Haslam Faculty Member Wins Academy of Management Distinguished Service Award

The Academy of Management (AOM) recently named Sherry Thatcher, Regal Entertainment Distinguished Professor in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business, as the winner of its 2024 Career Achievement Award for Distinguished Service. The honor is a lifetime achievement award that recognizes long-term significant contributions to the management field.

Presenting the award during a virtual ceremony, Diana Billimoria, chair of the AOM Career Achievement Award Committee, recognized Thatcher’s “dedicated, creative and impactful service” as editor of the Academy of Management Review (AMR). Billimoria cited Thatcher’s impact and many contributions, including her efforts to demystify the publication process, broaden the journal’s reach and inclusivity, diversify its editorial team and conduct workshops for potential authors and reviewers.

Award nominators praised Thatcher’s vision, dedication and humility, calling her leadership “inspiring,” “encouraging” and “energizing” and referring to her as “a shining example of service” and “an exceptional scholar and leader in every regard.”

A Commitment to Intentional Inclusion

“It is truly an honor to be the recipient of this award, as there are so many deserving individuals out there,” Thatcher said. “Service is about doing work to help or provide value to others. Even though service activities require a lot of time, attention and energy, when I care about the purpose of the service, I really love doing the activities.”

She expressed gratitude to her parents and grandparents for being “constantly engaged in service activities that reflected the issues that mattered to them.” Thatcher also thanked her AMR editorial team for their dedication to her vision of intentional inclusion, a topic close to her heart.

“I never would have gotten a Ph.D., gotten tenured or had the opportunity to lead a journal without the many individuals who made intentional decisions to include me and to let me know that my voice was important and deserved to be heard,” she says. “I hope that I have passed this gift on to others and given them confidence that their voice matters as well.”

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Haslam College of Business - Haslam Faculty Member Wins Academy of Management Distinguished Service Award