The inaugural cohort of early career professionals and their mentors completed the Washington Employer for Racial Equity (WERE) leadership training program in spring 2023. The program was cohosted by CWU’s Milton Kuolt Professor of Business Andy Parks, left, and Deanna Kennedy, associate dean of academics for the School of Business at the University of Washington Bothell.
ADDITIONAL FUNDING The initial grant award was $25,000, but the institutions have the ability to earn up to $500,000 thanks to a 2:1 matching program. The KPMG Foundation will match donations made by KPMG’s professionals, partners, and retirees. “This is a great opportunity for us to help rally alums within KPMG to donate this year and take advantage of the match,” Quisenberry said. With additional funding, Parks and Kennedy hope to expand the number of modules in the training to include topics like conflict resolution, giving and receiving feedback, coaching, bias training, and transitioning from internship to job. They’d also like to be able to offer in-person training. A POSITIVE FUTURE Parks and Kennedy hope to see at least two dozen people from each school go through the program in its first year. The benefit of the online format is it will live on past the grant funding and serve students and employers well into the future. “What we’re really hoping this accomplishes is to reduce that feeling of imposter syndrome, especially for students of color,” Parks said. “We want to build up the confidence and esteem levels of the intern so they can be their authentic selves in the workplace.”
consulting partner within KPMG’s Seattle office, and I also come from a diverse background. The work we’re doing here is so important as it will help increase the number of BIPOC students entering the workforce and provide them the confidence, skills, and mentoring necessary to thrive and become our next generation of leaders.” The partnership includes connecting KPMG with student clubs and faculty to identify opportunities for guest speakers; increasing KPMG’s visibility on campus and in career fairs; holding emotional intelligence and DEI workshops for KPMG staff; and creating a way to track interactions between students and the company using the college’s EDGE (Explore, Develop, Grow, Excel) career readiness program. “We’ve been fortunate to have a number of alumni who are with KPMG, from new associate to senior partner. This is an exciting extension of that, and mutually beneficial,” said Jeffrey Stinson, dean of the College of Business. “The thing I like about it is it’s not just us going to KPMG and asking for money, or them giving us funding and then standing aside and saying, ‘OK, figure it out,’” Stinson noted. “It’s really developing that partnership. They’re supporting employees coming to campus to be guest speakers and interact with classes; they’re leveraging our faculty expertise to provide professional development. It’s going to be a critical piece for both organizations as we really try to leverage our DEI efforts.”
8
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator