of these top-tier office spaces is becoming a way to attract highly skilled employees, by making it a place where people have fun going.
We believe people innovate better when they’re working together in person, so the office could become more of a hub where people enjoy going in to meet with their peers and exchange ideas. It becomes less of a place where you just go and do your work.
These design changes can also translate to entire neighborhoods, like Houston’s new innovation district, where the Ion is opening up. There’s this idea that we want whole neighborhoods where people enjoy going to work. It’s not just about the office building but about the surrounding infrastructure. You can meet up with colleagues and maybe grab a coffee and go watch a lecture, recharge, exchange ideas, create something new, and then you might go back home to do the actual work. But this gets to the idea that innovation happens when people from different backgrounds meet, and that creates a different real estate need. Real estate design has a big role in creating these moments where people meet and talk and new ideas are created. That’s a trend that’s not going away, and not just in Houston. These kinds of innovation districts are popping up all over the country.
Lean operations will no longer be the gold standard.
Before the pandemic, everybody in the world was going lean. That means no waste, no extra inventory. The “just-in-time” inventory model was part of that. And that's no longer the case. We see a lot more companies that are willing to hold inventory. That’s costly, but it buffers you against unforeseen circumstances, like a pandemic — or a freeze in Texas. There’s always a tension between cutting costs and what happens when things go wrong.
It’s clear that supply chains are changing. They’re no longer chains; now companies want supply networks and not chains. If you’re relying on one company to supply you and something happens, you’re dead. Companies are looking for suppliers that are closer to them, geographically, which was unheard of before — you go where things are cheap. People made everything in Asia, and that has repercussions. Now things take six months to get to the U.S. from China, as opposed to one month, and there's nothing you can do about that. So now there’s a lot more padding in the supply chain, and cultivating alternative suppliers, and making them close geographically if possible, so they can drive instead of flying or shipping. Costs will go up, and prices will go up, no question.
Is it permanent? No one really knows. As countries get back to pre-pandemic situations, we’ll see how quickly they reverse these trends. But we still see a ton of people shopping online and expecting the products to arrive at their homes. And that has a huge effect on the companies and their supply chains. Stores don’t want to be caught without toilet paper again. On the other hand, they don’t want a warehouse full of toilet paper just waiting for a pandemic to hit.
I think in general, you see a lot more technology in the supply chain, and a lot quicker adoption of that technology, including blockchain. Now Walmart, or any of the big suppliers, can follow a mango from the orchard in Honduras to the store to your house. That’s here to stay. These processes were in place already, but the pandemic accelerated everything. It probably would have happened anyway, but in 10 years instead of two.
Telemedicine could take off — as soon as insurers get on board.
By Tolga Tezcan, Professor of Operations Management
One of the difficulties of telemedicine before the pandemic was that reimbursement from insurance companies was not the same as for in-person visits. Insurance companies were slow to update their reimbursement rates. The COVID pandemic meant they had to move on this issue.
Before COVID, my colleague and I did a study where we partnered with a geriatrician in Rochester, New York, who treats Parkinson’s patients. These patients are primarily elderly, with limited mobility as the disease progresses, so they have a hard time getting to appointments. We studied what would happen if they had the option of doing telemedicine instead: Would it increase demand? Would it change the doctor’s workload? Would it increase wait times? What we found was that it led to a huge reduction in a variety of costs for the patients: The time getting to and from appointments, the expense or complication of getting a ride to the doctor’s office, and the risk of contracting COVID — or something else — in the waiting room. If you look at it from the point of view of doctors, patients, and the overall social welfare, it’s a win-win-win.
Whenever any new technology comes into an industry, it always takes a while for the rules and regulations to catch up, and with telemedicine, it means insurers will have to figure out new policies. But I don’t see why they shouldn’t, because everybody wins here.
Malls could become social hubs, no purchase necessary.
A generation ago, people used to go to shopping malls to shop. Now that people are buying more online, brick and mortar stores are having trouble with the high cost of maintaining their stores. That started before the pandemic, but the pandemic accelerated it. Lots of retailers have filed for bankruptcy or closed stores in the past year or two, including Gymboree, Victoria’s Secret, Forever 21, Brookstone, and more. All the big names we know are having trouble, and obviously so are smaller retailers.
