Michelle Rene Darnell

Color portrait of Michelle Rene Darnell

Clinical Professor, Director of Tarriff Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility, Director of Honor and Integrity

Department Management and Organization
Office Address 211D Business
Phone Number 814-867-1845
Email Address mzd560@psu.edu

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Dr. Michelle R. Darnell is Director of the newly endowed Tarriff Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, where she also serves as the college’s Honor and Integrity Director and teaches courses in her role as a Clinical Professor in Management. Dr. Darnell’s primary focus is on creating and sustaining practical initiatives that actively engage and bring together University stakeholders with the intent of supporting responsible business activity.

With more than 20 years of experience working in higher education, Dr. Darnell has extensive experience teaching courses on Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Organizational Behavior, as well as creating and implementing co-curricular experiential learning activities for students to develop ethical leadership skills.

In addition to her work at various universities, Dr. Darnell also has worked as an independent consultant for business and government entities that are looking to resolve ethical issues or provide employee centered workshops on ethical decision making and building ethical organizational cultures.

Education

PDBP, Management, University of Florida, 2008

Ph D, Philosophy, Purdue University, 2004

MA, Philosophy, Purdue University, 2001

BA, Biology and Philosophy, The University of San Diego, 1998

Courses Taught

MGMT 497 – Special Topics (Variable)

MGMT 451 – Business, Ethics, and Society (3)
Advanced examination of social, ethical, legal, and economic responsibilities of those who must make and execute challenging business decisions and manage others who do. The course focuses on the knowledge, skills, and perspectives that a leader in business must have in order to navigate the intersection of business, ethics and society. This includes prescriptive frameworks for ethical decision making, an understanding of how people actually make ethical and unethical decisions, strategies for creating and sustaining ethical cultures, and practice addressing real and hypothetical challenges to responsible leadership in business.

MGMT 451W – Bus Eth and Soc (3)
Advanced examination of social, ethical, legal, economic, equity, environmental, public policy, and political influences on managerial DECISIONS AND STRATEGIES. MGMT 451W Business, Ethics, and Society (3) Focuses on the knowledge, skills, and perspectives that a manager must have in order to deal with the social, legal, ethical, and political demands in society. Ecological, ethical, and public policy dimensions of various managerial decisions are examined.

MGMT 596 – Individual Studies (2)

MGMT 496 – Indep Studies (Variable)

Selected Publications

Darnell M. R., Parish N., "Respect, Dialogue, and Innovation: Creating New Ideas and Solutions by Committing to an Ethical Culture." 2023
Darnell M. R., Means T., "Integrity in Business Education." AACSB Insights, 2021, www.aacsb.edu/insights/articles/2021/08/integrity-in-business-education
Themed issue on Societal Impact: Preparing Purpose-Driven Leaders.
Darnell J., Darnell M. R., Gopalkrishnan S., "Drivers of National Differences on Corporate Social Responsibility: the role of dominant ethical thought." International Journal of Business and Social Science, vol. 11, no. 11, 2020
Darnell J. A., Darnell M. R., Means T., "Resistance is futile: using Team Based Learning (TBL) to teach change and create an Idea Champion collective." American Journal of Management, vol. 17, no. 4, 2017
Darnell M. R., "The Pursuit of Happiness." (Palgrave), 2015
Darnell M. R., "Being-Lost-in-Translation." (Oxford: Berghahn Books), 2011
Ricci G., Edison, Darnell M. R., "A New Age of Reason." (Transaction Publishers), 2008
Darnell M. R., "Ethics in the Age of Reason." Sartre Studies International, 2008
Darnell M. R., "Self in the Theoretical Writings of Sartre and Kant: A Revisionist Study." (New York: Mellen Press), 2006
Izzo D., Darnell M. R., "The Dialectics of Spiritual Development in Time Must Have a Stop." (Chicago: Center for Book Culture (Dalkey Archive Press)), 2006
Darnell M. R., "Being-Looked-At: Ontological Grounding for an Ethics in Being and Nothingness." Sartre Studies International, 2004

Research Impact and Media Mentions

"This Philly influencer's virtual academy is helping BIPOC creators navigate pay discrimination. It has a 5200-person waitlist", Philadelphia Inquirer, Newspaper, www.inquirer.com/life/philadelphia-fashion-influencer-bipoc-pay-disparity-20240309.html
"PSU students teach business in local prisons", WTAJ CBS Altoona, Television, www.wearecentralpa.com/news/local-news/psu-students-teach-business-in-local-prisons/
"Online cheating surges during the pandemic; universities struggle to find a solution", San Francisco Chronicle
"Smeal Partners with CBICC Ethical Business Award", Newspaper, www.cbicc.org/uploads/5/8/3/6/58360713/cbicc_smeal_partnership_announcement_v2.pdf

Honors and Awards