Gift Giving

Outside of teaching, our faculty member, Professor Kelley Wight, dedicates her time to research. She collaborates with Jacqueline Rifkin from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Keisha Cutright from Duke University, on examining gift-giving, and more specifically, self-gifting. As a colleague of the Marketing Department, Professor Wight is focused on determining how consumers can get the most from a purchase. Therefore, she studies customer decisions when buying items for themselves and what stops them from making a purchase.

Mental Benefits

From her analysis, Professor Wight has determined that when consumers are mentally constrained, they are less likely to buy things that could improve themselves. These restrictions come from everyday life, such as financial strain, economic hardships, social aspects, etc. However, self-gifting has proven to reduce stress, boost mood, and elevate mental health, leaving Professor Wight with the conclusion that self-gifting is an important aspect of consumer behavior.

Being Intentional

Gifting is not always about buying something, instead, it can also be about taking time for yourself. Professor Wight describes the act of self-gifting as mentally regrouping to better your emotional wellbeing, even for a few minutes. Taking a walk, savoring an apple, applying a face mask, are other examples of ways to tune out and focus on oneself. She emphasizes the importance of being intentional with our acts of self-care by mentally committing to the action of improving.

Self-gifting is very accessible because one does not need too much money or time. Personally, Professor Wight enjoys eating chocolate and watching YouTube videos to relax and destress. She is intentional in her actions to take a break, do something she enjoys, and better her mental health. Understanding the reasons behind a consumer’s purchasing decisions has proven to be significant and should be considered when creating and marketing products/services.

Join Professor Wight and the Marketing Department in self-gifting by focusing on yourself and taking steps to improve your lifestyle.

About Professor Nickerson

Professor Dionne Nickerson has been a member of the Kelley Marketing Department faculty since July of 2019. She specializes in the intersection between marketing and society, which has given her vast knowledge on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Beyond research and teaching, Professor Nickerson’s involvement in the Kelley School of Business includes judging a case competition for a non-profit organization and joining the Marketing Department recruiting committee.

Recruiting with DEI in Mind

As a member of the recruiting committee, Professor Nickerson has the important task of assessing potential faculty. One portion of the recruiting process requires candidates to submit a DEI statement. Professor Nickerson emphasized the importance of this step in the process. Internally, the Marketing Department DEI committee has set a focus on hiring women. Several women junior faculty have joined over the last few years and Professor Nickerson attributes this growth to the senior faculty committing to a more diverse workplace.

Inclusivity in the Classroom

Inclusivity is key to classroom success in the eyes of Professor Nickerson. Her goal is to provide students with numerous ways to participate and be engaged. One strategy she uses is small group interactions, as she believes they allow her students to feel more comfortable sharing their ideas. She listens to these discussions, and if a student has a great insight that would benefit the rest of the class, she will ask that student to share when they’re back talking as a class. Professor Nickerson does this to empower her students to actively participate. By validating their ideas/thoughts, students will be more confident to share during the larger group discussion. This strategy improves the overall class environment and increases engagement from students throughout the rest of the semester.

Professor Nickerson also encourages students to participate during class by demonstrating her no-answer is wrong technique. If a student shares an answer/insight that is not necessarily correct, Professor Nickerson will redirect the conversation to help guide the student to the correct answer by asking questions like: “How did you come to that conclusion? Did you think about…?, and What would happen if…?” She explains this strategy helps elevate the students to think more deeply about the topic.

Holistic Mindset

To help expand student perspectives, Professor Nickerson uses two cases that are not set in the United States, in her classes. She believes this strategy helps her students to think about the world as a whole, rather than limit themselves to just the United States, the Midwest, Indiana, etc. This DEI content has proven to be successful as many international students have expressed their excitement and positivity about it.

Professor Nickerson believes, “every person on this planet has value” meaning everyone, no matter where they are from, their economic status, their gender, etc. has worth. She wants her students to encompass this belief in and outside of her classroom. To create an equitable and comfortable environment, Professor Nickerson begins each semester by sharing some of her diverse experiences. She tells her students she is from the south side of Chicago, and she loves to travel. She also shares her journey to the Kelley School of Business. Her intention is to paint a picture of her countless unique life experiences, so her students may be more open to sharing their own.

As a sequel to the Lead like an Ally workshop, the Marketing Department held a follow-up training to inform faculty of the DEI curricular goals for 2021-2025. Led by the chair of the Graduate DEI Committee, Kelley Professor Rockney Walters also took participants through specific ways our faculty can incorporate compelling DEI materials into the Marketing Department curriculum.

