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Overview

Professor Jamie Callahan

Professor


Affiliations
Affiliation
Professor in the Business School

Biography

Jamie is a feminist, editor, author, mentor, activist, and educator.

Her EdD from George Washington University explored systems of emotion in organisational change. Her PhD from Tilburg University addressed issues of power in Critical Human Resource Development (CHRD).

Jamie’s professional and academic expertise is in the field of human resource development (HRD), which couples organisation studies with adult education. Her work as a scholar is deeply informed by critical management studies and critical pedagogy scholars. In 2014, she received the Laura Bierema Excellence in Critical HRD Award in recognition for being one of the first scholars to broaden the scholarly perspectives in HRD to include a critical theory approach. Her research, teaching, practice, and service is consistently grounded in the ethical question of, “In whose interest does this serve?”

The former Editor of Human Resource Development Review and current Co-Editor of International Journal of Management Reviews, Jamie has published extensively in journals including Human Relations, Organization Studies, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Violence Against Women, Human Resource Development Quarterly, and Human Resource Development International. She has also earned numerous research awards, including the Academy of Human Resource Development 2020 Scholar of the Year Award and 2015 Outstanding Book of the Year Award.

Jamie's research applies concepts of adult learning and organisation studies to address issues of power and privilege in relation to marginalised groups' (especially women's) experiences of leadership, learning, emotion management, and organisational contexts. Her practice includes designing and delivering leadership and organisation development programs, facilitating executive meetings, consulting on organisational learning and change, and designing and implementing equality and diversity programs. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organisations and associations, educational institutions, healthcare companies, and more. Her experiences as a US Air Force officer, serving in local level personnel positions and as a Total Quality consultant on the Air Staff in the Pentagon, inform her interests in helping organisations strive towards equity. 

Jamie believes in learner-centred facilitation grounded in the works of adult education leaders such as Myles Horton and Paulo Freire. She believes that students have within them the knowledge and ability to grow and develop. As an educator, her role is not to talk at students, but rather to challenge and support learners in finding and organising knowledge. Following the precepts of John Dewey and Mel Silberman, she structures her taught modules around engaging students in actively exploring and applying concepts presented through assigned readings. She has been a visiting professor in Saudi Arabia, France, England, and Thailand.

Mini-Biography

Jamie joined Durham University Business School in September 2021 after having held professorial posts at Northumbria University and Drexel University. She also held tenure-track positions at Virginia Tech and Texas A&M Universities, earning tenure at Texas A&M in 2006. A USAF veteran, she served as a personnel officer and member of the Pentagon Air Staff Total Quality consultancy team prior to her career in higher education.

Publications

Chapter in book

Edited book

Journal Article

Supervision students

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