Management Ph.D. candidate Semin Park, already a stand-out for having her research published in a top-tier journal, has won two more awards, including recognition from a national professional society.

Park, who is expected to receive her Ph.D. in May, was awarded the 2019 Lee Hakel Graduate Student Scholarship from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) at the organization’s annual conference in Maryland earlier this month. The $3,500 scholarship recognizes high achievement and supports the research of grad students interested in industrial-organizational psychology.

In addition, Park received a UConn Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award, part of the 2019 Student Life Awards. The committee was impressed by her contributions to and leadership of the University community and her enhancement of the learning experiences for undergraduates. She coached students about processing the data from her dissertation, training them about the skills needed to function at a graduate level.

Park has accepted a job as an assistant professor at the University of Iowa next fall.

“It has been wonderful to watch Semin grow and flourish to where she is today, a talented and hardworking scholar, a great teacher, and wonderful citizen,” said Professor Lucy Gilson, head of the management department. “Semin is poised to take the field by storm, she asks really interesting and impactful research questions, and has the ability to conduct both theoretical and empirical work.”
“Semin has developed into a consummate professor,” agreed her adviser, Professor John Mathieu. “She does innovative, interesting, and meaningful research. She engages students – not only in the classroom, but also as research assistants and collaborators. And she does all the little things that make her a prime role model for others.”
Park’s primary area of interest is relational dynamics within and between teams. Her dissertation evaluates a multi-method experimental study of the conflict dynamics in a simulated mass-casualty incident with emergency medical response.

She recently had a manuscript based on her qualifying paper accepted by the Academy of Management Review, titled, “A Network Conceptualization of Team Conflict.” She co-authored the paper with UConn Professors Travis Grosser and Mathieu. Having a paper published in a top-tier journal, while still a graduate student, is very rare.

Park was one of only three graduate students inducted into the UConn School of Business’ Student Hall of Fame in March.