27 May 2014

Two HBS Professors Win Wyss Award for Mentoring Doctoral Students

Julie Battilana and Elike Ofek Honored
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(LtoR): Julie Battilana,Elie Ofek

BOSTON—Two Harvard Business School (HBS) faculty members, Associate Professor Julie Battilana and Professor Elie Ofek, recently received the seventh annual Wyss Award for Excellence in Mentoring for their work with students in the School’s Doctoral Programs.

Nominees were chosen by current doctoral students from the array of faculty with whom they had worked. The list of nominees was then reviewed by a student selection committee comprising doctoral students from a number of fields, including accounting, business economics, marketing, management, organizational behavior, and technology and operations management.

“Julie’s substantive knowledge and her willingness to share that knowledge are truly impressive,” said one student about working with Battilana. “Beyond that, she has an amazing ability to help students understand the essential skills of our profession."

“Elie has been an amazing mentor. When he works with you, he is your biggest supporter,” observed another student. “He never hesitates to look on the bright side, and he teaches you how to push forward. ”

Battilana, who won the Wyss Award recognizing the efforts of a junior faculty member, is in the School’s Organizational Behavior Unit, where she teaches the second-year MBA elective course Power and Influence. Her research examines the process by which organizations or individuals initiate and implement changes that diverge from the taken-for-granted norms in a field of activity.

Ofek, who won the senior faculty Wyss award, is the T.J. Dermot Dunphy Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing Unit. He has taught marketing courses in both the first- and second- year MBA program as well as Executive Education programs on the relationship between marketing and innovation. His research explores interactions between research and development and marketing decisions, and he is particularly interested in how companies integrate marketing input when formulating innovation strategy at the new product planning phase.

The Wyss Awards are named in honor of Hansjoerg Wyss (MBA 1965) who, in 2004, established the Hansjoerg Wyss Endowment for Doctoral Education. The Wyss Endowment supports a broad range of efforts to strengthen the HBS Doctoral Programs, including fellowships and stipends for doctoral students, increased support for field research, new doctoral course development, teaching skills training, and the renovation of doctoral facilities on campus.

Contacts

Cullen Schmitt
cschmitt+hbs.edu
617-495-6155

About Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School, located on a 40-acre campus in Boston, was founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University. It is among the world's most trusted sources of management education and thought leadership. For more than a century, the School's faculty has combined a passion for teaching with rigorous research conducted alongside practitioners at world-leading organizations to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. Through a dynamic ecosystem of research, learning, and entrepreneurship that includes MBA, Doctoral, Executive Education, and Online programs, as well as numerous initiatives, centers, institutes, and labs, Harvard Business School fosters bold new ideas and collaborative learning networks that shape the future of business.