Donna Maria Blancero has dedicated her career to helping others achieve success in the workplace. As a consultant for the past 20 years she has worked with organizations on topics such as diversity, networking, mentoring and leadership training specifically for Latinos and other people of color. As Associate Professor of Management at Bentley, Blancero teaches management courses in diversity, organizational behavior and interpersonal relationships.
This fall Blancero’s tireless efforts were recognized with two high profile honors: the Diversity Educator Award on behalf of the National Black MBA Boston Chapter and the 2015 Brillante Award for Education Excellence from the National Society of Hispanic MBAS (NSHMBA).
The NSHMBA said of Blancero, “[She] demonstrates a commitment to inclusion and is seen as someone who consistently aligns themselves with individuals and organizations which are proven to do the same, or she finds a way to ensure that they do.”
In addition, Blancero’s work with The PhD Project, a group that strives to increase workplace diversity by increasing the diversity of business school faculty, was recognized by the White House Initiative on Hispanic Excellence in Education. As part of the White House program, The PhD Project will utilize its network of over 1,600 minority business faculty and doctoral students (including 423 Hispanic-American members) to reach out to Hispanic-American students on the PhD track so they can enhance their completion rate.
Blancero has established herself as a leader in the field through her drive to encourage and prepare Hispanic students and communities to advance their academic and professional goals.
Q. How has your research and work in executive development influenced your courses at Bentley?
My research focuses primarily on people of color and their experiences, successes, and challenges at work. Right now I am working on a model of career success for Latinos and looking at issues of bicultural competency. In my executive development work, I work with executives and managers who are interested in increasing their influence in the workplace. I work with Latino groups and multicultural groups. Both of these really help me in my teaching at Bentley. I teach Managing Diversity in the Workplace with Associate Professor of Management Marcy Crary and my personal experiences, my research, and my executive development are all useful in providing students with real life examples of the challenges of diversity in the workplace.
Q. How have you seen the corporate landscape change over the course of your career (for better and worse)?
The biggest difference that I see is that 20 years ago when I was first working with companies, the big issue was recruitment of people of color. That has gradually changed to issues of retention, promotion, and engagement of these same communities. Another way of putting it is, it used to be all about the numbers or diversity. Now it is more about how people are valued and more about inclusion. Issues that come up for minority executives are having influence in the workplace and not being promoted ‘just to check a box.’ For entry level and mid-career folks, the ‘checking the box’ is an issue, as well as feelings of isolation in the workplace. When one is the ‘only’ one in his/her department, it can get pretty lonely.
Q. What is your favorite part of being an educator?
The primary reason I returned to academia after being away for five years was because I missed the relationships with my students. I really enjoy getting to know them.
Q. What is the most important skill students need as they graduate and move forward with their professional careers?
Strategic networking and building their developmental networks. Students need to use their interpersonal and team skills to build strong relationships. These networks should be diverse in all ways (race, ethnicity, age, gender, field/discipline, industry, learning styles, etc.) so that they are seeing all angles of issues before they make decisions.
Q. What do these awards/honors mean to you?
It’s very exciting for me to have received the Brillante Award for Hispanic Education – as I said when I received the award, my dad came to the states from Puerto Rico in 1944 with a fourth grade education and my mom did not graduate from high school. I don’t think they could have imagined that 50 years later their youngest child would be a college graduate, let alone having received a PhD from an Ivy League institution (Cornell University). I have devoted my professional career to helping others be successful and expect to continue this work.