Newsletter - August 2024

From the Desk of Dean Sarker

I hope you all had a good July and are enjoying the last couple of weeks of summer before the start of the new academic year.  

July was quieter for me following a hectic June filled with conferences and research workshops. Each event was valuable but, today I want to share key takeaways from one of them, namely, the Responsible Research in Business Management’s (RRBM) annual summit held at Cambridge University, UK.  

I have been closely associated with RRBM serving as a member of the organization’s working board as well as the summit’s program committee. RRBM brings together deans, researchers, doctoral students, journal editors, and even organizations such as AACSB, EFMD, and FT. It is a privilege to work closely with such visionary and thoughtful leaders especially as part of the board. While there was a myriad of topics discussed, panels conducted, and brainstorming sessions organized, two stood out to me. 

Responsibility in Research - How can we encourage research on responsibility-related topics, conduct responsible research, and ensure that responsibility becomes core to our research mission and excellence.  

I took away several ideas from fellow academics. For example: 

• Including ethics, responsibility, and sustainability as a metric for ranking and recognition,  

• Asking external letter writers (during promotion and tenure cases) to comment on “responsibility” surrounding an individual’s research,  

• Introducing  “data colatas” (or 3 volunteer scholars who act as vigilantes and examine a published paper to assess its authenticity, replicability, etc.).

As you all know, responsibility continues to be an important node of my 3R framework. As we continue to integrate responsibility into our College and establish our 5-year vision, I hope that the many dimensions of responsibility that are being practiced and proposed within academia will inspire us to do our best with respect to this important area.

Impact of Research - Universities, accreditation bodies, and journals are now grappling with the definition of impactful research, how to encourage it, assess it, and reward it.

A range of different ideas are beginning to be implemented or proposed. 

• Requiring impact statements in manuscript submissions to journals 

• Discussing “impact beyond academia” in annual activity reports,  

• Giving credit for practice-oriented studies and pedagogical innovation.

Since joining Pamplin I have recognized the multi-dimensionality of impact and seek ways to operationalize them within the College. It was reassuring to see the same efforts taking shape within academia, and I hope we can arrive at a more structured set of actions in the coming months. 

Stay tuned for more on the above topics.  

Enjoy the few remaining weeks of summer and I look forward to seeing you all at our College townhall and picnic on August 29.  

Go Hokies! 

Announcements

You’re invited to join Pamplin’s 2025 Women’s Summit Steering Committee

The Office for DEIB is excited to announce the formation of the 2025 Women's Summit Steering Committee. This esteemed group will play a key role in shaping the summit, annually held in March, by bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise to create an empowering and impactful event. Inclusive of both Blacksburg and Northern Virginia Center colleagues. If you're interested in contributing or learning more, please reach out to A'me Dalton at ababer3@vt.edu. 

Congratulation Said Ladki

Said Ladki ’93 has been named president of Rafik Hariri University in Lebanon. Ladki, a 1993 graduate of Pamplin’s Hospitality and Tourism Management Ph.D. program, most recently served as Dean of the Adnan Kassar School of Business at the Lebanese American University.

Exciting Leadership Appointments

We welcome Steve Kleiber as Pamplin’s inaugural Assistant Dean for Finance and Facilities, starting August 25. Steve brings over 30 years of experience in finance, budget management, strategic planning, and facilities operations. Previously, he served as the Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, where he earned both his Bachelor of Science in Public Administration and his Master’s in Urban Affairs. His innovative, data-driven approach will be crucial as we transition to the next chapter for the College.

Dustin C. Read is the new lead for the Blackwood Department of Real Estate, effective August 10. Dustin returns to Virginia Tech after serving as the professor and director of the Master of Real Estate Development program at Clemson University. He has a rich background in consulting for both public and private sector organizations, focusing on socially responsible real estate development. With over 50 publications to his name, including notable works on real estate asset management and public-private partnerships, he will bring valuable expertise to our department. Dustin succeeds Kevin Boyle, who announced his decision to step down from the role earlier this year.

Cindy Devers will take on the inaugural role of Director of Pamplin’s Ph.D. programs. Cindy joined the Department of Management as the R.B. Pamplin Professorship in Management in 2022. In her new role, she will focus on developing synergies across our Ph.D. programs, evaluating program and student performance, and coordinating curriculum planning and admissions processes. Before joining Pamplin, Cindy served as the Lawrence E. Fouraker Professor in Business and Associate Department Head at Texas A&M’s Mays School of Business. She currently holds the position of Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Management. She is also a representative on the Academy of Management Board of Governors and a Research Fellow at The Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation.

Special Issue Call for Papers for the Journal of Organizational Behavior

“New Perspectives on Diversity and Inclusion Research in Organizations”

Special Issue Guest Co-Editor:

• A.K. Ward – Virginia Tech

Scope of the Special Issue

As more women join the workforce, employees retire later in life, and people migrate across national boundaries, the workforce of many companies is becoming more diverse in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, national backgrounds, and various additional characteristics. There is a long tradition in Organizational Behavior research of investigating how diversity composition (typically in teams) can affect collective processes and outcomes. Arguments in such research often follow a contingency perspective (Guillaume et al., 2015), as we may find beneficial, neutral, or damaging effects of diversity depending on various factors. As a result, a plethora of research has recently focused on the supportiveness of the work climate for diversity and inclusion to help explain these discrepancies (c.f. Cox, 1993; Dwertmann et al., 2016; Holmes IV et al., 2021; Mor Barak, 2016; Nishii, 2013; Shore et al., 2011). Despite these developments, diversity and inclusion research continues to suffer from ambiguous findings, and this literature needs greater development to help guide both scholars and practitioners in understanding how to implement inclusion initiatives that manage diversity in beneficial ways (Bezrukova et al., 2016, Dobbin & Kalev, 2016).

With this special issue, we seek to compile a collection of empirical and conceptual papers that can move the field of diversity and inclusion research forward by addressing some of the literature’s current gaps (a few of which are listed below; see also the review by Roberson, 2019). We welcome conceptual and empirical submissions. We are also open to considering studies with null findings if they are accompanied by robust statistical power, suitable study design, and open science practices (e.g., study pre-registration on public platforms). Appropriate manuscripts may center on various aspects of diversity and inclusion research; for example, we welcome papers that (please note that this is a non-exhaustive topic list):

• Explore complex and multifaceted conceptualizations of diversity, in particular considering an intersectionality perspective at multiple levels of analysis.
• Take a dynamic approach – for example, regarding changes in social-identity processes and diversity perceptions over time.
• Address the “dark side” of diversity and inclusion practices – for example, how well-intended diversity management approaches can have unintended negative consequences (with insight as to how to avoid them).
• Take a multilevel approach, integrating individual, team, organizational, and/or extra-organizational (e.g., community) levels.
• Address how intensifying political polarization among identity and diversity topics affects diversity practices and interactions at work. 
• Examine contexts beyond the commonly studied Anglo-Saxonion and business settings.

Submission Instructions

This is an open and competitive call for papers. We encourage authors to submit their work September 1–30, 2024, through the Journal of Organizational Behavior submissions system.

All manuscripts should be prepared in APA format (7^th Edition) and follow the guidelines for submission.

Each submission will be handled by one of the special issue Editors and receive at least two blind reviews. Feel free to get in contact with the special issue editorial team to discuss your paper ideas before the submission. The special issue is planned to be published in autumn 2026. 

Employee Spotlight

Each employee below has been submitted for this recognition by their colleagues. 

Submit staff and faculty for upcoming issues here: tbprice@vt.edu

Upcoming Events

For more events, check out https://pamplin.vt.edu/events.html