Press Release

UA professor recognized for distinguished service

Barbara Gutek career focused on integration of social psychology and the business world

TUCSON, Ariz. – July 18, 2006 – Barbara Gutek, professor at The University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, was recently presented with the Distinguished Service Award by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). A member for nearly half of its 70 years, and instrumental in guiding the organization through its restructuring in the 1990s, she was honored at the Society’s biennial conference in Long Beach, Calif. on June 23, 2006.

Unique in an organization made up predominantly of psychologists, Gutek is a professor in the Department of Management and Organizations at the Eller College, a business school. “Barbara Gutek has had a distinguished career at the crossroads of social psychology and the world of business. She has encouraged us all to think about the social issues unique to the private sector and the increasingly global economy,” states the citation read at the conference. “She has believed passionately in SPSSI’s mission to balance advocacy and research, once referring to this balancing act as a ‘delicate and deliberate matter,’” adds the citation.

Effectively integrating psychological research with business issues, Gutek's work has focused on women in the workplace and more recently on life balance. She is frequently called upon as an expert witness, particularly in sexual harassment cases. Last semester she taught a course on Work and Non-Work, balancing work and home.

SPSSI serves as consultant to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, and is frequently asked to brief Congress on topics such as the environment and child labor. “Its mission is to get the members’ research out there,” said Gutek. “SPSSI was the first professional organization I joined and it is the one that has brought me the most satisfaction. I am pleased and surprised to be recognized,” she added.

Gutek joined SPPSI, a division of the American Psychological Association, as a graduate student at the University of Michigan upon the urging of her dissertation advisor, the late Daniel Katz. She followed closely in Katz’s footsteps, holding numerous leadership positions in the organization, including secretary-treasurer (1992-1996) and president (1997-1998).

About SPSSI. A division of the American Psychological Association, SPSSI is an international group of over 3500 psychologists, allied scientists, students, and others who share a common interest in research on the psychological aspects of important social issues. SPSSI was organized during the Great Depression in order to bring together a “national group of socially minded psychologists” to address social and economic issues. In various ways, the Society seeks to bring theory and practice into focus on human problems of the group, the community, and nations, as well as the increasingly important problems that have no national boundaries.

The Eller College of Management at The University of Arizona is internationally recognized for pioneering research, innovative curriculum, distinguished faculty, excellence in entrepreneurship, and social responsibility. U.S.News & World Report ranks the Eller undergraduate program #12 among public business schools and five of its departments are among the top 25 — Entrepreneurship, MIS, Marketing, Management and Organizations, and Accounting. The MPA program in the School of Public Administration and Policy ranks in the top 50. Financial Times ranks the Eller MBA full-time program #27 in the U.S. and #57 in the world, and Forbes ranks the program among the top 50 nationwide. The College leads the nation’s business schools in generating grant funds for research. In addition to a full-time MBA program, the Eller College offers an evening MBA program, and the Eller Executive MBA. The Eller College of Management supports more than 5,100 undergraduate and 600 graduate students on the UA campus in beautiful Tucson, Arizona.

Press Contact:
Liz Warren-Pederson, Eller College of Management
520.626.9547, news@eller.arizona.edu