Fredric M. Jablin Dissertation Award

The Jepson School of Leadership Studies is pleased to announce the winner of the 2008 Jablin Dissertation Award. The dissertation award was established in 1999 to encourage young scholars to develop research on leadership. It was renamed in 2004 in memory of Jepson School professor Fredric M. Jablin.

The winner of this year’s Jablin Dissertation Award is Dr. Rita Palrecha, for her dissertation The Transformational Leader Model, the Nurturant-Task Leader Model, and the Unique Local Leadership Model: A Quantitative and Qualitative Competitive Test of Three Leadership Models in India.” Dr.Palrecha’s dissertation addresses four issues/assumptions to test the nature of leadership in cross-cultural contexts, i.e. whether leadership is universal or culturally contingent. Her multiple methods and multiple theories empirical research results indicate strong support for a local leadership model, some support for the culturally contingent leadership model, and minimal support for the universal leadership model. Dr. Palrecha is a research affiliate with the Center for Leadership Studies at State University of New York at Binghamton. She received her Ph.D. in May 2008 with a major in Organizational Behavior. Her primary research interests are in the field of cross-cultural leadership research, specifically dealing with the functional, measurement, and methodological issues. Her research interests are cross-level and include interaction of individual-level variables like personality and motive profiles with group-level variables like gender and culture specific to the leadership field. Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, Rita worked in a corporate training center facilitating training and research for more than 3,000 managerial staff in India. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two sons.

Dr. Palrecha will present her dissertation chapter at the International Leadership Association Meeting in Los Angeles on November 13. Dr. Crystal Hoyt, Assistant Professor at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and Dr. Ronald Riggio, Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology and Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna will comment on her presentation.

We would also like to acknowledge the first runner up, Dr. Manuel (Manny) Teodoro, for his dissertation “Bureaucratic Ambition: Professional Careers, Personal Motives and Policy Innovation.” Dr. Teodoro received his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Michigan and is now an Assistant Professor of political science at Colgate University.

2009 Call for Submissions

The Fredric M. Jablin Dissertation award is given annually to a scholar(s) whose dissertation research, while on any topic and from any discipline, demonstrates substantial insights and implications for the study of leadership. In order to be eligible for the award competition, a dissertation must be completed between August 1, 2007 and August 1, 2009. The 2009 recipient(s) will be honored at the annual conference of the International Leadership Association, November 11-14, 2009 in Prague, where they will be asked to present their dissertation research. The recipient(s) of the award will also receive the following:  $1,000 cash prize from the Jepson School of Leadership Studies; complimentary one year membership to the ILA; complimentary ILA conference registration; travel expenses to the ILA conference.

All submissions must be received by August 15, 2009. Applicants must submit a letter of interest, a 3-5 page abstract of a substantive dissertation chapter (specifically, the chapter that best represents the dissertation), a brief biography, and verification of the dissertation defense date. Candidates should e-mail submissions as attachments to jepsonaward@richmond.edu. Please do NOT send the dissertation. The award committee will contact semi-finalists to request a full dissertation chapter.

Please visit www.jepson.richmond.edu for more information about the award.

Awards : Jablin Award 2008