2008 Fredric M. Jablin Doctoral Dissertation Award Winner
Rita Palrecha

The ILA and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies are pleased to announce the winner of the 2008 Jablin Dissertation Award. The dissertation award was established in 1999 to encourage young scholars to develop research on leadership. It was renamed in 2004 in memory of Jepson School professor Fredric M. Jablin. The recipient of the award receives a $1,000 cash prize from the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, complimentary one year membership to the ILA, complimentary ILA conference registration, and travel expenses to the ILA conference.

Jepson Dean Sandra Peart Presents Rita Palrecha the Jablin Dissertation Award at the 2008 ILA Conference Close

The winner of this year’s Jablin Dissertation Award is Rita Palrecha, for her dissertation “The Transformational Leader Model, the Nurturant-Task Leader Model, and the Unique Local Leadership Model: A Quantitative and Qualitative Competitive Test of Three Leadership Models in India.” Palrecha’s dissertation addresses four issues/assumptions to test the nature of leadership in cross-cultural contexts, i.e. whether leadership is universal or culturally contingent. Her multiple methods and multiple theories empirical research results indicate strong support for a local leadership model, some support for the culturally contingent leadership model, and minimal support for the universal leadership model.

Palrecha is a research affiliate with the Center for Leadership Studies at State University of New York at Binghamton. She received her Ph.D. in May 2008 with a major in Organizational Behavior. Her primary research interests are in the field of cross-cultural leadership research, specifically dealing with the functional, measurement, and methodological issues. Her research interests are cross-level and include interaction of individual-level variables like personality and motive profiles with group-level variables like gender and culture specific to the leadership field.

ILA Vice President Gama Perruci Congratulates Rita After the Ceremony

Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, Rita worked in a corporate training center facilitating training and research for more than 3,000 managerial staff in India. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two sons.

Palrecha presented her dissertation chapter at the ILA Annual Global Conference in Los Angeles on November 13. Crystal Hoyt, Assistant Professor at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and Ronald Riggio, Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology and Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna commented on her presentation. On November 15th at the conference closing, Rita was formally presented with her award.

We would also like to acknowledge this year’s first runner up, Manuel (Manny) Teodoro, for his dissertation “Bureaucratic Ambition: Professional Careers, Personal Motives and Policy Innovation.” Teodoro received his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Michigan and is now an Assistant Professor of political science at Colgate University.

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