2016 Best 40 Under 40 Professors: Erin Reid, Questrom School of Business

Erin Reid of Boston University's Questrom School of Business

Erin Reid of Boston University’s Questrom School of Business

Erin Reid

Assistant Professor, Organizational Behavior and Peter Paul Career Development Professor

Questrom School of Business, Boston University

Want to know when you’ve “made it” as an academic? Ask Questrom’s Erin Reid, whose research on ideal employee workloads leaped from the pages of Organization Science to a feature article with the New York Times. The acclaim led her to being shortlisted for the Thinkers50 “Radar Award”(up-and-coming academics).

While Reid has seen her work reach the masses, her greatest achievements often come in the smaller venue of a classroom, where her most acts of kindness create the biggest ripples, writes one student. “She will always be the professor who will lend a welcoming hand to any student in need of her advice and her expertise and even the friend outside of the classroom who will laugh with you about anything at all. With her elegance, charm and warm poise, she led class with incredibly efficiency but even more impressive effectiveness that I am certain each of her students will realize for years on end.”

Age: 35

At current institution since: 2012

Education:

PhD, Organizational Behavior & Sociology, Harvard University, 2012

A.M., Sociology, Harvard University, 2009

M.Sc., Organizational Behavior, Queen’s University, 2004

B.Comm., McMaster University, 2003

Courses you currently teach: The Dynamics of Leading Organizations; Careers, Identity & Leadership

Professor you most admire: I am unable to choose just one! Robin Ely, Michel Anteby, Peter Marsden and Julian Barling are brilliant, kind and wise scholars.

“I knew I wanted to be a b-school professor when…I realized the job would involve pursuing fun and important research and working with fascinating people.”

“If I weren’t a b-school professor…I’d run a coffee shop with excellent coffee.”

Most memorable moment in the classroom or in general as a professor: In my first semester teaching at Boston University, some of my students did a project on the local Shriners Hospital for Children. Their project was incredibly insightful, and it really showcased the great work the hospital does for sick children. I felt so privileged to be working with such smart, thoughtful students.

What professional achievement are you most proud of? It was pretty darn cool to have my research profiled in the New York Times.

What do you enjoy most about being a business school professor? The freedom to study what I believe to be important, and the opportunity to bring my research into the classroom.

What do you enjoy least about being a business school professor? Smartphones in classrooms. Just turn them off!

Fun fact about yourself: I paid for university by spending summers working in a nursing home.

Favorite book: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Favorite movie: The Departed

Favorite type of music: Whatever’s playing on 92.5 The River in Boston. They choose well!

Favorite television show: The Americans

Favorite vacation spot: Vancouver

What are your hobbies? Yoga, reading, picking up my children’s lego

Twitter handle: @erinmariereid1

“If I had my way, the business school of the future would have…greater opportunity for students to consider unconventional career paths.”

Her students say…

“Professor Reid was uniquely positioned to bring both traditional classroom learning, while fostering a group dynamic that promoted collaboration and growth in a peer-to-peer learning format. Organizational behavior is a topic typically taught in a textbook format. Professor Reid was able to distill the importance of organizational behavior, by allowing us to understand organizational and individual roles in an experimental setting. Through simulations and thought exercises, she put her students in situations typically faced by companies, and gave us the tools to understand the importance of communication and networks within a team environment. We came to key organization behavior theories by doing and engaging with one another, rather than just reading from a textbook. I look forward in using the insights and knowledge we learned through Professor Reid, to help strengthen my understanding of team networks and dynamics.”

Anonymous Student

Within the course of a semester Professor Reid had not only taught me what it means to create for myself a work environment that leads to success, but also what it means to establish myself in a place that would allow long-term happiness. She will always be the professor who will lend a welcoming hand to any student in need of her advice and her expertise and even the friend outside of the classroom who will laugh with you about anything at all. With her elegance, charm and warm poise, she led class with incredibly efficiency but even more impressive effectiveness that I am certain each of her students will realize for years on end.”

Anonymous Student

DON’T MISS: THE COMPLETE LIST: POETS&QUANTS’ 2016 MOST OUTSTANDING B-SCHOOL PROFS UNDER 40

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.