DEI at Manhattanville
It all begins
with empathy THE CENTER FOR DESIGN THINKING TACKLES DEI
model; and Test—put the solution to work. Carson’s class titled Designing for Change explored Manhattanville’s history regarding racial justice and factors that hinder the growth of an inclusive campus community. Carson said that creating this class "required radical listening" by her and her colleagues, Clista Towne, MFA, assistant professor of dance and theatre, Courtney Kelly, PhD, associate professor of literacy education, and Carleigh Brower, MFA, director of the Andrew Bodenrader Center for Academic Writing. “As white women thinking about how to work with communities of color and students of color,” said Carson, “we recognized that we needed some help.”
"ONE OF THE MOST CONSTRUCTIVE AND IMPACTFUL CLASSES I'VE TAKEN IN MY EXPERIENCE AT THREE DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS ... KEEP EMPATHIZING."
When Manhattanville’s Center for Design Thinking (CDT) opened in 2019 as an on-campus hub for collaboration and problem solving, it did not carry a specific mandate to tackle issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Yet since its inception, the CDT has put design thinking to work, addressing student concerns regarding DEI at the College.
Continuing the collaborative DEI work, student designers are working with on-campus “clients” such as the Center for Student Accommodations and the Sister Mary T. Clark, RSCJ Center for Religion and Social Justice to tackle specific concerns. For example, one design thinking team is identifying ways to make campus spaces, including the Castle, more welcoming for Manhattanville’s BIPOC (Black, indigenous, and people of color) community, while another team is working with faculty and staff to address improving retention of BIPOC students.
- Brandon Guerrera '22
It is a natural fit, according to Alison Carson, PhD, associate provost for academic innovation and design thinking. “The systematic framework of design thinking always starts from the same entry point,” she said. “Empathy.” To approach a problem from the vantage point of those experiencing the problem, Carson noted, opens up greater opportunities to reveal hidden roadblocks during the problem-solving process, such as implicit bias. “True empathy requires humility, curiosity, diversity, and inclusion,” said Carson. “So, DEI is baked into the design-thinking process from the beginning.” To understand a problem, she explained, a team needs to “center the voices of those who are most impacted
an added credit for the class. Brown and Miller also participated in the “Designing for Change” competition last fall, in which four student teams presented ideas developed through the design-thinking model that addressed DEI issues on campus to a panel of judges from administration, faculty, and staff.
Students Leila Milla ’21 and Brandon Guerrera ’22 attending the Designing for Change class at the Center for Design Thinking.
by the issue.” Using design thinking, a “designer” begins with a wide lens of knowledge and clarity before moving through the next actions: Define—articulate the problem; Ideate—brainstorm, select, and develop a solution; Prototype—translate the idea into a concrete
The professors received valuable input from many students, including key collaborators Chris Brown ’22, a student-athlete who created the CMNTY initiative in 2020 (see Manhattanville Magazine, Summer 2020), and Leila Miller ’22, vice president of Manhattanville’s Black Student Union. For their work, both Brown and Miller were designated Peer Changemakers and earned
“The CDT is set up to be an internal incubator, supporting innovative and experimental programs,” Carson said. Addressing DEI issues on campus using design thinking keeps our eyes and ears open to new solutions, said Carson. "We're just getting started!"