This episode dives into the DEI Backlash since post 2020 and how things have shifted, most recently in light of the Supreme Court of the United States of America’s decision to overturn Affirmative Action. Our special guest, Denise Lewin Loyd, talks about DEI within higher education in addition to steps organizations can take to promote DEI.

Denise Lewin Loyd is associate dean for equity, an associate professor of business administration, and a Vernon Zimmerman Faculty Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She joined the University of Illinois faculty in 2013, and her research focuses on groups and teams, status, diversity, social identity, and ethics. Loyd earned her BS in civil engineering and architectural engineering, graduating with honors, from the University of Miami in 1992. She went on to receive her MS in civil and environmental engineering in 1994 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her PhD in management and organizations in 2005 from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Loyd is a board member for Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes and served for three years as a board member for the Academy of Management Review and Small Group Research journals. She has recently published work in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and in Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice.