Fong Announced as the New Associate Dean of Inclusion & Diversity

Christina Fong

Christina Fong

Frank Hodge, dean of the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, announced today that Christina Fong, Principal Lecturer of Management, has been appointed to the new role of Associate Dean of Inclusion & Diversity. In announcing this appointment to the faculty and staff of the Foster School Frank stated, “Christina’s research and extensive service provide her a deep understanding of what it takes to build and nurture inclusive communities, and her passion for doing so is infectious. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Christina.”
For 17 years, Fong’s award-winning teaching on leadership and management, teamwork, negotiation, and global business at Foster has led her to ask big questions about the systems we all live in. Her work has consistently focused on helping students across undergraduate, masters, executive, and doctoral levels grow their leadership effectiveness by understanding how to advocate for diversity, cultivate their cultural understanding, and recognize the implicit and systemic forces that drive inequity.

“To create meaningful change in the diversity of our community, we’ll need to examine and engage across multiple levels, from changing how our students, faculty and staff think, to how they relate, and how they create and perpetuate the systems that keep organizations running.”, says Fong. “What I think Foster has at its advantage is our ability to take new approaches to old problems, and to collaborate across these levels.”

Fong plans to bring an evidence-based approach to her new role that draws on years of academic research on implicit and explicit stereotyping, power and politics in organizations, and management education. As society continues to reckon with the equity gaps in higher education, and other institutions around the world, she is hopeful that Foster’s culture of data-driven thinking can help leaders at every level of the Foster school unify around strategic diversity and inclusion goals.

Christina Fong speaking on Relational Leadership at the 28th annual Business Leadership Celebration

Outside the university, Fong has also dedicated much of her time leading seminars on inclusive leadership at organizations including Amazon, the Seattle Fire Department, Starbucks, Group Health (now Kaiser Permanente), and many more, for which she was recognized as an Outstanding UW Woman in 2016 & 2017, as well as a Women of Color Empowered Award recipient, sponsored by Northwest Asian Weekly in 2016.

As the Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity, Fong plans to continue to build on the strong relationships she’s created via service efforts within the Foster School, across the University of Washington, and throughout the greater Seattle business community that have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion. She is most excited about creating spaces for connection, and finding new ways we can work better together in a community where everyone feels valued and included.  “I love the Foster School because it is full of leaders; there are countless examples of students, staff, and faculty who have led major steps towards creating an inclusive community. I’m looking forward to leveraging the momentum from these existing leaders and thinking about how I can accelerate, celebrate, and support their work and commitment to building a diverse and inclusive Foster School of Business.”

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