Office of Access and Community Connections

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Diversity Advancement Program

The Diversity Advancement Program (DAP) is a selective program that provides students with the opportunity to hone in on their leadership and interpersonal skills while expanding their personal network and advancing diversity initiatives in the Haslam College of Business.

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Community Engagement

The OACC facilitates college attendance and retention by partnering with community organizations throughout the Greater Knoxville Area.

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Corporate Partners and Advocates

The OACC has several opportunities for recruitment, as well as community and corporate interaction.

2024 Inclusion and Engagement Summit Breakout Sessions: Defining Purpose through Inclusive Leadership

The 2024 Inclusion and Engagement Summit included four breakout sessions, one each for faculty and staff and two for students. These sessions supported the summit’s theme of inclusive leadership, with activities designed to promote inclusive leadership skills and awareness. Videos of the sessions are offered as resources on inclusive leadership skills and knowledge.

Effective Ways of Merging Inclusive Practices into Course Curriculum | Faculty Session

This session shared best practices and resources to help faculty, course instructors and administrators develop course curricula focused on inclusive leadership and establishing a welcoming and belonging learning environment.

Facilitators

Lauren Cunningham, associate professor of accounting and information management, Keith Stanga Professor of Accounting and Cheryl Massingale Faculty Research Fellow

Ashley King, lecturer in accounting and information management

Identifying Your Leadership Working Styles | Staff Session

Participants engaged in an assessment of their learning, thinking and working characteristics and styles. The analysis provided insights into individual leadership working styles and identified ways for participants to enhance work groups and their unit’s ability to build effective and productive teams.

Facilitators

John Cherry, Leadership Knoxville vice president for community leadership

Beth Hamil, Cancer Support Community East Tennessee executive director

Using Inclusive Leadership Practices to Exceed Desired Goals | Student Session

In this session, facilitators led discussions on leadership development as a professional competency as students explored holistic approaches to inclusive leadership development. Theory-based strategies to enhance multicultural competency were shared, and students learned ways to implement and apply the Diversity Scorecard, using step-by-step instructions, worksheets and examples, to examine their own leadership development.

Facilitators

Madison Howard, junior majoring in sociology with a minor in social justice and diversity educator with Multicultural Student Life

Maya Hall, junior majoring in therapeutic recreation with a minor in business administration and statistics and diversity educator with Multicultural Student Life

Corporate Panel Discussion: Value Proposition of Inclusive Leadership | Student Session

Corporate representatives spoke on the impact of collaborative and inclusive leadership in their respective corporate cultures and discussed the importance of building and strengthening inclusive leader skills. The panelists included Aaron Snyder, Haslam’s executive director of strategic partnerships; Nzinga Shaw, CEO of Attack Glass Inc.; Jefferson Johnson, diversity and inclusiveness campus lead for EY LLP; and Tyler Horne, DEIB strategist for Insight Global.

Moderator

Neeraj Bharadwaj, Proffitt’s Professor in Marketing, Charlie and Carolyn Newcomer Faculty Research Fellow and Neel Corporate Governance Center Research Fellow

Business Education for Talented Students (BETS)

BETS is a 12-day residential program for high school students. Now in its tenth year, the program has served as a talent pipeline for the Haslam College of Business and boasts a number of success stories.

BETS Program Information