LETTER FROM THE
DIRECTOR
WELCOME to the 2019 edition of the Organizational Studies Newsletter.
OS is
a remarkable program. We have a world-class faculty, a fantastic staff, two incredible
cohorts of students, and an engaged, dedicated group of alumni. As we complete
our second year in our beautiful new space on the 8th floor of Weiser Hall, it is a
good time for me to thank everyone who contributes to making our program the
gem that it is. Here are just a few of the things we accomplished this year:
On the personnel front, we have hired a new tenured faculty member, Elizabeth
Popp Berman, who comes to us from the State University of New York at Albany.
Beth, who will join us in the fall, will provide crucial coverage for our macro-level
courses, as well as mentorship for our younger faculty and leadership for the
department. Lisa Fein, who joined us last fall, allowed us to offer four new courses,
provided important help with our student advising, and did an outstanding job
running our honors program. On the staff side, we hired a new Student Services
Coordinator, Rachel McTavish, and a new Events and Publicity Coordinator, Chelsea
Williams, both of whom hit the ground running. We hope to hire two additional
faculty members next year, which, if we are successful, will allow us to embark on our
planned expansion of the program!
Our faculty, staff, and students continue to rack up honors and awards. Elizabeth
Armstrong received an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, one of 32 scholars nationally to
achieve this honor. Sara Soderstrom received the first annual Services for Students
with Disabilities Faculty and Staff Appreciation Award. Our Executive Secretary,
Jennifer Feneley, received the Rising Star Award, which recognizes “outstanding
contributions that go beyond the ordinary fulfillment of the position’s duties.” Melissa
Eljamal, our Chief Administrator, was selected to serve as a partner in this summer’s
Campus Connection Program, which helps students in the College’s Summer Bridge
Program adapt to life at the UM. And our advisor, Cathy Philbin, was selected by this
year’s seniors as the featured speaker at our graduation ceremony. Our students
also continued their extraordinary achievements. Twenty-one members of this year’s
senior class, an incredible 40 percent of the class, were nominated for membership in
Phi Beta Kappa.
Speaking of students, we admitted another stellar class of 50 OSers for the Fall
2019 term, selected from nearly 200 applicants, in a pool that may have been our
strongest ever! The incoming cohort will be among the most diverse in our history;
16 percent of the students are members of historically underrepresented groups.
This class will be the second to experience our latest curricular innovation: Our
entire incoming cohort now takes our two core courses in organizational theory,
OS 305 and OS 310, in their first semester. Not only will this encourage greater
bonding among our students, but it will also allow us to more clearly integrate the
two approaches, and to ensure that all of our students gain a theoretical foundation
in the field at the beginning of the program (in the past at least one-third of our
students took OS 305 in winter of their senior year).
I cannot conclude without mentioning the group that pioneered, developed, and
continues to sustain the Organizational Studies Program: our alumni! We are of
course proud of all that you have accomplished. But even more, we are grateful
for the support you have given us in so many ways, from mentoring our current
students, to hosting them at your workplaces through the Malkin Shadowing
Program, and your willingness to help the program in general.
Thank you, and
GO BLUE!
Mark Mizruchi
Director, Organizational Studies
Robert Cooley Angell Collegiate Professor of Sociology
Barger Family Professor of Organizational Studies