The Kellogg School of Management

Kellogg states that it is "committed to a community with diverse representation across a broad spectrum of lived experience, demographics and perspectives."

On November 17, 2022, the school announced that it would partner with the organization "Consortium," which is "the nation's largest diversity network linking top-tier students, MBA programs and providing merit-based scholarships." The announcement also included a description of several new diversity workshops at Kellogg. The school "created a series of DEI training and workshops for student groups covering topics including Power and Privilege, Cross-Cultural Communication, and Solidarity Spaces" and during the year, "faculty members facilitate and participate in Kellogg and Northwestern workshops designed to create a more inclusive classroom environment."

The school's 2021-2022 DEI Annual Report states the following regarding bias training at Kellogg: "Developing a global mindset requires a recognition of one’s own cultural biases and preferences. One way we support this insight is through the Intercultural Development Inventory, a tool for Kellogg students beginning their MBA journey to better understand their level of self-awareness within a multicultural environment."

The school's 2021-2022 DEI Annual Report states that as of June 2021, "[t]he policy’s objectives are to establish procedures to support equitable and inclusive recruitment processes, broaden existing sources of talent for recruitment across the University, mitigate the historic adverse impact of bias on underrepresented groups in the recruitment and selection process, and ensure leadership accountability in upholding Northwestern’s commitments to social justice."

The school's 2021-2022 DEI Annual Report describes a new initiative titled "Tough Talks," where students have "meaningful conversations around difficult, often controversial topics including privilege and implicit bias." The workshop "builds students’ soft-skill toolkit, helps them consider sources of unconscious bias and encourages them to think carefully about the other people in the conversation."

Kellogg hosted a webinar titled "Equality is Not the Same as Equity: How 21st Century Leaders Can Engage Antiracism in their Organization." Professor Nicholas Pearce and the CEO of a social impact consulting firm discussed how leaders can create meaningful change in business and society with regard to "systemic and institutional racism," and identified the key challenges to "institutional support and engagement in antiracism."

Kellogg's 2023-2024 MBA & MBAi Policies Manual links to ways in which its community can report bias incidents and states, "Northwestern University is committed to maintaining an open and supportive environment, free of acts of bias, hate, discrimination, and harassment that impede access to educational programs, activities or opportunities or diminish the dignity of any member of the University community."

Kellogg's "Beyond Diversity" program takes place June 24-28 of 2024 and is "designed to empower DEI [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion] leaders to take proven concepts and translate them into bold actions, creating meaningful change for yourself, your employees, and your organization." The program is taught by Professor Nicholas Pearce, "a globally-recognized expert on values-driven leadership, diversity and inclusion, and organizational transformation."

The Full-time MBA program has a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Pathway, which helps students "[understand] how to integrate empirical research and DEI best practices into [their] managerial and leadership activities." Courses within this pathway include "MORS 462-5 Beyond Diversity: The Fundamentals of Inclusive Leadership," "MORS 964-5 The Science and Strategy of Bias Reduction," and "SSIM 962 Venture Equity."

On July 28, 2023, the school updated its "Energy & Sustainability Pathway" courses which "build on the core MBA curriculum as a foundation and offer extensions that allow students to develop deep expertise in the economics and strategy of energy markets, corporate sustainability, as well as sustainable investing and entrepreneurship." (Courses listed on the pathway program are pre-approved as credits that will count towards student's MBA.) 

On December 7, 2022, the school outlined in detail how sustainability/climate change plays a major role within in its curriculum and states the following: "Kellogg has been at the forefront of teaching sustainable innovation, equipping our students with frameworks and toolkits to develop business strategies that address climate change. Our world-class faculty and curriculum serve as the backbone of our community and provide students with an understanding of the impacts that business practices have on the environment." In discussing corporate sustainability, the website reads as follows: "With more than 20 courses grounded in climate, environment and energy — including the newly introduced course Managing Sustainability Transformations that explores the paradigm shift in corporate sustainability as no longer just a matter of compliance or social responsibility but as becoming a material imperative for the future viability of the business — the curriculum is designed to support Kellogg Leaders in better decision-making to improve sustainability within business."

Kellog's "Social Impact Loan Assistance Awards" are provided to "selected awardees to help substantially and quickly (over two years) pay down a significant portion of the Kellogg student debt of graduating students who are planning to work in the social impact space."

The Kellogg Social Entrepreneurship Award allows "students to use their business knowledge to make a positive social impact." Every year, one student is awarded "$70,000 as seed funding and organization support to develop a social venture post-graduation."

The "Thomas K. Montag Senior Fellowship in Sustainable Finance" aims to "unite prestigious leaders in the field with Kellogg students and faculty to develop industry leaders in this area, advancing topics such as addressing climate change and promoting the circular economy as well as improving inclusive development practices."

The "Kellogg Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge" is a finance competition that brings together "future leaders who are seeking to help address today’s toughest sustainability issues through innovative financial solutions."

Kellogg's "Social Impact Days" takes place over a two-day period for students who are "interested in forging impact over the course of their careers come together, form teams, and design innovative approaches to real social and environmental challenges."

