Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: The secret sauce for increasing student engagement

Organizations with highly engaged employees represent a significant competitive advantage. In general, engaged employees are more productive, remain employed with the organization, experience more positive emotions, and have less absenteeism. Overall, engaged employees contribute to better customer service, quality, profits, productivity, and reduced employee turnover. Likewise, student engagement plays an important role in higher education and benefits the university, students, educational partners, and contributes to forming better relationships with other students. The more students interact with other students and staff, the more likely they are to persist. Student persistence is a desired higher educational goal. Students need a welcoming and inclusive environment to foster engagement and inclusion. Diversity has continued to increase over the past decade. The number of people of color continues to increase in the USA, and by 2050, there will not be a clear racial or ethnic majority. Universities must reflect the changing demographics. Diversity in education improves the cultural and intellectual engagement, self-motivation, academic skills, and citizenship. An organization’s goals, practices, processes, and leadership need to reflect the communities and the organizations that they serve. This presentation will explore how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices impact student engagement. DEI may be the secret sauce for increasing student engagement.