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Working with Leaders: Faculty

The faculty of the Penn State Smeal Executive MBA Program are world-class business leaders and researchers.

In developing the next generation of business leaders, our priority in the Penn State Smeal Executive MBA Program is the quality of both our teaching and your learning experience. Smeal faculty are leaders in their own right. Collectively, they are ranked in the top 25 U.S. research faculties across all disciplines. In strategy, we are ranked 3rd in the country, with two of our professors listed among the top 10 coaches in the world for strategy and leadership.

Our structure ensures you'll have close contact with faculty at all times. You'll be able to work side by side with them on the actual problems that are confronting businesses today. Our faculty reside on site with you for the full weekend. Such unparalleled access to your instructors accelerates your development.

"When you're learning, you want great coaches, and you want to be face-to-face with them. At Smeal, you definitely get both."
Brian Donaldson, General Partner, Edward Jones Investments

We use the same faculty who teach the MBA program on the Penn State University Park campus. Known for thought leadership, as well as practical insight in working together with professionals in industry, these scholars are the driving force of the Smeal Executive MBA Program.


Dr. Fariborz Ghadar Fariborz Ghadar , The William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Management, Policies, and Planning and Director of the Center for Global Business Studies

Fariborz Ghadar has expertise in global corporate strategy and implementation, international finance and banking, and global economic assessment. With a doctoral degree and M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, Ghadar teaches Global Strategy and Finance at Smeal and has served as a consultant to a variety of organizations including BASF, Ericsson, UBS, and the World Bank. Ghadar, one of BusinessWeek's "Top 100 Stars of Finance," was a recipient of AT&T's prestigious 5.0 award for teaching excellence and has also received the Marketing Educator of the Year Award. fghadar@psu.edu
Dr. Dennis Gioia Dennis Gioia , Professor of Organizational Behavior

Dennis Gioia has expertise in the cognitive processes involved in organizational decision making; executive interpretation processes during strategic change efforts; the role of organizational identity, image, and emulation in attempting to manage change; and employee and executive appraisal processes. With degrees in engineering science and management from Florida State University, Gioia is a member of the MBA core faculty and is the faculty director of the Developing Managerial Effectiveness executive education program. Earlier in his career, Gioia worked as an engineer for Boeing Aerospace during the Apollo lunar program and for Ford Motor Company as a problem analyst and recall coordinator. dag4@psu.edu
Dr. Barbara Gray Barbara Gray , Professor of Organizational Behavior and Director, Center for Research in Conflict and Negotiation

Barbara Gray has expertise in the areas of Conflict and Negotiation, Public/Private Partnerships, Environmental and Diversity-Related Disputes, Interorganizational Relations, and Team Conflict. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Dayton, a Secondary Education Certificate from Cleveland State University, and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Gray was a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation during 1987-88, the Katholicke Universiteit Leuven in 1997, and a TVA Fellow at The Darden School, University of Virginia in 1998. She is also a trained mediator. b9g@psu.edu
Duane 'Andy' Gustafson Duane "Andy" Gustafson , Assistant Professor and Director of the Managerial Communication Program at Smeal

Andy Gustafson has expertise in professional presentations, interpersonal effectiveness, conflict management, and team dynamics. With a Ph.D. from Penn State, Gustafson leads a team tasked with developing the communication skills of Smeal MBAs. He is also an associate with Communication Research Associates, which provides communication services and coaching to a diverse slate of clients including television anchors, politicians, lawyers, and corporate executives at firms such as Goldman Sachs, AT&T, IBM, McDonalds, and Lockheed-Martin. dag7@psu.edu
Dr. Donald Hambrick Donald C. Hambrick , Smeal Chaired Professor of Management and Organization

