Updates from Diana Bilimoria, Chair, Organizational Behavior (OB) Department
On behalf of the MLOC Program and OB Department Faculty, I am pleased to share that Professor Ellen Van Oosten assumed faculty leadership of the MLOC program on July 1, 2026. Ellen is one of our most respected educators and a defining presence in leadership education at the Weatherhead School, having led coach certificate, custom, and signature programs for executive education for 25+ years. Ellen also built the Coaching Research Lab into a distinctive platform for influential scholarship and evidence-based coaching and leadership development. Ellen brings a rare combination of instructional impact and practical relevance, and a deep understanding of the kind of leaders MLOC is designed to develop. Building upon an enduring legacy created by our faculty and partners over 50 years, the program continues to be well positioned for its next chapter.
Our sincere thanks to Professor Frank Barrett, our outgoing Faculty Director. Over the past 3 years, Frank has shaped MLOC in consequential ways, from refining the current program design to helping form and activate an advisory board. He brought intellectual depth, credibility, and vision to the role. We are grateful for the foundation he built and the community he helped strengthen. Frank will continue to serve as an MLOC program instructor.
I would also like to express our gratitude to four of our long term faculty who have retired this academic year: Professors Corinne Coen, David Cooperrider, Ron Fry, and Chris Laszlo. These four faculty have served as faculty members in the Department for an astounding collective 122 years! Going forward, all have been appointed as emeritus faculty by the CWRU Board of Trustees, and all will hopefully continue to serve as MLOC program instructors for many years to come.
We would like to welcome Professor Lindsey Godwin who has just joined our Department as a faculty member. Lindsey is an alumna of the PhD in Organizational Behavior program at the Weatherhead School of Management. She returns to our Department after having taught for many years at the Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at Champlain College in Burlington, VT. Lindsey will teach in a variety of our educational programs in the coming months and years.
We would also like to welcome Professor John Paul (JP) Stephens, a Department faculty member since 2011, who will teach a teams course in the MLOC program starting in 2026-27.
Finally, a shout out to our MPOD 21 cohort who have just graduated—congratulations and thank you for being such a great final cohort of our MPOD Program! We are proud of your many achievements and look forward to your continuing contributions as alumni of the Department.