EY gives $1 million gift to support diversity and inclusiveness efforts at William & Mary's Raymond A. Mason School of Business

Ernst & Young LLP recently announced a $1 million gift to William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business to expand diversity and inclusiveness efforts.

“EY has a culture that embraces differences — all differences,” said Stephen R. Howe, Jr., EY’s U.S. Chairman and Americas Managing Partner. “We are focused on building diverse and inclusive teams — from gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, people with diverse abilities, different generational backgrounds and veterans — embracing and celebrating differences allows us to build innovative teams that lead to better results for our business, clients and local communities.”

EY’s five-year commitment is aimed at four areas: expanding current course offerings, faculty workshops, new curriculum development and an annual campus-wide diversity and inclusiveness symposium. The generous gift connects with the university’s focus on increasing diversity among its students, staff and faculty. The gift is a combined commitment from EY and William & Mary alumni who work there.

Howe, along with Ken Bouyer, the EY Americas Director of Inclusiveness Recruiting, announced the gift to more than 400 students, faculty and staff at Brinkley Commons during an Oct. 20 talk where he also discussed keys to success in the global marketplace.

“EY’s generosity advances our efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive community at William & Mary,” said William & Mary President Taylor Reveley. “The greater our cross-cultural understanding and dexterity, the greater our capacity to thrive in a country and world of enormous diversity.”

The funds will be used to reshape the Business 300 course and will be required for all incoming business students. The new course will be redesigned around diversity and inclusiveness case studies and will be considered one of the business school's core classes along with marketing, accounting, finance and business analytics.

The undergraduate class, Diversity in the Workplace, Developing your Voice, will be expanded under the grant to accommodate up to 45 students. The goal of the class is to diversify the business school’s applicant pool. There is an on-campus and off-campus version of the class. The off-campus class includes a Washington, D.C., trip to meet alumni who are leaders in business.

“William & Mary is moving into its 324th year, and there have been many milestones along the way,” said Larry Pulley ’74, T.C. and Elizabeth Clarke Professor and Dean of the Mason School. “Our partnership with EY represents a new milestone in strengthening diversity and inclusiveness at the university.”

The gift will also fund diversity workshops for faculty to determine how to effectively add diversity and inclusiveness into their current coursework. It also provides funding for faculty to have guest speakers and experts who will address topics related to diversity.

“EY is proud to support the diversity and inclusiveness programming for the Raymond A. Mason School of Business,” said Stephen Kenny ’92, a partner with Ernst & Young LLP. “These two things are important parts of the culture at EY and this programming should help to move both forward at Mason.”

EY’s gift will also fund a campus-wide Diversity Symposium that will be available to all students, faculty and staff.

"We will develop content for our classes and our curriculum that is squarely behind enhancing diversity and inclusion,” said Todd Mooradian, associate dean for faculty and academic affairs at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business. “We care about it, and we are placing it front and center in all that we do."