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"Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace" Certificate Offered as a Self-paced Program

By Keith Morelli

TAMPA (September 28, 2021) -- A self-paced version of the relevant and impactful “Diversity,  Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace” certificate program is being offered through the USF Muma College of Business. It is the second time in a year the program is being made available. The first was presented earlier this year and drew more than 135,000 registrants. The demand to revisit the modules grew and now the Muma College of Business is again making the modules available for executives, managers, corporate human resources and anyone else who wants to forge a path to making a workforce more diverse.

In the spring of 2021, the Muma College of Business assembled a group of world-class faculty and guest speakers to develop and deliver a learning experience designed to serve the needs of professionals and executives eager to better build and sustain diversity among their workforce. The program illuminated  a path to create a culture of inclusion to increase effective communication and collaboration. The certificate program drew tens of thousands of organizational managers, decision-makers for small, medium and large companies (both for- and not-for-profit), and entrepreneurs.

“The concept of diversity, equity and inclusion is in our DNA at the Muma College of Business,” said Dean Moez Limayem. “We recognize the need to provide these important concepts to our partners and to our students who go out into the world and assume leadership positions in the community. We want them to be proactive in building diverse workforces that ensure equality and inclusion.

“These small steps take on greater significance and, with that, the culture in the workplace and eventually the community evolves,” he said. “Everyone wins with this transformation. The inaugural Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace certificate program, with its incredible success, proved to be such a valuable resource to the business community that we felt the need to continue on this path toward a cultural shift to make commerce – and society – a better place for all.”

Participants this time around can expect to learn in a productive, self-paced learning environment. All content is pre-recorded from the first version of the program, available free of charge to anyone. Completion of the program with a passing grade and a $99 fee will result in being granted the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate, issued by the AACSB-accredited Muma College of Business. Besides the certificate, the $99 fee will also include a sharable digital badge that can be easily showcased on LinkedIn profiles. Participants wishing to access the content without receiving the badge or completion certificate may do so for free. For more information, click here.

The certificate program is self-paced, but participants need to complete all modules and quizzes by December 31, 2022.

The impactful research and information presented on a 100 percent online format can change cultures within business and corporate workplaces.

Cihan Cobanoglu, McKibbon Endowed Chair Professor and director of the M3 Center that manages the certificate program, said diversity in the workplace benefits businesses and the communities in which they operate. Statistics on diversity in the workplace show that most companies need to consider greater inclusivity to create a more diverse workforce.

“For this reason, we are so happy to offer this certificate program again,” Cobanoglu said. “The best part of it is that the content is available to all free of charge.”

Executives are realizing that a diverse workforce – including differing races, religions, ages, genders and sexual orientations, persons with disabilities and more – provides greater depth in perspective and viewpoints for the company. Those elements assist in developing new products and novel ways to cater to customers. A recent article “The Top 5 Diversity Workplace Statistics” articulates the benefits of diversity to include:

• Higher revenue
• Increased innovation
• More effective decision-making
• Higher rates of job acceptance from more qualified candidates
• Better performance than competitors 

These are critical components required for any company to keep up in the ever-increasing competitive markets, while demonstrating consistent revenue growth. And now, with the heightened focus on conversations of equity and inclusion, organizations of all sizes are working to make sure their mission and practices have that same focus. To that end, forward-thinking leaders are seeking to embrace innovative practices, initiatives and tools designed to increase levels of diversity among employees.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace certificate program demonstrates how inclusivity and equity begin, the need for an organizational exploratory process, transitions to policy making, changing the minds of people and finally the establishment of a sustainable business model that embraces diversity and inclusion.

The goal of the certificate program is to help companies become more inclusive by imparting knowledge and developing tools to perform organizational self-assessment and plans for inclusive change.

Registration for the program opens on Sept. 27. For more information, visit https://usf.to/DiversityCertificate