Because of these changes, malls are looking to attract consumers in a different way: Now it’s not as much about shopping; it’s more about experiential consumption. Malls are becoming more of a getaway and a digital detox. In Houston and other hot cities, where you can’t really go outside in the summer, this is where you can go and get out of your house and away from screens. A lot more malls are creating natural areas inside the actual mall, with trees and plantings, to make that an attraction for people. They’re creating wellness retreats in some malls — and those are expensive, but people are paying for them because they need to get away from the confined spaces of their homes.
For example, Gucci, instead of just selling luxury bags and shoes, is trying a new concept called Gucci Garden, and recently opened one in Italy. It’s a whole experience, with a boutique, art installations, a bookstore, a restaurant; you have to pay to get in, but it’s a whole experience you can’t just buy online. Examples like this tell us that brick and mortar stores aren’t just for selling products, but for providing experiences that help fulfill people’s basic needs for social contact and belonging.
The reputation a company earned during the pandemic will stick around, for better or worse.
The pandemic was kind of a stress test for companies; the priorities they expressed during the pandemic revealed their true identities. So if their priority was the wellbeing of their employees, it signaled that this is the issue they truly care about. For companies that either let go of their workforce or were not sensitive to their employees’ situations, it showed that maybe that was not their top priority to begin with. And the less empathetic a company was to its employees, the longer that memory would linger.
For companies that either let go of their workforce, or were not really sensitive to the employee demands, it showed that maybe that was not their top priority to begin with.
Such decisions will definitely affect employee retention. If the right opportunity comes along and they felt betrayed in some way during the pandemic, it wouldn’t be as difficult for them to jump ship and switch to another company now. In companies where that bond was stronger, and employees felt like they had a good relationship with the company, it’s not going to be as easy to just detach and leave.
This is not to say that companies that had to lay people off did the wrong thing. Many were financially strained. But it’s a matter of how you made and communicated those choices. Some companies had lower-paid workers laid off, but the highly paid employees stayed on. All of that is to say, even if you have to make tough choices, make sure they are aligned with your company’s true identity, because down the road the consequences of those choices are going to linger.
Congratulations to Roxanne Hambrick '21 and Zohair Memon '21 for being featured as Business Leaders of Tomorrow by Online MBA Report, recognizing the top online MBA students across the US.
Life has changed since COVID. And Houston has changed right along with it. Explore the top 6 reasons why you should choose the city of Houston for your MBA.
Sofia Cormack, Assistant Director of Recruiting
Updated from original post that was published on 10/07/2021.
Life evolves, and so does Houston. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Houston ranked No. 2 nationally for growing tech markets during the pandemic and No. 19 in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report. With 24 Fortune 500 headquarters, ranking us No. 3 in the U.S., and one of the largest concentrations of U.S. headquarter locations for companies around the world — Houston is booming. So choosing an MBA program in Houston, Texas is a smart decision, offering opportunities to expand your career and enrich your life.
Houston is the most diverse American city. A perfect place to gain new perspectives on business, culture and of course cuisine. (We’re always in the top 10 foodie destinations in the U.S.) It’s also affordable, compared to other big cities. The cost of living is lower in Texas (where most things are bigger). Think groceries, gas, rent and also no income tax
Looking at Rice Business with Houston as its backdrop, everything feels heightened, especially your opportunities to work and play. There is so much to do in your two years, along with studying for your MBA. Let the people you meet, the student clubs you join and the experiences you have build a foundation for learning and earning your degree, and launching the next phase of your life.
Here are my top 6 reasons why you should choose the city of Houston for your MBA:
Rice Business’ Inaugural AI in Healthcare Conference began as just an idea. Here’s how the school’s network of support helped MBA students launch and host a successful conference exploring the future of AI in medicine.
Learn from Rice Business how a part-time MBA fits a full-time career, along with tips for typical weekly workload ranges and practical planning strategies.