The 4-Step Framework

A significant part of the workshop content was focused on the 4-step plan. This framework is a set of ideas, ranging from easy to complex to implement, to build DEI into the Marketing Department curriculum. The concepts are as follows: 1) build imagery of DEI into the curriculum, 2) embed stories of successes and failures of businesses owned and operated by BIPOC and women into the marketing curriculum, 3) address issues related to DEI in the curriculum, and 4) link DEI in courses to DEI events outside of the classroom.

Throughout the workshop, Rockney defined and provided examples for each of the 4 steps. One example that stuck with faculty was a student discussion board Rockney used in his class. Students were given a current article about a chain grocery store that was closing locations due to the pandemic. The class then was able to discuss if the closing of the stores violated the company’s DEI policy and possible compromises to the situation. This specific example gained great positive feedback from the participants of the workshop because it showed that content in the classroom can be relevant, current, and address issues related to DEI, all at the same time.

The Foundation

To ensure the content of the workshop was all-encompassing, the Marketing Department arranged a meeting with several Black and Hispanic MBA students to vet Kelley’s content. Their feedback was positive and optimistic for the future of marketing courses. After receiving and implementing the insights of the MBA students, the workshop was ready to be presented to the faculty.

Why Workshop?

We in the Marketing Department have made DEI a priority and we are dedicated to creating a classroom experience that ensures an equitable future for all faculty, staff, and students. Our DEI workshop was designed to give our faculty the tools to contribute to this goal.

About Professor Riley Simone

Professor Riley Simone has been a Lecturer at the Kelley School of Business since the spring semester of 2018. Since then, she has found numerous ways to get involved, in and outside of Indiana University, such as becoming a co-advisor for the American Marketing Association, engaging in the Marketing’s Department DEI Committee, creating a brand-new class, and serving her community through her work with Lotus Education and Arts Foundation. In just a few short years, Professor Riley Simone has already made a huge impact on the diversity initiatives within the Marketing Department.

American Marketing Association

The American Marketing Association (AMA) is a community for marketing professionals supporting their efforts toward personal and career development. At Indiana University’s AMA chapter, Professor Riley Simone sits as a co-advisor. One thing she has noticed since obtaining this position in spring of 2019 is, until this semester, all senior leaders have been women. Alongside this, Professor Riley Simone commends the AMA senior leadership’s diversity in respect to culture. She states how the diversity in leadership has helped bring many viewpoints to light in the organization and has created a diverse set of leadership styles and initiatives.

DEI Committee – Marketing Department

Professor Riley Simone has made a large, lasting impact on the DEI Committee in their most recent initiative. In the fall semester of 2020, Professor Riley Simone started a new class in content marketing. Named Creating Digital Content, students are tasked with working as a marketing consulting agency and creating numerous forms of digital content for local companies/organizations. The marketing department took advantage of this new class by becoming its first client. The students were asked to create content to communicate the initiatives the department have set in place on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion. With the help from Professor Riley Simone’s new class, the DEI committee launched a content marketing campaign at the start of 2021 based on the work of the students’, spreading awareness of the marketing department’s commitment to DEI. Professor Riley Simone continues to help ensure.

Opportunities

As a faculty member of the marketing department, Professor Riley Simone has been given many opportunities to experience different cultures. One of her favorite memories was accompanying Professor Dennis Spahr and his Sales for Social Impact class on their trip to Costa Rica. While there, Professor Riley Simone was exposed to their culture, and she was fascinated to learn that their view on entrepreneurialism was very different from the view of the United States. The people of Costa Rica are not solely driven by the western definition of success, which is why there are not a lot of entrepreneurs there. This opportunity gave Professor Riley Simone a fresh perspective on the varying cultures in the world and she was able to bring this experience back with her and implement it into her teaching.

Diversity in the Classroom 

Professor Riley Simone makes it a priority to create a trusting classroom environment to help her students feel comfortable. One best practice she has implemented into all her classes is asking everyone their pronouns and their preferred names. She does this so that everyone feels respected in her classroom, because as Professor Riley Simone says, “the basis of DEI is respect”.

Professor Riley Simone works hard to ensure that every aspect of her class is equitable for all her students. She understands that her personal viewpoints are her own and believes they should not drive the measurement of her students. She acknowledges that “one of the hardest parts of teaching is creating clear objectives in rubrics because I do not want my subjectivity to overlay another’s viewpoint”. The progress of diversity initiatives in the Kelley School of Business can be attributed to faculty members like Professor Riley Simone, who dedicate their time to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion, in and outside the classroom.

