Renée Kathawalla

Education: B.A., University of Notre Dame; M.P.P., Vanderbilt University; Ph.D., Harvard University 

Renée Kathawalla is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Leadership and Organizational Behavior area at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Her research focuses on how unconscious dynamics and defensive behaviors influence learning, growth and change at the individual, group and organizational levels. Her fieldwork has examined large-scale change efforts in institutions central to societal functioning, including education, corrections, and law enforcement. Her work has been published in Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Proceedings and Educational Administration Quarterly.

At Darden, Renée teaches courses across the MBA and Executive MBA programs, including Leading Teams, Negotiations and the Professional Advancement Course. 

In addition to her academic work, she advises organizations in the leadership development space and leads workshops for venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. She also collaborates with companies to design customized executive education programs on leadership and organizational change.

Prior to joining Darden, Renée was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Management at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a Master of Public Policy from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame.