Zoe Barsness
Zoe I. Barsness, Ph.D. is an associate professor of management at the Milgard School of Business at the University of Washington Tacoma. Her work focuses on negotiation, conflict management and collaboration and explores the impact of new communication technologies, work arrangements, and organization structures on individuals and teams in organizations. Her research has examined the effectiveness of alternative dispute resolution processes, cross-cultural negotiation processes, the influence of gender and technologically mediated communication on negotiation, and the impact of demography, social networks and alternative work arrangements on collaborative processes and team performance. She teaches courses on team dynamics, leadership, negotiation and conflict management, organizational behavior, and strategic human resource management.
Dr. Barsness arrived at the University of Washington Tacoma in the fall of 2000 to join a small, passionate group of business faculty who were developing a new program on a young campus that was less than a decade old. She was drawn by the opportunity to build innovative programs collaboratively with a diverse, cross-disciplinary faculty in partnership with a committed, high-energy staff and a host of enthusiastic community partners. Since her arrival at the UW Tacoma she’s been a dedicated collaborator, helping to build its campus and grow the business program into the Milgard School of Business. As a founding faculty in Milgard’s Master of Cybersecurity and Leadership program and a longtime instructor in its Master in Business Administration and undergraduate business programs, she’s been honored to partner in developing innovative academic programs that expand access to higher education in the South Sound to an inspiring population of diverse, non-traditional student learners seeking to expand their horizons. While at Milgard, she has also served as MBA Program Director and Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Student Affairs.
During her tenure at the University of Washington, Dr. Barsness has been a committed shared governance advocate and faculty leader. She is former director of the UW Leadership Excellence Program, a professional development program for faculty and professional staff. She has served as Chair of the UW Tacoma’s Faculty Assembly, Chair of the University of Washington’s Faculty Senate, and the PAC-12 Academic Leadership Coalition, an organization committed to fostering collaboration between shared governance leaders and staff across the PAC-12 universities. In her academic field, she has served as a Chair of the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management, and President of the International Association for Conflict Management.
Zoe Barsness received her B.A. in Comparative History from Harvard University in 1987 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Organizational Behavior from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1993 and 1996, respectively. Prior to joining the faculty at UW Tacoma, she taught at the Kellogg School of Management and served on the faculty at the Mays School of Business at Texas A&M University. She has been a professor at the University of Washington Tacoma since 2000.
Zoe has consulted to organizations in the real estate, construction, energy, forest products, healthcare, logistics, retail, and software technology industries, as well as municipal governments, the State of Texas, and other non-profit organizations. She has received research grants from the State of Texas, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for International Business Studies at Texas A&M University, the Dispute Resolution Research Center at the Kellogg School of Management, the Negotiation and Teams Resources Institute, the University of Washington Tacoma, and Puget Sound National Estuary Program. Prior to embarking on her academic career, she worked in private-sector management consulting and software development.
Outside of academic life, she enjoys biking, gardening, skiing, hiking and backpacking the mountains and backcountry of the Pacific Northwest with family. She’s been an active volunteer with the Girl Scouts of America, Scouts BSA and a variety of Seattle recreational sports leagues.