Mario Burton, a 2024 graduate of Antioch’s PhD in Leadership and Change, has published his dissertation entitled Developing More Equitable and Critically Conscious Organizations: Testimonios and Critical Platicas with Black and Latino/x LGBTQ+ Male CHRD Leaders Authors.
Burton’s dissertation connects the recent Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) movement within organizations to larger social justice movements, specifically those that impact workers and the workplace. Critical human resource development (CHRD) professionals who serve as “insider activists” are highlighted within the dissertation. Through testimonies and critical discussion, this study explores how Black and Latino/x LGBTQ+ CHRD professionals, in particular, are experiencing the workplace as it relates to their engagement with how DEIB is practiced within organizations. Through this study, these professionals provide insights into the ways that workplaces can be reimagined to be more critically conscious and equitable spaces for those from marginalized backgrounds.
As a scholar-practitioner, Burton has spent the last twelve years focusing his research and work on social change and transformation within the community and various organizations. His dissertation takes an in-depth look at what organizational leaders can learn from Black and Latino/x LGBTQ+ men when developing equitable and critically conscious organizations.
With extensive knowledge, Burton has spent the last seventeen years working with a wide range of marginalized communities, from senior citizens to low-income families, adjudicated youth, and those with various physical and developmental disabilities. With these populations, Burton has organized community roundtables, participated in board development, developed curriculum, and facilitated training and workshops on specific topics. In 2023, he was selected as a United Nations OHCHR Minorities Fellow and spent a month at UN headquarters learning about human rights mechanisms and how human rights and organizational operations can be more aligned.
Learn more about Burton and read his dissertation Developing More Equitable and Critically Conscious Organizations: Testimonios and Critical Platicas with Black and Latino/x LGBTQ+ Male CHRD Leaders Authors.
