WASHINGTON— The Hill hosted a summit called “Diversity Matters” at the Newseum on Tuesday, showcasing a series of conversations about diversity in the workforce, from engineering labs to doctors’ offices to Congress to the corporate world. Headliners included Assistant Speaker Rep. Ben Ray Lujàn and actor Maulik Pancholy, known for his role in the hit sitcom “30 Rock.”
The day’s panel discussions touched on a variety of interrelated issues: diverse hiring practices, LGBTQ inclusion, women in STEM, equitable public health practices and more. But a shared question emerged in most of the sessions – how can industries create pipelines for more diverse employees?
Fostering diversity in higher education is part of the answer, according to David Sutphen, chief strategy and engagement officer at the education technology company 2U. He spoke on a panel about diverse hiring called “Opening the Aperture.”
In today’s workforce, students who don’t go on to pursue graduate degrees are “probably at a disadvantage,” he said. But for students from low-income families saddled with student loan debt, it’s “just not realistic” to go back to drop their work and go back to campus.
He thinks online learning will make practical work skills more attainable for underrepresented groups.
“The internet is going to be able to create greater access for nontraditional learners,” he said. “And I think the key is to make sure the access you’re creating is to high-quality education.”
Just as higher education is “beginning to grapple with the changing demographics of their student body,” he said, companies are now “struggling profoundly,” as well.
