Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Department of Economics seeks to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of its educational mission.

Our Values:

Educating, expanding the frontiers of knowledge, and serving our communities inclusively and responsibly depends on our ability to create an environment that welcomes and supports groups that are currently underrepresented in our department and the field of economics.

We have a responsibility to:

  • Embrace and value diversity of experience, background, and opinion, particularly with respect to race, gender, socioeconomic status and other markers of identity underrepresented in economics.
  • Create an inclusive, welcoming, and supportive environment for all students, with an emphasis on students from underrepresented or underserved backgrounds.
  • Acknowledge where we need to improve and invest in the examination, dialogue, and change necessary to make progress toward achieving these goals.

We recognize that the economics discipline has much work to do to increase the representation and amplification of underrepresented voices. As educators and researchers within that discipline, we are committed to making the study and practice of economics welcoming to everyone.

Our Approach:

Following a half year of nearly monthly discussion, the department adopted a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan in May 2021. The plan assessed existing progress and prospects for development in eight areas. Under the plan, the department seeks to:

  1. Improve faculty diversity
  2. Improve curricular offerings
  3. Employ inclusive pedagogy
  4. Encourage DEI themes in seminars and speaker series
  5. Assess involvement and satisfaction of students, prospective students, and graduates through data  analysis, surveys, and focus groups.
  6. Revamp the website and include a DEI mission statement
  7. Mentor faculty and students
  8. Assess its effort

Highlights:

  • Increased conversations and resources on inclusive teaching in all department offerings.
  • Piloting of Lafayette College’s CITLS Inclusive Instructors Academy for Departments
  • Listening to focus groups of students in 2021-22 and using the findings to improve inclusion.
  • Creating and funding the Women in Economics club.
  • Developing a student survey to gauge student experience, expectations and view of departmental culture.
  • Improving the department website to improve accessibility to information and highlight the work being done to improve the lack of diversity in economics.

DEI Research:

  • “Acting white or acting black: Mixed-race adolescents’ identity and behavior” By: Christopher Ruebeck and Susan Averett
  • “Black-white differences in social and economic consequences of obesity” By: Susan Averett
  • “Colourism and African-American Wealth: Evidence from the Nineteenth-Century South” By: Christopher Ruebeck
  • “Discrimination in the payment of full-time wage premiums” By: Susan Averett
  • “Do racial and ethnic disparities in mental health treatment vary with underlying mental health?” By: Adam Biener
  • “Gender differences in the volatility of work hours and labor demand” By: Amy Guisinger
  • “Men are from Mars? Gender Differences in Business Cycle Dynamics and Policy Implications” By: Amy Guisinger
  • “Minimum wages and the health of Hispanic women” By: Susan Averett and Julie Smith
  • “Racial and gender differences in the returns to 2-year and 4-year degrees” By Susan Averett
  • “Women and the economy: family, work and pay” By: Susan Averett

Links and Resources: 

Feedback:

The department values feedback on its DEI initiatives. To provide feedback, please contact the Head of the Economics Department, Prof. David Stifel, or the Coordinator of the DEI Initiative, Prof. Abu Rizvi, or any faculty member with whom you are comfortable.

To report a bias or harassment incident, use the following link.

https://cm.maxient.com/reporting.php?LafayetteCollege