DEI Workshop

The Kelley Marketing Department held two DEI Workshops, in the spring of 2021, to inform and empower faculty, staff, and doctoral students on various DEI topics. The first was the Lead like an Ally workshop led by Julie Kratz, a Kelley MBA graduate. The goal was to provide resources and tips on how to be an ally in class, business, and life. The workshop encompassed four main subjects: why allies matter, what an ally is, how to be an ally, and commitments.

Diversity Dictionary

DEI constructs are often hard to define because they are shaped by one’s life experiences. Therefore, to start the workshop, Kratz defined important words that would be discussed later in the meeting. These definitions are listed below:

• Ally: Supporting someone different than you.
• Diversity: The representation of differences.
• Equity: Differing level of support to create an equal playing field.
• Inclusion: Feeling comfortable to speak up.

Allyship 

“Being an ally is a journey, not a destination”.

There is no step-by-step guide to becoming an ally, instead being open to learning is a huge part of the journey. Allyship requires a person to be self-aware of their power and privilege and to use that power to advocate for and prioritize marginalized peoples’ needs. In the workshop, Kratz gave participants simple ways to start and continue this journey toward being an ally. Some of these suggestions included having candid conversations, practicing perspective-taking, and setting a plan to be an active ally. In order to achieve equity for everyone, one must start with oneself. We all must work to understand the struggles of others and make an active effort to promote inclusivity.

It is important to remember that ‘allies’ is an umbrella term. Being an ally looks different for everyone. Some may be mentors, advocates, challengers, coaches, or sponsors, but among all, the one commonality is support. Inclusive leaders share the same behaviors as an ally such as, empathy, emotional intelligence, vulnerability, seeking to understand, etc. Therefore, Kratz explains, leading from where you are, shows allyship. A person does not need to protest or post on social media to be an ally, instead, they need to be an ally in their everyday life and continue to build the skills needed to be an ally long-term.

Interaction

One question that arose during the workshop was how to implement this allyship framework into the classroom. Kratz was able to give tangible examples of how faculty can show students that they are an ally. These examples included introducing oneself as an inclusive teacher who wants to make sure everyone’s voice is heard, respecting how people identify, and being open to others’ perspectives. Overall, the conversation throughout the workshop was very engaging and interactive, allowing participants to ask questions and expand their knowledge on the topic.

Why Workshop?

We in the Marketing Department believe in being an ally to our students, faculty, peers, and other community members is an important part of making the Kelley environment more equitable. Therefore, organizing workshops such as the Lead like an Ally is a priority for us. These sessions are able to teach and inform viewers on various DEI topics that can be immediately implemented into the classroom, and to continue the progress towards an equitable environment for all.

About Professor Bastianelli

Professor Ann Bastianelli has been a professor at the Kelley School of Business since 2002, but her time as a Hoosier did not start there. After spending two years of her undergrad at Indiana University she returned and earned her Master’s in Business Administration from the Kelley School of Business. Before becoming a professor, she held two other positions: Director of Women’s Sports Information and Director of Public Relations for Men’s Basketball at Indiana University. Professor Bastianelli also worked at Leo Burnett, DowBrands, IKON Office Solutions, and Hillenbrand Industries prior to coming into academia. Additionally, she is currently the President of Anthology Consulting. Her recent promotion to Teaching Professor makes Professor Bastianelli the first female faculty member in the Marketing Department to hold this position. She brings her diverse background of education, professional career, and life experiences into her teachings every day.

Teaching Professor

The newly enacted position of Teaching Professor is awarded to those who prove to be exceptional in three areas: classroom excellence, service in support of teaching, and pedagogical leadership. Professor Bastianelli exceeds the expectations of her colleagues, students, and peers in these three categories, and has proven to be an instrumental part of the Marketing Department, showing why her promotion was well deserved.

The promotion to Teaching Professor is the highest rank lecture faculty can achieve at IU. Therefore, only nine professors in the Kelley School of Business have been awarded this position. Professor Bastianelli is the sole representative of the Marketing Department in this small group. The promotion process is known to be comprehensive and rigorous, as there are numerous stages, at which a peer review, committee voting, and creation of the candidate’s performance report all occur. After the lengthy process and deep dive into the candidates’ teaching careers, very few are granted the title of Teaching Professor.

