Ellen Ernst Kossek

Ellen Ernst Kossek is the Basil S. Turner Distinguished Professor at Purdue University’s Mitch Daniels School of Business. She holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, an MBA from the University of Michigan, and a BA with honors from Mount Holyoke College. A leading social scientist and workplace expert, she served as the first elected President of the Work-Family Researchers Network and is a Fellow of the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, and the Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology. Dr. Kossek has received awards for research, teaching, and service excellence to advance gender equality, inclusion, and work-life flexibility and support in employing organizations and society.

Dr. Kossek's current research examines initiatives to 1) advance work-life equality; 2) improve the implementation of flexibility and work-life policies (e.g., hybrid and remote working, maternity/sick leaves, control over work-life boundary; and 3) design, deliver and evaluate leadership and organizational interventions to help employers adapt to the future of work. She has developed an assessment and training to help individuals and teams manage their work-life connectivity and boundary management styles; and training for managers to learn how to adopt family and personal life supportive behaviors for policies and cultural support of flexible working. She recently served on a National Academy of Sciences expert panel on the need to enhance policies and practices for supporting family caregivers working in science, engineering and medicine. A recent Harvard Business Review article on the future of flexibility was selected as a “must read” for 2023.

Dr. Kossek has been invited to give talks to managers and students in well over a dozen countries round the world. Prior to becoming a professor, she worked on human resource issues for major corporations in the U.S., Europe and Asia.