Congratulations Dr. Georgeac!! @oriane_georgeac defended her PhD dissertation “The Business Case for Diversity Backfires,” and passed! My 1st PhD student, I am so proud!! Oriane will be joining the OB faculty at @YaleSOM in the fall

But what you really should know is...1/n

Is that Oriane started the PhD program to study a different topic. In her 2nd year, she realized it wasn’t her passion. She was brave enough fo admit it to herself and the program. That’s how (skipping details) transitioning to her 3rd year...
#AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter

She took a leap of faith to work with me, an untenured junior faculty who had never before advised a PhD student, on a topic, diversity, she was passionate about but had no background in. The level of focus, determination, and dedication it took for her to “catch up” to peers...

Was immense. I often wonder if, in her shoes, I could have done it...I’m not totally sure. That’s how, as a longtime scholar of the #growthmindset, I realized just how much more I had to learn about embodying it! Mentoring a first student is always a co-learning experience...

Doing it w timelines in mind was extra. What I’m most proud of Oriane for is her dedication to studying things that matter among the populations they matter for. So when she told me she kept seeing diversity rhetoric that made her “skin crawl,” we knew she had her dissertation...

Which documents that the most prevalent org justification for diversity, the business case, undermines sense of belonging for LGBTQ+ professionals, women in STEM, & African American undergrads (vs fairness, control). She extensively tests mechanisms for why + finds that the BC

Undermines women MBAs (vs men’s) job interview performance. Getting these samples WAS. SO. HARD. Her last study took years to get adequate power...all the while with no idea if it was working. I’m just so proud of her dedication to getting the right (and diverse) underrep samples

Lessons from my ode to Oriane, esp for #phdchat:
-study what you care about, and who you care about
-it’s ok to change topics
-but you’ll need a growth mindset to get through the lit reviews & new stats methods

& of course that @oriane_georgeac is brilliant & #PhDone

Special thanks to @Niro_Sivanathan who matchmade our advisor-advisee pairing, to @unzueta and Simona Botti for serving as her examiners, @RainaBrands for so much research and job market advice, to countless faculty, grad students, friends and family for their support!!