Teaching Philosophy

Professor Bastianelli states, “teaching is my highest privilege in life” and demonstrates this through her passion for pedagogy and the success of her students. She believes that exceptional teachers are leaders, which is why she devotes her time to motivating and mentoring her students. Her teaching extends beyond course content and fuels her students with confidence and personal growth.

She supports and upholds the school’s Diversity Plan and incorporates inclusive practices into her teachings, so each student receives an impactful experience. One factor that has made a large impact on her teaching philosophy is receiving student feedback. Semiannually, she reviews her course design and feedback and develops plans to improve her teaching approach. She says she is “there to make the teaching remarkable so the students’ experience is incredible” and makes this happen by creating an equitable learning environment for her students.

Diversity in the Marketing Department

Ann speaks very highly of her colleagues in the Marketing Department. She believes the diversity of thought and different experiences of each faculty member have greatly contributed to her willingness to ask them for guidance. Ann also commends the Marketing Department on the great DEI initiatives they have set in place and is proud to see the department consistently acting on its beliefs. Ann contributes to this culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion through her teaching and mentoring here at the Kelley School of Business and will continue to do so as a Teaching Professor.

As we welcome our students and faculty back into the halls of the Kelley School of Business, we in the Marketing Department recommit ourselves to ensuring that each student is receiving an equal and impactful learning experience. Cultivating an inclusive climate allows students to feel valued for their differences and feel comfortable participating in class activities. It has also proven to increase student motivation and learning. Outlined here are some best practices our faculty are using to create a welcoming classroom environment.

Preferred Names and Pronouns

One way to support gender inclusivity in the classroom is by asking and using each person’s preferred pronouns and names. Here in the Marketing Department, we believe that faculty set the tone of inclusivity in the classroom, which is why they model strategies such as, introducing themselves with their preferred names and pronouns and encouraging students to do the same. Additionally, our faculty may include their preferred name and pronouns on class materials such as in their email signatures and syllabi, to continue modeling this behavior throughout the semester. Lastly, apologizing when misgendering someone and correcting others if they make the same mistake are other ways our faculty promote inclusivity in the classroom.

Model Inclusive Language

Another best practice we have adopted that goes hand-in-hand with respecting other’s preferred names and pronouns is using inclusive language. In the classroom, our faculty use gender-neutral language, by using terms like “everyone”, “people”, or “all” when referring to a group of people. They strive to speak in truly generic language because it shows respect to all students. Saying “winter/holiday break” instead of “Christmas Break”, “parent/guardian” instead of “mom/dad”, and “significant other” instead of “boyfriend/girlfriend” are all examples of inclusive language. Incorporating these small reference changes into the classroom environment helps support a positive culture at the Kelley School of Business.

Use Multiple and Diverse Examples

Incorporating multiple and diverse examples allows for more students to connect with the content that is being discussed. So, our faculty make a point of using references that speak across gender, age, socioeconomic status, disability status, religion, culture, etc. to ensure they are not marginalizing students. Also, they choose content that is diverse in idea and perspective, allowing for our students to appreciate different perspectives, develop their own thoughts/beliefs, and draw stronger conclusions about the topic.

Regularly Examine Curriculum

Consistently examining curriculum is a technique the Marketing Department uses to create and maintain an inclusive classroom environment. At the end of each semester, students can submit anonymous feedback on a variety of aspects of the class. This evaluation is a great tool to measure if the best practices our faculty implement are effective and successful. Additionally, a benefit of regularly reviewing the curriculum is it helps ensure we are keeping up with the ever-changing world culture.

Set Expectations Early

Setting expectations early is very important for fostering an inclusive environment. As mentioned in the earlier stated best practices, sharing, and asking for each person’s preferred names and pronouns is a great way to set the tone for an inclusive classroom. A best practice many of our faculty apply to their syllabi is including a diversity statement. This direct communication shows our students that we are committed to creating a safe and supportive climate and will not tolerate it if they do not do the same. Also, the Marketing Department faculty share specific grading/rubric guidelines early, so students are aware of what is expected from them and helps ensure consistent grading across the class.

Why Implement these Best Practices?

Incorporating these best practices into the classroom environment allows our students to reach their highest potential. Here in the Marketing Department, we are dedicated to ensuring an equitable and inclusive experience for all students. The best practices of using preferred pronouns and names, modeling inclusive language, having multiple and diverse examples, regularly examining curriculum, and setting expectations early, help our students feel supported academically, mentally, and emotionally.