UVA Darden Professors Recognized With Awards For Teaching, Research

Matching a feat accomplished by only five University of Virginia Darden School of Business professors before her, Assistant Professor of Business Administration Yael Grushka-Cockayne has been recognized by UVA with an All-University Teaching Award.

During First Coffee on 27 April, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research S.Venkataraman called Grushka-Cockayne’s achievement a “fantastic honor” because she was chosen against nominees from every school at the University. She was one of only nine professors to be honored with the award this year.

“Whether in my classroom, my office or my home, I try to foster a comfortable, nonthreatening environment in which my students feel that they can be themselves, be vulnerable, experiment and take risks,” Grushka-Cockayne told UVA Today in an article announcing the awards .

Grushka-Cockayne has said she began role-playing as a teacher as a young child while growing up in Israel. Her teaching focuses on forecasting, project and project portfolio management, strategic and behavioral decision making, and new product development.

Three of Grushka-Cockayne’s faculty colleagues were recognized with her at a First Coffee celebration when Associate Professor of Business Administration Melissa Thomas-Hunt announced recipients of the Wells Fargo Award for Outstanding Research Publications. The winners are:

• Professor of Business Administration and Batten Executive-in-Residence Edward D. Hess in the category of Significant Publication in Book Form for Learn or Die: Using Science to Build a Leading-Edge Learning Organization , published by Columbia Business School Publishing.
• Associate Professor of Business Administration Pedro Matos in the category of Significant Publication in a Peer-Reviewed, Discipline-Based Journal for “Are U.S. CEOs Paid More? New International Evidence,” published in The Review of Financial Studies.
• Associate Professor of Business Administration Kristin J. Behfar in the category of Significant Publication in a Peer-Reviewed, Discipline-Based Journal for “The Directness and Oppositional Intensity of Conflict Expression,” published in the Academy of Management Review.

Hunt said the professors were honored for research that was published in the most esteemed outlets, used a novel and innovative methodological approach, and will have a wide-reaching impact.

Casey Lichtendahl , associate professor of business administration, was also recognized for winning The Case Centre ’s 2015 Outstanding Case Teacher competition, which was announced in February.