Collaborating for Our Future

Barbara Gray is Professor and Smeal Executive Programs Faculty Fellow, Emerita, at the Department of Management and Organization, Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University. Professor Gray has studied multiparty conflict, collaboration, power, and institutional processes within and among organizations over 40 years. She has received two life-time achievement awards for her work which has appeared in prestigious management journals. She is widely known for her earlier book, Collaborating: Finding common ground for multiparty problems. She is a principal mediator in An Olive Branch, and has consulted to public, private and non-governmental organizations worldwide. She earned her Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University, taught at Penn State for 34 years and has held visiting appointments at Harvard Law School University, Utrecht University and University of Hong Kong. In 2016 she received entrustment as a Lay Zen Buddhist teacher in the Soto tradition. Jill Purdy is a Professor of Management in the Milgard School of Business at the University of Washington Tacoma. She earned her doctorate in Management and Organization from Pennsylvania State University. Her scholarly work focuses on institutional dynamics, collaboration and conflict, and social responsibility. Professor Purdy's research appears in management, public administration, and higher education journals. She has held visiting appointments at Bifröst University in Iceland and Aalto University in Finland. In addition to collaborating with university and community partners in her administrative role, Dr. Purdy consults with business, government and non-profit organizations on strategic planning, governance and managing change.