Donald Hambrick has expertise in strategy formulation and implementation, CEOs and top management teams, corporate governance, and executive leadership. With an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a Ph.D. from the Smeal College, Hambrick teaches Strategy Implementation and Organizational Change and was on the faculty at Columbia University before returning to Penn State. His recent book, "Navigating Change: How CEOs, Top Teams, and Boards Steer Transformation," presents leading-edge thinking for leaders who are embarking on corporate change initiatives. Another book, "Strategic Leadership: Top Executives and Their Effects on Organizations," is extensively used by scholars of executive leadership. dch14@psu.edu
Dr. Terry Harrison Terry Harrison , Professor of Supply Chain and Information Systems and Associate Director of Smeal's Center for Supply Chain Research

Terry Harrison has expertise in the areas of supply chain modeling, large scale production and distribution systems, decision support systems, and the management of renewable natural resources. With a Ph.D. in management science from the University of Tennessee, Harrison teaches Supply Chain and Operations Management at Smeal, and he also serves as a key liaison for the college in its ongoing supply chain consulting relationships with the U.S. military. Harrison is editor-in-chief of Interfaces , a leading operations research and management science journal. tharrison@psu.edu
ajj.jpg Austin Jaffe , the Philip H. Sieg Professor of Business Administration and Director of the Institute for Real Estate Studies

Austin Jaffe has expertise in real estate financial theory and analysis, financial contracting, and the economics of urban property rights. With a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Jaffe teaches Economic Analysis of Law and Real Estate Financial Analysis at Smeal and has appeared on programs to give papers at more than 100 institutions in more than 30 countries. The author or co-author of more than a dozen books, he has also served as a consultant to The World Bank, Nordic Council of Ministers, Prudential Realty Group, Eastern European Real Property Foundation, and the Real Estate Research Institute, among other organizations. ajj@psu.edu
Dr. Chris Muscarella Chris Muscarella , Professor of Finance and the L.W. "Roy" and Mary Lois Clark Faculty Teaching Fellow

Chris Muscarella has expertise in corporate finance, initial public offerings, limited partnerships, patents, and venture capital. With a Ph.D. in finance from Purdue University, Muscarella's teaching interests center on corporate finance, and he has won numerous Excellence in Teaching Awards. Prior to coming to Penn State, Muscarella was a senior financial economist with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where he focused on insider trading cases and public policy issues. He has also served as a faculty member at the University of Virginia, the University of Chicago, Southern Methodist University, the University of Utah, the University of Oregon, and the University of Notre Dame. cmuscarella@psu.edu
Dr. Ralph Oliva Ralph Oliva , Professor of Marketing and Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets

Ralph Oliva has expertise in business-to-business marketing and branding, integrated market communications, ingredient branding, and executive education analysis and design. Oliva, who holds a Ph.D. in solid state physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, joined Smeal after 23 years at Texas Instruments, where he was vice president of market communication and design, responsible for global management of the TI brand. Oliva teaches business marketing, e-business strategy, and integrated market communications, and brand management in Smeal's MBA and executive education programs. rao8@psu.edu
Tim Pollock Tim Pollock , Associate Professor of Management

Tim Pollock has expertise in the areas of initial public offerings, the social construction of markets, corporate governance, executive compensation, and managerial cognition and strategic choice. Tim teaches courses on strategic management and power and influence in organizations. He won the Mabel C. Chipman Award for Teaching Excellence from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business in 2002, and was named one of the Top Five MBA professors in 2000 by the Graduate Students Association. Tim earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has taught at the University of Maryland and University of Wisconsin-Madison. txp14@psu.edu
Dr. Linda Klebe Trevino Linda Klebe Treviño , The Franklin H. Cook Faculty Fellow in Business Ethics

Linda Treviño has expertise in the management of ethical conduct in organizations, organizational justice and diversity, discipline, downsizing, and ethical leadership. With a Ph.D. in management from Texas A&M University, Treviño teaches Ethical Leadership. She co-authored the textbook "Managing Business Ethics; Straight Talk About How to Do it Right," which is being used to teach undergraduates, MBAs, and executives, and is in its third edition. She has consulted with a variety of for-profit and non-profit organizations, and in early 2004, Treviño joined other leading business ethics experts from several of the nation's top business schools as a core faculty member of the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. ltrevino@psu.edu
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