Ellen Van Oosten, Ph.D

Ellen Van Oosten, PhD, received her MBA and PhD from Case Western Reserve University and her BS in electrical engineering from the University of Dayton. Van Oosten worked in engineering for many years before transitioning to academia. She joined the Weatherhead School of Management in 1995 and has held positions of assistant dean for executive education, managing director for custom programs, and most recently a dual-appointment as assistant professor in organizational behavior and faculty director for executive education. She is also director of the Coaching Research Lab, a scholar-practitioner collaboration to advance coaching research she founded with colleagues Richard Boyatzis, PhD, and Melvin Smith, PhD in 2014.

Van Oosten’s research agenda centers on the study of how individuals and organizations learn, change and develop in enduring ways. This interest fuels her curiosity to study topics such as executive coaching, coaching relationships, emotional and social intelligence, leadership assessment and development, developmental relationships and the intersection between individual and organization development. She has published scholarly and practitioner articles, which cover topics such as executive coaching, coaching for sustained individual change and leadership development in organizations. Her publications have appeared in Academy of Management Learning and Education, Journal of Management Development, Organizational Dynamics and Research in Organizational Development and Change.

Van Oosten has presented at numerous institutions and conferences including the Institute for Coaching, Harvard Medical School; Academy of Management; Organizational Behavior Teaching Society; and Columbia University. As an instructor, she teaches in the MBA, executive MBA, master’s of engineering management, law, and undergraduate programs at Case Western Reserve and regularly delivers workshops for executive education clients. She is also a master coach and enjoys inspiring managers and leaders to reach their fullest potential.

Van Oosten received the Best Research Poster Award from the Institute of Coaching, Harvard Medical School in 2013, and in the same year a Best Symposium Award from the Academy of Management Conference.