Avan Jassawalla

Dr. Jassawalla completed her Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 1996 (major in Organization & Management, Minor in Training & Human Resource Management) and joined SUNY Geneseo’s School of Business in August 1999.  She teaches Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management to undergraduates and Leadership in Organizations to graduate students at Geneseo.  Prof. Jassawalla earned the award for outstanding teacher given by the School of Business’ advisory council in 2004, the award for outstanding research in 2004 and 2009, and the award for outstanding service in 2005.  She serves as faculty advisor to SUNY Geneseo’s student chapter of SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) which has won the Merit Award (given out by the national SHRM organization in Alexandria, VA) five of the past seven years.  Prof. Jassawalla is also the Director of Graduate Advisement and provides Geneseo students with information and advice on applying to graduate business programs such as the MBA and M.S. in Accounting.

 Dr. Jassawalla has varied research interests and has developed three research streams: managing new product development processes, international HRM, and effectiveness of student teams.  She has published over 20 articles in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals including The Academy of Management Executive, The Academy of Management Learning & Education, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Human Resource Management, and California Management Review.  Professor Jassawalla has also worked on research projects with Geneseo students, two of which were published in scholarly journals – S.A.M. Advanced Management Journal and Management Decision. She is a member of two professional organizations – The Academy of Management (AOM) and Society for Human Resource Management.  She serves as reviewer for the AOM’s annual conference and for several scholarly journals including Journal of Product Innovation Management, Management Decision, and California Management Review.

 Dr. Jassawalla has been active in service to the School of Business and the college at Geneseo.  She has served as a member of various committees (student services, recruitment, personnel) and as Chair of the Curriculum Committee (2004-2010) in the School of Business.  She has been a formal mentor to two business faculty and convened meetings of the business advisory council’s curriculum sub-committee on management.  She has presented faculty development workshops to business faculty on varied topics such as team-building, strategies for publishing scholarly articles, faculty-student research partnerships, increasing professional behavior among students, and utilizing peer evaluations to increase the effectiveness of classroom teams.  At the College level, Prof. Jassawalla has served on the College Senate and chaired the Professional Leave Review Committee.  She has presented a workshop on team-building to faculty across the Geneseo campus and will be presenting another one on recognizing and resolving social loafing in classroom teams on March 9, 2011.  Dr. Jassawalla is currently SUNY Geneseo’s representative on the United Nations Global Council (UNGC).