An ILR School course designed by Assistant Professor Courtney McCluney was named today as an Aspen Institute Ideas Worth Teaching Award winner.

“Advancing Racial Equity at Work” is one of eight chosen for recognition among nominees representing 90 schools from 19 countries.

McCluney, who teaches in ILR’s Department of Organizational Behavior, examines diversity, equity and inclusion. Her research deepens the study of race, gender and intersectionality in organizations by examining practices that create and reinforce marginalized groups' experiences at work. 

“Professor McCluney’s course is a great addition to the curriculum, enhancing ILR’s academic focus on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. It is wonderful to see it getting this well-deserved recognition from the Aspen Institute,” said Alex Colvin, ILR’s Kenneth F. Kahn '69 Dean and the Martin F. Scheinman '75, 'MS '76, Professor of Conflict Resolution.

The Aspen Institute said McCluney’s award-winning course, “Advancing Racial Equity at Work,” frames equity as foundational to 21st century business, and noted that it is being offered during a defining moment for racial justice and other issues.

Jaime Bettcher, who oversees the Ideas Worth Teaching awards process for the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program, said, “History teaches us that these efforts in a moment of crisis would in time lay the foundations for prosperity and social progress in the decades that follow. We believe that the courses recognized among this year’s winners point the way for a world on stronger and more just foundations in the future.”

In an interview, McCluney said, “I developed this class so that students have some foundational knowledge on how organizations perpetuate and mitigate racial injustices. The overwhelming response from companies last year and the proliferation of resources that emerged soon after emphasize the importance of this work for creating a more just and functioning society.” 

“It is my hope that students will develop a critical lens of workplaces and society so that they may identify how racism is operating in everyday organizational functions, and cultivate a more equitable way to do business through embracing indigenous ways of knowing, adopting social change roles in organizations, and imagining a better world for all people to thrive.” 

The 2021 Ideas Worth Teaching Award Winners are:

 Advancing Racial Equity at Work

Courtney McCluney

Cornell University; School of Industrial Labor Relations

Beyond Diversity: The Fundamentals of Inclusive Leadership

Nicholas Pearce

Northwestern University; Kellogg School of Management

Big Data, Big Responsibilities: The Laws and Ethics of Business Analytics

Kevin Werbach

University of Pennsylvania; The Wharton School

Finance for a Sustainable World

Swasti Gupta-Mukherjee

Loyola University Chicago; Quinlan School of Business

Grand Challenges for Entrepreneurs

Emily Cox Pahnke

University of Washington; Foster School of Business

Relationships and Reconciliation in Business and Beyond

Lindsay Brant & Kate Rowbotham

Queen’s University; Smith School of Business

Sustainable and Responsible Investing

Kingsley Fong & William Wu

University of New South Wales; UNSW Business School

The History and Ethics of Capitalism

James Hoopes

Babson College

Mary Catt is the ILR School’s communications director.