Now in its 26th year, the Women in Leadership Conference has long been one of the defining gatherings at Rice Business. This year, it welcomed more than 600 attendees, fifteen sponsoring companies and endless advice on leadership.
When people see diversity in a corporate team, they're more likely to believe the team behaves in a moral fashion, according to research co-conducted by Ajay Kalra, the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Marketing at Rice Business.
Rice Business announced that their Class of 2021 Full-Time MBA graduates have exceeded expectations, recording some of the highest employment numbers in the school’s history. “We reported our highest base salary ever,” said Philip Heavilin, executive director of the Career Development Office.
Weezie Mackey
Rice Business announced that their Class of 2021 Full-Time MBA graduates have exceeded expectations, recording some of the highest employment numbers in the school’s history.
“We reported our highest base salary ever,” said Philip Heavilin, executive director of the Career Development Office. “And 100% of our job seeking international students accepted a job offer within three months of graduation.”
While the school increased the full-time Class of 2022 from 120 to 180 students, Heavilin shared the news “that 100% of the class has secured internships for the third year in a row. The Rice MBA continues to deliver results to our students and graduates.”
Highlights include:
Highest offer rate
97% offers by 3 months post-graduation (90% in 2020)
92% acceptances by 3 months post-graduation (89% in 2020)
Highest recorded salary in school history
Average base salary of $131,384 ($123,786 in 2020)
Median base salary of $135,000 ($125,000 in 2020)
Highest acceptance rate for international students in school history
100% of seeking international students accepted within 3 months post-graduation (88% in 2020)
78% of accepted job offers from the Rice Business community (74% in 2020)
100% of the full-time Class of 2022 secured internships for the third year in a row (even though we increased the class to 180 students from 120)
Technology was the #1 industry for internships for the first time
Top employers include: Amazon, BCG, HP, McKinsey & Company, Accenture, Citigroup, Dell, EDP Renewables, EY, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.
Top 4 Industries:
Consulting 32.1% (24.5% in 2020)
Financial Services 21.8% (22.3% in 2020)
Petroleum/Energy 16.7% (12.8% in 2020)
Technology 14.1% (20.2% in 2020)
Top 4 Functions:
Consulting 34.6% (24.5% in 2020)
Finance/Accounting 33.3% (32.3% in 2020)
General Management 7.7% (11.8% in 2020)
Marketing/Sales and Operations/Logistics 6.4% each (16.1% and 3.2% respectively in 2020)
The numbers speak to the school’s growing impact on Houston and the local economy. The Rice Business Career Center will release its comprehensive Full-Time MBA Class of 2021 Employment Report and Class of 2022 Internships Report this fall.
Rice Business has partnered with Service to School (S2S), a national nonprofit that helps veterans and service members access higher education, adding a new admissions and outreach partner to the school’s growing ecosystem of support for military-affiliated students.
Research by Rice Business professor Tommy Pan Fang shows that two main factors determine the location of hyperscale data centers: access to energy infrastructure and access to low-cost real estate.
Patra Brannon-Isaac ’11 talks about the process of being admitted to Rice Business, the impact her MBA has had on her career trajectory, and her involvement in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the school.
Owl Have You Know
Patra Brannon-Isaac '11 talks about the process of being admitted to Rice Business, the impact her MBA has had on her career trajectory, and her involvement in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the school.
Emma and Jacob trace their unlikely path from Citibank trading desks to startup life and share how Tierra Climate is helping reshape the energy industry.
Applications are now open for Goizueta Business School’s second John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition. The competition seeks student leaders to investigate how companies can address racial injustice within their organizations. Rice Business will be hosting the semifinals in December 2021.
Americans faced historic challenges over the last two years. These experiences have forged a new urgency for creating work cultures that are diverse, equitable and inclusive. Rice Business is facing this challenge head-on.
Americans faced historic challenges over the last two years: the pandemic, work and school life conducted on screens, troubling social divisions. These tough experiences have forged a new urgency for creating DEI initiatives in business education.
