The Department of Management would like to highlight faculty member A.K Ward Bartlett.

Dr. A.K. Ward Bartlett is an associate professor within the Management Department. Dr. A.K. Ward has taught and researched in the fields of Organizational Behavior, Human Resources, Multicultural Diversity Management, International Management, and Management Theory. Dr. A.K. Ward didn’t always want to be a professor and received her undergraduate degree from Sewanee in Psychology and Music. After her undergraduate degree Dr. A.K. Ward worked as a counselor and began her master’s degree from the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. She went on to work in Shanghai, China, where she focused on the intersection between business and psychology. In China, Dr. A.K. Ward worked as a cross-cultural trainer and collected data for her master’s thesis. After the 2008 economic crisis, Dr. A.K. Ward decided to get her PhD from the University of South Carolina and focused on the cross cultural and international perspective on business and psychology. Having a background in international diversity, Dr. A.K. Ward was the Associate Director of The Business Diversity Center at Virginia Tech, where she discovered a passion for domestic diversity.

Dr. A.K. Ward says she has many different favorite parts about her job. She loves the people side of her job where she gets to interact with students and faculty as well as serving on many different committees including the Faculty Senate, President’s Cabinet, and University Council.  Dr. A.K. Ward also loves doing research and she is currently focusing on how the pandemic has affected local, national, and international identities especially with social movements worldwide.

Outside of work, Dr. A.K. Ward is family focused and loves spending time with her husband and 4-year-old daughter, Skyler. Whenever she gets the chance, Dr. A.K. Ward likes to go to restaurants such as Avellinos, Gauchos, and The Palisades Restaurant. Dr. A.K. Ward chose Virginia Tech due to Virginia Tech’s great reputation for being a research university, the world class faculty and people, and Blacksburg being a great place to raise a family.

Dr. A.K. Ward’s advice to incoming Pamplin freshman would be to simply “recognize college is not just about the classes. Try to get the whole experience of college and find out where your interests lie.”