Impactful Teaching and Learning

The ability to seek new ideas from diverse sources while also confronting internal biases exemplifies lifelong learning. This approach to learning is critical to the development of resiliency, the ability to proactively adapt to a rapidly changing environment, and—ultimately—to serve as a transformational leader in today’s global society.

Mays Business School understands the importance of encouraging this mindset among future generations of business leaders. “Lifelong learners have the curiosity and the courage to connect with diverse others and to explore what they have to bring to the table,” said Dr. Annie McGowan, Texas A&M University’s Interim Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity and Mays’ Gina and William H. Flores Endowed Professor in Business. “These individuals then integrate what they have learned into their decision-making process.”

An Inclusive Mindset

Fostering an inclusive mindset is one of Mays’ top priorities after initially being identified in the school’s 2017 – 2021 Strategic Plan. As Mays Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion from 2016 – 2018, McGowan led the school’s operational efforts to enhance diversity, inclusion, and engagement.

Utilizing the Strategic Learning Framework, Mays seeks to embed an inclusive mindset in every course, student experience, and extracurricular activity. For example, competitive teaching grants and professional development opportunities have helped faculty bring diversity, inclusion, and engagement into their courses in new ways. In the Spring of 2021, Mays relaunched the Transformational Leader Speaker Series that invites top industry leaders – who are also former students – to discuss how they developed specific mindsets.

The emphasis on an inclusive mindset starts early in students’ college experience. Most Mays freshmen participate in Freshman Business Initiative, a business-specific program in the university’s first-year experience, that contains a module exploring what it means to have an inclusive mindset and how to recognize bias.

These efforts also extend to extracurricular activities and student groups. Hosted by Mays Office of Diversity and Inclusion, leaders from every Mays student organization receive training with respect to these skills at the beginning of each academic year. During the semester, the Business Student Council and the Multicultural Association of Business Students lead by example to jointly reinforce and demonstrate adopting inclusive practices to other Mays student groups.

Education Abroad from Home

Promoting a global mindset is part of every transformative experience coordinated by Mays Center for International Business Studies (CIBS). However, with the emergence of the pandemic, the center’s staff had to find innovative ways to provide these meaningful experiences.

What emerged – a virtual education abroad program – is providing international experience to a wider group of students, including those who otherwise were not able to participate in these types of trips during their college experience. Additionally, courses that lack a travel component are tapping into these virtual experiences to provide students with a valuable global perspective.

These innovative pedagogical approaches combine both online and experiential components. For example, students have participated in virtual tours of global businesses in Belgium and India as well as companies located in major international cities in Brazil and Spain. These city tours, which are live-streamed, feature a guide who describes the way that a nation’s culture influences business. For example, in one hands-on class experience, students will receive tutoring in preparing a meal during a livestream with a chef in Australia, who discusses the pandemic’s effect on the country’s restaurant industry.

CIBS Director Katy Lane ’02 expects that these virtual experiences will continue after the pandemic ends and travel resumes. “We plan to refine some of the opportunities and options so they can be a staple in several courses,” she said. “These virtual experiences can be incorporated into the Freshman Business Initiative course, the core business knowledge courses that all Mays undergraduate students take, as well as our graduate programs. Going virtual breaks down barriers and allows more students to participate in high-impact experiences, reinforcing our inclusive mindset.”

Bonjour, Europe!

When the pandemic ends, Mays’ long-standing Europe Marketing Study Abroad Program will relaunch. This program, which is the largest and longest continuously running travel-abroad program at Texas A&M University, takes 80 Mays students to Europe for four weeks.

The program’s goal is to help students gain a global mindset through interactions with not only business and marketing leaders, but citizens in other parts of the world. During the trip, the students explore seven European countries and have 16 professional visits to companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Carl F. Bucherer in Switzerland, Swarovski Crystal in Austria, BMW in Germany, a perfume factory in France, British Parliament, and the original Hard Rock Café and Harrods in London.

Students have an opportunity to experience what is required to be a global citizen. After preparing for the tour by learning basic words in each country’s language, students are required to interview a citizen from each country to learn about their lives and compare cultural differences. Instead of exploring cities by bus, students take bike tours that provide an experiential opportunity to see a city and visit major historical sites, such as Versailles in France.

Participants also document their trip by taking photos that become a part of a 40-page coffee-table-quality book. This high-quality document serves as a treasured reminder of this student experience. “Through the years, I’ve had over 1,200 students take this trip,” said Dr. Stephen McDaniel, the Director of the Europe Marketing Study Abroad Program and Regents Professor Emeritus of Marketing. “I’ve never had a student who has said, ‘I’m sorry I went on this trip.’ It stays with people and they can draw on these experiences for the rest of their lives.”