With a highly successful blending of professional experience in
the public sector, deep community involvement and graduate
education, Monika brings to life the University's
commitment to providing our students with challenging academic
programs which prepare them to create positive change in the
workplace and in society.
Serving in management and leadership roles in three California
cities, Monika brought micro-enterprise, vital retail and service
outlets and many additional economic development opportunities to
local residents and, in particular, to many marginalized people
whose neighborhoods lacked even fresh produce in the local stores.
She worked extensively with non-profit and government agencies as
well as with private companies to "change the world" for people in
the state. Her past work gives her a deep, grounded sense of what
people in each of the three sectors can actually accomplish,
separately and together, and prepares her very well to teach in a
school which prepares men and women to lead and manage in
government, non-profit and for-profit organizations.
Monika's development as a teacher and researcher build
on her background in public service and community involvement.
Working within psychological and psycho-social frameworks, Monika
has (along with two groups of scholars) studied the relationships
between identity and health-risk behaviors of adolescents. She has
extended that work in studies of identity and workplace behaviors,
especially examining self-limiting behaviors of African-Americans,
as well as the interplay of ethnic and gender identity in workplace
behavior. A particular and novel aspect of her work is the
inclusion of multi-ethnic persons and organizations with a majority
of people of color as employees in her research. Her work has led
to two co-authored journal articles as well as a book chapter and a
monograph.
Monika's teaching at USF has ranged across
entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, management and a
half-dozen areas of public administration. She has taught
traditional undergraduates, working adult degree completion
students, MBAs and MPAs. Over the past several years, she has been
one of the leading instructors providing business undergraduates
with service learning opportunities. More than 100 organizations in
the Bay Area have worked with Monika's students so they
could learn through service. For her outstanding success in this,
Monika was recognized with USF's Faculty Service Learning
Award in 2010. Monika also provides leadership to USF's
Gellert Family Business Center and Public Service Internship
Program. Her efforts have been supported by a Jesuit Foundation
Grant and recognized with the School's John Miller Mission
Support and Advocacy Award in 2009.
Like her wide-ranging teaching interests, Monika's own
education is rich and diverse. She studied first at Northwestern
University (B.S. in Communications and Political Science), earned
an MBA at USF, and a Doctor of Management degree from Case Western
Reserve University. She has also pursued graduate work at
USF's School of Education, Cal State University
(Northridge) and Baruch College. Monika received the "Promising
Young Educator Award" in 2007 from the Ph.D. Project's
Management Doctoral Student Association, a Case Western Reserve
University research fellowship and the Mitchell C. Morse
Scholarship Award also from Case Western.