Rice Business is facing this challenge head-on. Most visibly, it expanded the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), including new dean-level leadership from Constance Elise Porter, Senior Associate Dean of DEI and Associate Clinical Professor of Marketing. But it falls to the whole school community – not just the DEI office – to build what Porter calls “positive, productive collaboration among all members of a diverse Rice Business community: students, faculty, staff, alumni and other stakeholders” and to make sure that each of these stakeholders feels welcomed, valued and respected.
“When we talk about culture and belonging and respect for each other, it sounds simple, but it isn’t,” Dean Peter Rodriguez says. “Advancing on the DEI journey requires the involvement of our entire community, starting with opening our hearts and minds, making a commitment to institutional introspection and communicating constantly.”
A Practical As Well As An Ethical Matter
The first step is to convey exactly what Rice Business means by DEI. Diversity, Porter explains, means the variety of backgrounds, values and perspectives that spring from different cultures and circumstances. Equity means fair access to resources and opportunities. And inclusion means a sense of belonging. At Rice Business, pursuing these goals is a practical as well as an ethical matter. That’s because Rice Business equips its students – all students – for success in a modern and diverse professional world. For this post, we’ve asked the school’s leadership to outline some of the objectives and measures they believe will:
Foster a diverse school population
Convey why diversity is valuable to all school stakeholders
Infuse DEI skills and values throughout the MBA curriculum and school culture.
Stepping Up For DEI At Rice
After the May 2020 murder of George Floyd and a tide of other high-profile attacks against Black Americans, Rice Business formed a task force on racial equity and social justice. The charge: determine what the school should do in response and how to graduate business leaders who will promote racial equity and social justice in their careers.
The research bears out that the best business decisions are informed by a multitude of perspectives. Being proactive in addressing race and diversity issues is not only good for business. It's the right thing to do."
Lina Y. Bell
Executive Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Made up of faculty, staff, students and alumni, the task force called for 33 measures in five categories, including curriculum, school culture, student life, faculty and staff development. In response, Rice Business expanded the original DEI office founded six years ago by Lina Y. Bell, Executive Director for DEI, adding dean-level leadership by Porter and hiring a new employee.
“My view is this is not a moment. It’s a movement that’s not going to go away,” Porter says. While the DEI office’s expansion was prompted by the national reckoning after the Floyd murder, Porter stresses that the office’s mission is to “support all members of the Rice Business community: not just Black, Latinx and Indigenous Students – and not just students but faculty, staff and alumni.” That means diversity in its broadest sense, including LGBT+, historically underrepresented minorities, women, veterans and students with physical challenges.
“The research bears out that the best business decisions are informed by a multitude of perspectives,” Bell says. Being proactive in addressing race and diversity issues, she adds, “is not only good for business. It’s the right thing to do.”
Admissions – The Starting Gate
This work is especially urgent now, as the U.S. workforce quickly grows far more diverse. Rice Business has long nurtured diversity: last year it ranked #1 in the top 25 business schools for Full-Time MBA programs with the highest percentage of minority students.
One of the first steps to schoolwide DEI competence is further enriching Rice Business’ longtime care in admissions, says Janice Kennedy, Executive Director of Recruiting and Admissions. “Success goes well beyond representation,” she says. “We need to strategically drive diversity in each class cohort and set our students up for a successful experience, with first-rate guidance, connections and expectation-setting from the start.”
Critical to this project: working closely with respected national nonprofits focused on increasing the representation of marginalized groups in business schools and the corporate world. As just one example, joining the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management has influenced Rice Business dramatically, says George Andrews, Associate Dean of Degree Programs.
We need to show people we are serious. If we don't have that, it's window dressing."
Founded to increase the presence of underrepresented minority groups in business, the Consortium offers professional and academic resources to support strong student applications and successful academic experiences. It’s also a powerful career tool. In recent years, company recruiters have begun recruiting Consortium students even before they start their MBA programs.
“Joining Consortium in 2017 has been huge for Rice Business,” Andrews says, noting that the group rarely admits new business schools. Looking ahead, Andrews adds, raising the school’s profile within Consortium and similar external partnerships is a major goal. “I think we need to do an even better job attracting and supporting the best talent,” he says.
