LETTER FROM THE
DIRECTOR
CONTENT
Welcome to another edition of the Organizational Studies Newsletter. As you will
see in the pages that follow, we had another terrific year, and the members of our
program, including students, faculty, and staff—as well as our alumni—continue to
accomplish great things.
The biggest event of a busy and exciting year was the move to our new quarters
on the eighth floor of the newly-remodeled (and renamed) Weiser Hall. Those of
you who remember our original space in the old Dennison Building would find this
unrecognizable. It is simply beautiful. It has an airy, bright, spacious feel to it, from
the open offices to the meeting facilities to (especially) the beautiful atrium, which
provides a spectacular view facing south and west, as well as a lush green wall that
gives the room an almost tropical feel. The floor is brimming with activity, with a
palpable level of energy. If you haven’t yet had a chance to see it, please come back
to visit. We promise it will be worth the trip!
On the personnel front, we continue to increase our faculty in preparation for the
expansion of the program. This year we welcomed two new faculty members,
Ashley Harrell and Steve Samford, both of whom immediately made a mark with
a series of extremely well-received courses. Ashley resurrected our course on
leadership, while Steve taught courses in global entrepreneurship and technological
innovation. All three courses were huge hits with our students. We also hired our
first-ever full-time lecturer this year, Lisa Fein, who will join us in the fall. Lisa will
allow us to significantly increase our course offerings, and she will also direct our
honors program and provide additional student advising. We hired a new executive
secretary, Jennifer Feneley, who stepped flawlessly into the role, and we increased
the hours of our advisor, Cathy Philbin, and our student services assistant, Dan
Hartlep, who together continue to provide support for our students that no other
department can match. Elizabeth (Beth) Cain-Toth, our new events and publicity
coordinator, ensured that our many program activities occurred without a hitch.
This newsletter itself is largely a result of her efforts. In terms of faculty and staff,
our program has never been stronger.
GRADUATION 2018 P. 4
OS AWARDS P. 5-8
2018 LEADERSHIP TEAM P. 9
2018 EVENTS P. 9
OS HONORS P. 10-11
UP AND COMING OS’ERS P. 12
FACULTY UPDATES P. 12-13
WOMEN’S CONVENTION P. 14
INAUGURAL LECTURE: MARK MIZRUCHI
P. 15
Our students continue their phenomenal accomplishments as well. This winter we
admitted another extraordinary cohort of OS majors, selected from more than 200
applicants (an increase of nearly 18 percent from the previous year). In addition to
its accomplishments in the classroom and in the leadership of organizations both
on campus and off, the new class is among the most diverse in our history. Profiles
of three of our outstanding incoming students appear in the pages that follow. As
always, our faculty continued to accomplish great things as well. Two of them,
Elizabeth Armstrong and Arnold Ho, received fellowships to two highly prestigious
research centers, Elizabeth at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral
Sciences at Stanford University and Arnold at the Russell Sage Foundation in New
York. SPRING BREAK IN LONDON: JON RUBENSTEIN
P. 16
A STORYBOOK ENDING: AUSTIN HATCH
P.17
And last but hardly least, our alumni continue to distinguish themselves in
numerous ways, some (but hardly all) of which are chronicled in this newsletter.
The commitment that our alums have shown to the program has been one of the
most important sources of our strength. As always, we hope you will continue to
stay involved. Your support is a big part of what makes OS the special program that
it is. OS PEOPLE P.20-21
ALUMNI UPDATES P.18
OS PLEDGES P.19
Mark Mizruchi
Director, Organizational Studies
Robert Cooley Angell Collegiate Professor of Sociology
Barger Family Professor of Organizational Studies
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