UVA Darden Welcomes 9 Faculty Members Ahead of 2021-22 Academic Year

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business welcomes nine new faculty members for the 2021-22 academic year, with a mix of new and familiar faces adding expertise in academic areas including Finance, Communication, Leadership and Organizational Behavior, Strategy, Operations, and Global Economies and Markets.

World-class teachers and top-flight researchers, the Darden faculty is routinely lauded as the best in graduate business education, bringing a unique blend of student-centricity and proximity to the world of practice.

New Darden faculty members include:

Rustam Abuzov, who joins the Finance area as an assistant professor. His research interests are in empirical corporate finance and financial intermediation. Specifically, he is interested in venture capital and the financing of startup companies. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Russia and his Ph.D. from the Swiss Finance Institute and HEC Lausanne in Switzerland. He also was a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Gabe Adams, who joins the Leadership and Organizational Behavior Area at Darden as part of a joint appointment. She is an assistant professor of public policy and psychology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at UVA. She has taught courses on leadership, power and organizational politics; interpersonal and group dynamics; negotiations; and technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. She has also taught executive education programs for top management teams in both public and private sectors. Adams conducts research on interpersonal dynamics and conflict resolution. A recent focus of her work has been on addressing workplace politics and resolving ethical transgressions through offender punishment, victim compensation, apologies and forgiveness. She also studies prosocial behavior such as charitable donations and gift giving. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Colby College and her Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Tatiana Batova, who joins the Communication area as an associate professor. She previously was an associate professor in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University. A primary focus of her research is user experience: the ways people interact with technologies and how to make them more intuitive and more appealing by studying these interactions and their contexts of use. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tula State Pedagogical University and an additional master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Allison Elias, who joins the Communication area as an assistant professor. She has been in the business school environment since 2012 when she began as a two-year research assistant at Darden. In 2014, she joined the interdisciplinary faculty at the Cornell ILR School. After a two-year postdoctoral research position at the Owen Graduate School of Management, she joined the faculty of the Wharton School as a senior fellow and lecturer in the management department. Her research interests are historical and contemporary issues of gender and diversity in organizations, social mobility, and careers. She received her bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.

Young Hou, who joins the Strategy area as an assistant professor. He recently completed his Ph.D. in the strategy unit at Harvard Business School. He is broadly interested in competitive strategy, nonmarket strategy, and entrepreneurship. His research focuses on how firm positioning and resources dynamically interact in the context of competition. Previously, Young worked as a bond trader at Fidelity Investments in Boston, Massachusetts. Young graduated magna cum laude with high honors from Dartmouth College, where he studied economics and engineering.

Carolyn Miles (MBA ’88), who joins Darden as a professor of practice and will also serve in the role of senior adviser to the dean and executive fellow. In addition to teaching, in her role as adviser, she will advance Darden partnerships with foundations, advise students and faculty on engagement with the social sector, and bring her executive experience to the community. In 2020, Miles retired as president and CEO of Save the Children, the world’s leading child-focused nonprofit, after nearly a decade in the role. In the position, she managed key facets of a complex, global humanitarian organization, led a staff of more than 1,700 and helped lead a successful capital campaign.  In 2015, Miles was recognized by Fortune as one of the Top 50 global leaders in the world.

Dwai Roy, who joins Darden after recently completing his Ph.D. at the Carlson School of Management. He will join the Technology and Operations Management area as an assistant professor. He is particularly interested in studying the mechanisms through which government agencies establish and manage their sourcing relationships with small businesses, examining the implications of legislative provisions that promote the participation of small businesses in the public sector procurement process. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Electrical Engineering National Institute of Technology and his MBA from IIT Madras.

Melissa Thomas-Hunt, who will join Darden in a primary appointment as the John D. Forbes Distinguished Professor of Business Administration with a joint appointment at the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. She is joining Darden from Airbnb, where she served as global head of diversity and belonging, leading the strategy and execution of Airbnb’s global internal diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging programs for its 5,000 employees around the globe. Melissa will bring with her the experience she gained at Airbnb and previously as vice provost for inclusive excellence at Vanderbilt University. In addition to advancing research and teaching, she will serve as a special adviser to the deans of the Darden and Batten Schools in the important areas of belonging and community. At Darden, she will work in close collaboration with Darden’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Office of the Dean to advance Darden as a place where members of the community can achieve their full potential.

Veronica Warnock, who has taught at Darden for many years and has now been appointed as a professor of practice. She is an economist with a background in forecasting, housing finance and development economics. Her research focuses on housing finance systems, bond market development in emerging markets and inclusive finance. Warnock serves as a consultant to international and research organizations, including the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, ShoreBank International and the Bank for International Settlements. She received her bachelor’s degree from Ateneo de Manila University and her Ph.D. from Fordham University.