For Nalani Ortiz, Full-Time MBA ’21, the Consortium amplifies the benefits of Rice Business. “Being part of the Rice Consortium chapter means that I get the individualized attention that's unique to the Jones School and the network afforded to me through the Consortium,” she says.
Both Kennedy and Andrews both add that they want to rigorously measure Rice Business DEI outcomes. One way to do this schoolwide, Andrews says, would be to identify three to five DEI pillars, or objectives, whose success could be quantified, from admissions to the student experience and hiring. “We need to show people we are serious,” he says. “If we don’t have that, it’s window dressing.”
Partnerships For Career-Long Support
In addition to partnering with Consortium, Rice Business works closely with the Forte Foundation, which raises the representation of women in business schools and offers resources, including scholarship opportunities, throughout their professional and personal lives. Another Rice Business partner, Prospanica, has advocated for Hispanic business professionals for 30 years, granting $8 million in graduate scholarships, hosting professional development conferences and linking Hispanic business professionals to programs, experts and colleagues.
Rice Business also works closely with Reaching Out, the international association for LGBT+ MBA students and alumni. Its annual ROMBA conference convenes LGBT+ business school students and is the largest gathering of its kind in the world.
“Rice Business partnerships with these groups are critical,” says Jessica Krom, Associate Director of Recruiting and Admissions. “I like to say that these groups open the door for historically marginalized populations. It’s the responsibility of Rice Business – with its training and curriculum – to make sure the door is leading somewhere.”
Krom, a veteran DEI leader in academic settings, also notes that much of Rice Business’ investment with its partners occurs through quiet relationship building. “That’s the hard part of DEI,” she says. “Much of the important work that leads to sustainable change is behind the scenes. The work is being done in large part because of folks like Lina Bell who were committed to it before it was considered the standard. I am more excited now than I have been ever before because the narrative is loud, and the resources are in place to possibly do what we haven’t been able to do before: shift the standard and enact sustainable change that celebrates difference.”
A sampling of the school’s clubs and identity-focused student organizations includes the Asian Business Student Association, Black Business Student Association, Latin Business Student Association, Out & Allied, Rice Business Women's Organization, Men as Allies, Rice Business Indo-American Association and Veterans in Business Association.
Ultimately, of course, Rice Business is about advancing careers and providing training and networks that allow graduates to chart their own courses over their lifetimes. The school is committed to offering these skills to students regardless of background, says Phil Heavilin, Executive Director of the Career Development Office. To that end, the CDO offers a packed calendar of activities tailored for a diverse student body. Among these is the annual CDO Diversity Networking Event, which kicks off fall recruiting. The 2021 event was the largest yet, hosting 25 companies (virtually) including the following:
The CDO also partners with companies interested in showcasing their commitment to welcoming, inclusive environments. Recent events include Inclusion and Diversity at Fortive, L.E.K and Veterans and Deloitte's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Bring your Authentic Self to Work.The office also works with the DEI office toprovide financial support for students attending conferences and career expos at National Black MBA, Reaching Out MBA (LGBT+ community), MBA Veterans, and Prospanica (Latinx) – where Rice Business recently won a second Brillante award for educational excellence. In addition, the CDO team provides individual coaching and programming for students, including live, on-demand coaching support during the expo days.
Finally, Rice Business highly values its international students, Heavilin notes. Partnering with the Communication faculty, the CDO offers individual, virtual English Language coaching through B-Speak! as well as Interstride, an online career development and recruiting platform for international students.
It’s important for our students to see themselves reflected at the front of the classroom. And it’s important for our students to learn the frameworks for understanding DEI in the workplace – understanding the benefits and understanding the challenges."
Barbara Bennett Ostdiek
Senior Associate Dean of Degree Programs, Professor of Finance and Statistics
Faculty And Curriculum: The Heart Of Business School
In the long-term, one of the most consequential measures will be promoting diversity in business education through a more diverse faculty and richer curriculum, says Senior Associate Dean Barbara Bennett Ostdiek. Building a more diverse faculty has been prioritized by Rice Provost Reginald DesRoches – a signal of its importance to the university overall. At the business school, measures range from analyzing current faculty recruiting techniques to reviewing job descriptions, interview questions and other processes that may inadvertently exclude certain populations.