Kellogg offers a five-week course (Spring 2024) titled "Beyond Diversity: The Fundamentals of Inclusive Leadership," which "introduces students to the challenges and opportunities of diversity and provides evidence-based insights and practical strategies for how to accelerate full inclusion & belonging as a pathway to sustainability and competitive advantage" and "equips students with fundamental insights and tools for successfully building and leading organizations that are diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just."

Kellogg Insight online magazine published a list of its past articles on the topic of "Diversity in Teams." Articles included are: "How Are Black–White Biracial People Perceived in Terms of Race?," "What’s Keeping Corporate Boards from Becoming More Diverse?," and "Are You Giving All of Your Employees an Equal Chance to Succeed?"

On July 1, 2022, Kellogg Insight online magazine published an article titled "How to Build a More Diverse Environmental Movement," which discusses the affects of environmental problems on people of color. According to the article, "[a]lthough environmental issues affect everyone, they do not affect everyone equally: research shows that the most pernicious consequences of climate change will be suffered disproportionately by people of color and less wealthy people. Yet, despite the long history of people of color advocating for environmental causes, the mainstream environmental movement still suffers from a striking lack of diversity."

Kellogg offers a course titled "Managing Firms for Shareholders and Society: Thought Leadership Seminar," which is part of the schools Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Pathway track. The class explores "major business and societal issues such as corporate decisions to lay off employees, gender diversity in corporate leadership, and growing inequality." (From the Fall 2023 Course Catalog)

Kellogg's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Pathway is for full-time MBA students and is described as follows: "Understanding how to manage diversity, equity, and inclusion in organizations is not only a business advantage, but also a moral imperative. Now more than ever before, being an effective and successful leader requires gaining the tools to have difficult conversations about diversity, build a diverse workforce, and foster an equitable and inclusive experience for all employees from different backgrounds."

On May, 2021, Kellogg published a list of resources titled "DEI Resources to Advance Your Understanding & Make an Impact in Your Organization." Resources include “The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias,” "Bias Interruptors," and “My Open Letter to Corporate America: I Can’t Feel My Pain."

As part of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Pathway, Kellogg offers a course titled "The Science and Strategy of Bias Reduction" which "provides the tools to understand how bias can shape decision-making in organizations, as well as individual-level and organizational-level strategies to reduce its pernicious impact." Students learn "psychological principles that determine whether a bias training program will be effective" and learn "how to confront bias in interpersonal interactions."

As part of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Pathway, Kellogg offers a course (Spring 2024) titled "Leading with Empathy: Enhancing Your Emotional Intelligence to Lead in Diverse Settings," which is described as follows: "The goal of this course is to increase your level of emotional intelligence with an emphasis on empathy such that you can become more effective when interacting with and leading others in diverse settings. This class provides you with the opportunity to gain deeper insights of yourself and diverse others through a variety of experiential learning activities. We will start off with in-class exercises and discussions on social identity theory. Then we will discuss how understanding social identities (yours and others) will enhance your level of emotional intelligence...."

The school's "Inclusion and Belonging" webpage states that "[a]dvancing DEI is not only the right thing to do but it’s the smart thing to do" and that "[o]ur leaders will go on to grow diverse organizations and markets because they understand them and are uniquely positioned to identify inequity and drive equitable change."

Kellogg's Center for Nonprofit Management provides a video series titled "Equity Essentials," which "addresses key concepts and ideas about diversity, equity and inclusion for leaders on their journey towards dismantling systemic racism and building more equitable organizations."

According to an Ellin Lolis Consulting "Essay Tips and Example Essays" article from July 13, 2023, Kellogg’s admissions essay questions ask about candidates’ experience with diversity. The article provides a sample of Kellogg's admissions questions/requirements which states in part that the school "value[s] individuals who embrace the power of diversity in your teams and networks."

Kellogg has an Insightful Leader's "Ask Insight" podcast where listeners ask Kellogg faculty for answers to their business and leadership questions. One episode titled " What Should DEI Work Actually Look Like?" discussed how people can "[change] the status quo" and make an impact around DEI at the workplace.

Kellogg has a "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Reading List" where several DEI articles authored by community members were highlighted and recommended for reading. Articles include "This is What It Means to Be Black in America and Black in Corporate America" and "How to Make Inclusivity More Than Just an Office Buzzword."

In May 2023, the Kellogg School Center for Nonprofit Management announced that it had updated its Equity Program. The Center offers 16 programs covering a wide range of topics, including fundraising, marketing, leadership, strategy, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), finance and talent management.

On July 9, 2020, Kellogg posted an article titled "Five Ways to Challenge Anti-Black Racism Using Design," in which the co-presidents of Innovation and Design Association (IDEA) at Kellogg asserted that anti-Black racism is "an insidious problem in this country," "steeped within the systems that many of us take for granted," and "often unseen by the privileged majority."

Kellogg hosted its Gender Equity Week 2023 in March 2023. Events hosted by the Women's Business Association at Kellogg include a keynote lecture titled "How to Be a Gender Equality Superhero with Romy Newman," an International Women's Day celebration, and a dinner conversation titled "P@k Unpacks: Beyond the Binary." The dinner was co-hosted with Pride@Kellogg (P@k) and participants "[dove] deeper into how gender presentation is malleable and gained a better understanding of trans-phobic feminism."