Preparing business students to navigate diversity with cultural competency and emotional intelligence in their careers
Soft skills are just as important as hard skills in today’s workforce. Incorporating diverse research, perspectives, and examples into business and economics courses helps students understand, respect, and work effectively with those of different abilities, backgrounds, and genders.
This discussion highlights how these approaches support the development of essential skills such as emotional intelligence, cultural competency, adaptability, collaborative skills, and ethical decision making—all of which are crucial for preparing students to work in an increasingly interconnected world.
This panel explores the intersection of career readiness, gender diversity, and business.
Misty Heggeness, associate professor of public affairs and administration with University of Kansas and associate research scientist at the Institute for Policy and Social Research, studies women in the American workforce, economics, the care economy, working mothers and how government policy influences women’s economic wellbeing. Heggeness has published research on “girly economics,” or how care work influences the economy, “Swiftynomics, Women in Today’s Economy” how Taylor Swift is both an economic engine and representative of women’s impact in the larger economy and is leading research on the role of young adults in the workforce. Learn more about Swiftynomics here.
Sarah F. Small is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Utah and the book review editor for Feminist Economics. Her research is specialized in feminist economics and intersects with questions of public policy, history of economic thought, methodology, and pedagogy. She earned her PhD in economics at Colorado State University and completed a postdoc at the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University. Her research has been published in journals such as Feminist Economics, Feminist Pedagogy, Journal of Economic Education, and World Development among others.
Dr. Michele Hampton brings over two decades of higher education experience to the virtual stage as a professor in the Business department at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. With a background that spans engineering, consulting, entrepreneurship, and instructional design. Michele is passionate about leveraging technology to create more engaging, efficient, and effective learning experiences.
She holds a PhD in Education with a specialization in Instructional Design for Online Learning from Capella University, an MBA in High Technology Operations from Northeastern University, and a bachelor’s in computer engineering from Case Western Reserve University. A longtime advocate for online and blended learning, her academic interests include adaptive learning, student immediacy, and social presence.
An award-winning educator, Dr. Hampton was named Teacher of the Year by the Ohio Association of Two-Year Colleges, a Faculty Innovator finalist by the American Association of Community Colleges, and a recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award at Tri-C. In this session, she’ll share how McGraw Hill Connect has helped her strategically enhance her course design and how it can do the same for yours.
Denise Breaux Soignet is an accomplished academic and educator specializing in organizational behavior, leadership, and workplace ethics. She serves as the Director of the Business Integrity Leadership Initiative and is a professor at the University of Arkansas. Her work focuses on fostering ethical leadership and decision-making in organizations, and she is widely recognized for her contributions to business education and research. Denise has also collaborated with McGraw Hill on publications that advance organizational behavior education, including resources designed to enhance student engagement, critical thinking, and ethical decision-making in the workplace.