“It’s important for our students to see themselves reflected at the front of the classroom,” she says. “And it’s important for our students to learn the frameworks for understanding DEI in the workplace – understanding the benefits and understanding the challenges."
She notes that Rice Business is launching a working group to map a DEI curriculum that could lead to a specialization focusing on DEI in business from the firm’s perspective, the leadership’s perspective and the individual employee’s perspective.
To foster DEI outside the classroom, Bennett Ostdiek notes, the school is emphasizing initiatives that bring together students, faculty, alumni and potential employers. One of the most promising initiatives is a DEI lab course planned for spring 2022. This experiential course will allow students to apply DEI frameworks and skills learned in the classroom to challenges and opportunities in the workplace, working as DEI consultants to client companies and guided by expert DEI mentors.
For Victoria Hills, Full-Time MBA ‘22 and the president of the Black Business Student Association, these instructional changes are key. Adding a dean-level leader to the DEI office is a good first step, as is prioritizing hiring more diverse faculty, Hills says. “Having someone who looks like you, understands what your experiences are like and can speak to those issues is essential,” says Hills, an engineer who chose Rice Business to build on her expertise bringing sophisticated DEI measures to corporations. “Based on Connie’s track record, things will happen.”
I wholeheartedly believe Rice Business has a major opportunity to establish itself as a leader in DEI among top business schools around the country."
Patra Brannon-Isaac
Director of Education for the Kinder Foundation, Rice Business MBA '11
Transparency and equal opportunity also need to be part of the DEI plan at Rice Business, Hills adds. “It’s one of the biggest mysteries: what does it take to get into a top school? If you’re a minority, it’s hard to figure out how you fit – am I a number filling a seat?” For Black business students throughout the country, Hills and others say, it is common to be insulted by other students, challenged about why they were admitted or asked how their schooling is funded.
To address these issues proactively, Rice Business hosts the Diversity Preview Weekend, its flagship recruiting event. It includes the widely attended Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Conference, as well as alumni panels, workshops, sessions with the Career Development Office and Recruiting and Admissions teams and social events with current students, staff, faculty and alumni. Participants who apply for this year’s Full-Time MBA program are guaranteed an interview invitation.
The chance to be an incubator for social justice in the workplace puts Rice Business in a powerful position, says alumna and task force member Patra Brannon-Isaac. “I wholeheartedly believe Rice Business has a major opportunity to establish itself as a leader in DEI among top business schools around the country,” says Brannon-Isaac, who is director of education and community projects for the Kinder Foundation and a 2011 graduate of the Full-Time MBA program.
“Being located in one of the most diverse cities in the country positions Rice Business to be a pioneer in this space. Imagine encountering a Rice Business student or alum and recognizing their “on-brand” thought leadership around deeper concepts in not only diversity but also equity and inclusion? That would make me really proud as a Rice Business alum.”
Rice Business has been increasingly bold at stepping up to this challenge, Hills says. “In our DEI class with Professor Mikki Hebl, we talk about some very touchy topics,” she says. “But this is where you are creating your new CEOs and CFOs. Business schools are where change is made.”
We are proud to host our Diversity Preview Weekend — our flagship recruiting event to attract top talent from our diverse communities, including U.S. underrepresented minorities, women, and LGBTQ prospective students.
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion seeks to foster positive, productive collaboration among all members of a diverse Rice Business community—students, faculty, staff, alumni and other stakeholders.
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The pandemic was an externally imposed shock to the system that encouraged every employee to tap into their creative potential. They may have been just going to work as a routine and now are questioning why things are done in certain ways. That prompts them to question which process is really good for the company or their work and which may be out of date or inefficient. This mindset of challenging the status quo and coming up with new and better ways of doing things is the essence of creative idea generation at work. It could lead to process improvements, as well as new product or service developments. If any company can hold onto that mindset after the pandemic, they could really benefit.
One of the difficulties of telemedicine before the pandemic was that reimbursement from insurance companies was not the same as for in-person visits. Insurance companies were slow to update their reimbursement rates. The COVID pandemic meant they had to move on this issue.
