Harvard Business School has announced its third cohort of visiting scholars for the 2024-25 academic year in collaboration with its Institute for Business in Global Society (BiGS).

Victor Ray, the F. Wendell Miller associate professor at the University of Iowa in the Department of Sociology and vice president-elect of the American Sociological Association, is one of four fellows who will concentrate on how business intersects with two critical issues: climate change and racial inequality, advancing Harvard Business School’s commitment to encouraging pioneering research that shapes the future of business leadership.

Ray plans to advance his research how businesses and other organizations respond to racial disparities, focusing on individual and systemic responses. His work bridges social science with practical recommendations for designing effective diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Ray is a former nonresident fellow in governance studies at The Brookings Institution and a former Carr Center Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. To bridge the gap between academic research and mainstream knowledge, he published his first book, On Critical Race Theory: Why it Matters & Why You Should Care, in 2022.

BiGS was established in 2022 to elevate critical thinking, research, and curriculum around the responsibility of business to address societal challenges, and to educate business leaders who are increasingly expected to confront these pressing issues.