Women at Eccles

• Program: Full-Time MBA
• Graduation Year: 2019
• Undergraduate: B.S. in Hospitality Management, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• MBA Internship: Junior Marketing Manager, Hammerton

“Being in the program gives you an element of credibility that people respect. At my internship, I am able to talk about the strategy behind our decisions. I know they are the right things for us to do, and people stop and listen to me. I now feel confident sharing my ideas.”

• Program: Professional MBA
• Graduation Year: 2017
• Undergraduate: B.S. in Psychology, Brigham Young University
• Current Job: Senior Management Consultant, Kalypso

“The plethora of women’s initiatives, the women involved in this program, the leadership from women in this program, has spoken volumes in terms of the University of Utah’s support of women in this field, in this discipline.”

• Program: MBA Online
• Graduation Year: 2016
• Undergraduate: B.S. in Accounting, University of Utah
• Current Job: Owner, Best Practice Consulting

“Education is valuable. It is something that you earn and can’t be taken away from you. The caliber of the faculty in the program is outstanding. I was able to take what I learned each week and utilize it immediately. The online option offers great flexibility and a meaningful class experience.”

• Program: Executive MBA
• Graduation Year: 2017
• Undergraduate: B.S. in Accounting, Weber State University
• Current Job: CEO, Olive Founders

“Because of what I learned, the skills I acquired, and the amazing people I now call my friends, my life has taken a whole new trajectory since completing the program. My advice – it’s up to you what you get from this incredible opportunity.”

• Department:Entrepreneurship and Strategy
• Title: Professor (Lecturer)

Bonita Austin is an Professor (Lecturer) and Assistant Department Chair for the Entrepreneurship & Strategy Department in the David Eccles School of Business. Since joining the DESB in August 2008, Ms. Austin has received 4 teaching awards. The awards included the Brady Award for Superior Teaching and the Marvin J. Ashton Award for Teaching Excellence. In addition, she received two awards for leadership in ethics education. The courses she teaches include the capstone Strategic Management course for undergraduates, Advanced Strategic Management (Honors), Competitive Strategy (MBA/PMBA), Principles of Management, International Business, Business Scholars, and Managing Organizational Change.

• Department: Management
• Title: Associate Professor (Lecturer)

Dr. Kathryn A. Cañas is a member of the Management Department in the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. Her teaching currently includes courses on managing diversity, business communication, and pedagogical theories and practices on both undergraduate and graduate levels. Her teaching has included courses on rhetorical criticism and theory, public speaking and persuasion, interpersonal communication and coaching, written communication, gender and communication, and writing for publication. She has presented a number of papers at national and regional conferences and is the author of Opportunities and Challenges of Workplace Diversity: Theory, Cases, and Exercises published by Prentice Hall.

• Department: Management
• Title: Associate Professor (Lecturer)

Dr. Jennifer Cummings is a certified conflict mediator and emotional intelligence consultant. Cummings’ areas of research include interpersonal and professional communication, leadership, conflict management, team relations, and public speaking, among others. Her papers have won several top paper awards from the Western States Communication Association and the National Communication Association, and she has been recognized at the David Eccles School of Business with the Daniels Fund Leadership in Ethics Education Award and the Brady Faculty Superior Teaching Award.

• Department: Management
• Title: Associate Professor (Lecturer)

Dr. Jennifer Cummings is a certified conflict mediator and emotional intelligence consultant. Cummings’ areas of research include interpersonal and professional communication, leadership, conflict management, team relations, and public speaking, among others. Her papers have won several top paper awards from the Western States Communication Association and the National Communication Association, and she has been recognized at the David Eccles School of Business with the Daniels Fund Leadership in Ethics Education Award and the Brady Faculty Superior Teaching Award.

• Department: Management
• Title: Associate Professor (Lecturer)

Dr. Patricia (Trish) Gorman is Managing Director of the Goff Strategic Leadership Center at the David Eccles School of Business at University of Utah, where she also teaches Strategy. Dr. Gorman is an accomplished educator, author and consultant whose passion is bridging the gaps between the classroom, the team room and the boardroom by helping individuals and organizations build the skills needed to execute innovative growth strategies in dynamic environments. She is a popular keynote speaker and consults to diverse organizations on topics related to strategic leadership, growth and innovation.

• Department: Marketing
• Title: Associate Professor and Former Chair

Dr. Teresa Pavia is an active researcher in product management, new product development, consumer behavior, pricing, and in the intersection of consumer behavior and health care. Among her publications are articles in the Journal of Consumer Research; Journal of Marketing; Journal of Macromarketing; Journal of Marketing Management; Consumption, Markets and Culture; and Management Science. She has also served on the board of the Pitney Bowes Bank for 18 years.

• Department: Marketing
• Title: Professor (Lecturer), Director of the Marketing Lab, Director of Business Scholars

Andrea Thomas recently joined the University of Utah after a 23-year career in brand management, retail marketing, innovation, and sustainability. Her previous positions include Senior Vice President of Marketing at Walmart and Vice President of Global Chocolate for the Hershey Company, as well as 13 years in brand management at PepsiCo.

• Department: Operations and Information Systems
• Title: Assistant Professor

Vandana Ramachandran’s research interests lie in the domain of information systems economics – specifically the impacts of information asymmetry and frictions in electronic markets, and the new and emerging crowd-based electronic markets. Her work is published in Information Systems Research and Journal of Management Information Systems and has been presented at several peer-reviewed conferences. She is also the recipient of research grants from the Net Institute, the Stempler Award for Research, and the Dean’s Fellowship for Summer Research.