Faculty Spotlight: Heather Odle-Dusseau

Today’s faculty spotlight features The David M. LeVan Endowed Chair of Ethics and Management Heather Odle-Dusseau. After arriving in 2008 as an assistant professor, she is the first person in the Management Department to be promoted through the associate level and then to full professor.

Odle-Dusseau received a B.A. in psychology and sociology from Bowling Green State University, and later earned her M.S. in applied psychology and Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology from Clemson University. She has published articles on work-life balance, worker health, and financial insecurity for the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Journal of Business and Psychology, and the Journal of Vocational Behavior, which includes research that was recognized as a COVID-19 resource by the Society of Occupational Health Psychology. She’s most proud of the piece entitled, “The wheel is turning (and you can’t slow down): Financial hardships as gendered experiences and financial insecurity trajectories,” which she presented at the Academy of Management Annual Conference in 2019.

As a scholar and teacher, Odle-Dusseau engages with her students on her research, inspiring them to learn and grow their knowledge and enduring skills in management. Through her classes, Gettysburg students learn how to analyze organizations and business through multiple lenses; support employees in managing work and non-work domains; read and interpret complex research papers and apply results to business, organization, and management situations; and work to alleviate workplace inequities rooted in organizational practices, stereotypes, and biases. She gets to know them both inside and outside the classroom and shares her non-academic interests with them as well, including the Grateful Dead, hiking, and her family.

“What I enjoy most about working here at Gettysburg College is the ability to connect with students in the classroom and watching them learn and grow over their four years here, as well as collaborate with them outside of the classroom on research that we conduct on work-life balance, worker health, financial insecurity, and stress,” Odle-Dusseau said. “It’s really rewarding when you get to see your students present their research at our annual Celebration presentations.”