Will speak on importance of diversity in corporate setting

Roderick D. Gillum, vice president for corporate responsibility and diversity with General Motors Corp., will be the keynote speaker for the third annual Corporate Citizenship Symposium at Alumni House on the Wayne State University campus Thursday, Oct. 11, 6 p.m. He will speak on the topic “Diversity.”

Gillum, who also chairs the General Motors Foundation, is responsible for global corporate social responsibility initiatives, including community relations philanthropy, business ethics and diversity management. He also is board chairman and president of Motor Enterprises Inc., a GM subsidiary that provides capital for GM minority suppliers. He holds degrees from Michigan State University, Northeastern University School of Law and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Wayne State University Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff Andrea Roumell Dickson will deliver welcoming remarks. Also speaking will be Linda D. Forte, senior vice president of business affairs for Comerica Inc., which is sponsoring the event, with additional support from the WSU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Law School and the School of Business Administration.

Mary Kramer, publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business, will moderate a discussion on corporate diversity following Gillum’s address. Panelists will be Marcus Dickson, associate professor in the WSU psychology department; John Mellen associate general counsel with Ford Motor Co; and Sid Vaidya, division vice president with EDS.

Dickson has studied the tendency of organizations to become homogenous over time. Mellen leads Ford’s efforts to promote diversity among law firms it hires. Vaidya, who has responsibility for information technology in support of GM Global Sales, Service and Marketing, brings a global perspective to the issue.

“We chose to focus on diversity at this year’s symposium because it as an essential aspect of good corporate citizenship,” explains professor Marc Kruman, director of the Center for the Study of Citizenship and chair of the WSU history department. The center, which promotes research and intellectual exchange about citizenship, organized the Oct. 11 program.

“Providing a forum for discussion and understanding of issues that affect contemporary society is an important role for a leading university,” Kruman says. “By bringing together knowledgeable people from business, higher education and the media for a dialogue on diversity in the workplace, Wayne State is reaching out to involve an influential segment of the community beyond the campus.”

The public is welcome to attend the symposium. There is no admission fee, but reservations are required. For more information and to make reservations, call 313-577-0300 or visit www.specialevents.wayne.edu/citizenship. 

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to nearly 33,000 students.