Prof Jenny Hoobler from the University of Pretoria’s Department of Human Resource Management has been selected as the Program Chair-Elect of the Academy of Management’s (AOM) Gender and Diversity in Organizations (GDO) division.

Prof Hoobler is an internationally renowned human resource management scholar whose research interests include gender and diversity, leadership, and work-family. The division she will lead comprises over 1700 members and aims to generate and disseminate knowledge about gender and diversity within and outside of organisations, as well as to support social justice through the inclusion of marginalised voices in members’ research and practice.

Although born and educated in the United States, Prof Hoobler is passionate about promoting high quality doctoral research in Africa and is the only member of the GDO’s newly elected leadership team that is based on the continent. “The joys and challenges of living and working in South Africa have given me a strong sense of meaningful work. I am very, very proud of the inclusive, intensive doctoral programme we’ve created across several departments in our Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Our students are now presenting their research at AOM, attending doctoral consortia, and interviewing for jobs in other countries,” she says.

Prof Hoobler explains that part of why she is happy to serve as Program Chair-Elect is because the GDO’s past innovative programmes have truly welcomed international members. “The GDO programmes helping develop doctoral students and helping them market themselves to employers have been innovative and focused on the right goals – service to others,” she remarks.

On her new role she say, “In this uncertain world of COVID-19, I know leading GDO is not going to be easy, as the traditions and the very structure of our meetings are going through significant changes. It will be most important that these changes are made with a careful eye on retaining and expanding inclusiveness in terms of gender, race, sexual orientation, social class, ability and disability, and international membership status. I am up to the task of helping to reinvent GDO and AOM in new and necessary ways.”

Some of her achievements during her nearly 20 years of GDO involvement include serving a term as representative-at-large for the HR division and serving on many academy-level committees, such as the Diversity and Inclusion Theme Committee, as well as many best paper selection committees and awards committees for AOM and various divisions. She has also served on the editorial boards of many journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Personnel Psychology. She recently took on the role of Associate Editor at Journal of Applied Psychology.

Prof Hoobler’s term will commence at the end of August 2020 and will see her embarking on a five year leadership track, that will entail being the Professional Development Workshop Chair-Elect in 2020, Professional Development Workshop Chair in 2021, Program Chair in 2022, Division Chair-Elect in 2023 and ultimately the Division Chair in 2024.

Author Nonkululeko Kubeka Moyo