Eric J. Michel (last name pronounced “Michelle”) is an Assistant Professor of Management in the Department of Management at NIU. He earned his Ph.D. in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior from the University of Illinois at Chicago. While pursuing his doctorate, Professor Michel was a Chicago Metropolitan Exchange Scholar at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. A two-time graduate of Bradley University in Peoria, IL, he earned a B.A. in 2004 (double major in Political Science and International Studies) and an MBA in 2007.

Professor Michel’s research program lies at the intersection of careers, the employee-organization relationship, and work engagement. His research seeks to understand the determinants of manager evaluations of subordinate promotability and how promotability impacts subjective and objective measures of career success.  Professor Michel has a particular interest and expertise in the careers of frontline service employees, as he has researched the work experiences of registered nurses, business consultants, and management teams of a national United States-based restaurant chain.

Professor Michel’s research has appeared or been accepted for publication in the Journal of Management, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, Journal of Business Strategies, and Journal of Psychology, among other academic outlets. To date, his research program has generated in excess of $123,000 in research grant funding from organizations including the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation and the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership and received numerous “Best Paper” awards from organizations including the Academy of Management, Southern Management Association, and the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion International Conference.