BOZEMAN — A faculty member in Montana State University’s business college has been recognized for her excellence and potential as a scholar.

Brooke Lahneman, visiting assistant professor of management in the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship, was one of four individuals to receive the 2022 Ascendant Scholar Award from the Western Academy of Management. Lahneman received the award March 18 during the association’s annual conference. The West Coast affiliate of the Academy of Management gives the award each year to a handful of early career scholars who have an exemplary record of research, teaching and service — and even greater potential.

"The Ascendant Scholar award recognizes early career scholars with no more than seven years since Ph.D. graduation,” according to materials accompanying the academy’s call for award nominations. “While excellent teaching and service are appreciated, we are primarily seeking to acknowledge ‘ascendent’ international scholars as evidenced by the quality of their published scholarship in top-tier publications. In addition, we seek scholars with an overall research trajectory that looks promising for future continued productive endeavors." 

Lahneman, who came to MSU in 2020, is the first professor from MSU to receive the Ascendant Scholar Award. She researches how organizations can navigate increasingly complex environments in sustainable ways, such as pursuing sustainable business models, and how an organization’s culture and identity shape more sustainable practices. She teaches courses in strategy, management, international business, and sustainability.

“Dr. Lahneman is on pace to be one of the most productive scholars in the Western Academy of Management,” her nominators, including three of her MSU colleagues, wrote. “Her significant contributions to scholarship in sustainability and social entrepreneurship place her with the top scholars in the country in their fifth year after graduate school. Not only has she maintained a productive research stream but she has done so while excelling in the classroom and sustaining meaningful mentoring relationships with many students.”

Among other accomplishments, Lahneman has had five articles published in top-tier peer-reviewed journals, including the Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, and Organization Studies. Also notable are eight conference proceedings, articles, chapters and reviews, as well as another co-authored article published by the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

“These (publications) speak to the quality of her work, her independence as a researcher and her affinity for collaboration in the research enterprise,” her nominators wrote.

In addition, Lahneman is highly regarded as an excellent and engaging teacher. Over the past four years, she has designed and taught nine courses across three universities, including MSU, the University of Oregon and Simon Fraser University. She has been recognized for excellence in teaching from all three institutions. At MSU, last fall she received the Professor of the Year award from the college’s current Master of Science in Innovation and Management students for her excellence in teaching.

She has a Ph.D. in management, a Master of Business Administration and a bachelor’s degree in economics and foreign affairs.