Q3 Signer Briefing: Overcoming Challenges of Diversity Training Speaker

Frank Dobbin, Professor of Sociology, Harvard University; Co-Author, Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn’t

Frank Dobbin is the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences and chair of the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. Trained at Oberlin College and Stanford University, he studies organizations, inequality, economic behavior, and public policy. His 2009 book Inventing Equal Opportunity (Princeton U. Press) shows how HR managers and activists defined what it meant to discriminate in the eyes of the law, elaborating the definition over time.

His forthcoming book, Getting to Diversity: What Works and What Doesn't with Alexandra Kalev (Harvard U. Press [Belknap], 2022), looks at the effectiveness of dozens of different diversity programs in over 800 companies across more than 30 years to answer the questions: Which programs help, which hurt, and how can harmful programs be improved? His research has been covered by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Le Monde, CNN, National Public Radio, Fast Company, and Slate.