2025 Award Recipient
Dr. Hun Whee Lee
Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources
Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University
Hun Whee Lee is an Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources at the Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, where he holds the title of the Denman Scholar of Principled Leadership Studies. He serves as the PhD Coordinator for the Organizational Behavior and Human Resources program.
His research focuses on advancing management theories that enable organizational leaders to effectively leverage bottom-up contributions from employees. His work aims to provide a comprehensive and forward-looking roadmap for fostering positive organizational change and building thriving, inclusive workplaces. As of July 2025, he has published 28 peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals.
Dr. Lee received the 2023 Pace Setter Faculty Research Award, the highest research honor bestowed by the Fisher College of Business. He was also named to the Provost Early Career Scholar Professorship, a named title awarded by The Ohio State University to early-career faculty with exceptional promise. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Psychology and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
Beyond this shameless bit of self-promotion, Dr. Lee extends his heartfelt gratitude to the diverse scholars—those he has met in person and those he admires through their writings—whose mentorship and insights have shaped his work. He is especially grateful to those whose dedication and passion continue to advance the field and inspire meaningful progress — little by little, step by step.
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Started in 2019, this NLS award honors a junior academic who is already making a significant contribution to the field of leadership. The intention of the Rising Star Early Career Award is to help promote the work of this highly promising junior scholar. Such recognition should promote networking with senior academics within the field and raise the winner’s profile.
Eligibility
- The applicant/nominee must have completed his or her PhD within the past 5 years.
- The PhD must be on the topic of leadership within the field of Organizational and Industrial Psychology, Organizational Behavior, Management or a related field.
- The applicant/nominee must already have a proven record of publishing in top tier journals and be able to demonstrate a promising pipeline of work going forward.
- Rising Star Early Career Award committee members and previous winners of this award are not eligible.
Application Process
- Self and other nominations are welcome.
- The applicant/nominee’s curriculum vita, including a full publication list
(this can also include papers under review). - A 1 page summary providing a compelling argument for how the applicant/nominee’s research makes a significant contribution to the topic of leadership. This can detail both how work has evolved to date and plans going forward for advancing knowledge.
- A co-author reference (this can either be attached to the application or sent directly).
- Materials must be emailed to: networkleadershipscholars@gmail.com
Committee Membership
The NLS board, in conjunction with the Chair invites committee members with the intent of ensuring a representative committee (in terms of seniority, interdisciplinarity, multiple nationalities, and sex). The role of the Chair is to guide the Committee through its decision and work with the incoming NLS Awards Coordinator (networkleadershipscholars@gmail.com) in organizing the process.
Tentative Deadlines and Timeline
- Materials due mid March of the award year
- Award winner will be notified by July of the award year
- Award will be formally conferred at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting of the award year.
Previous Award Winners
| 2019 | Dorothy Carter |
| 2020 | Fadel Matta |
| 2021 | Jackson Lu |
| 2022 | Jeffrey Lovelace |
| 2023 | Katie Badura |
| 2024 | Timothy Kundro |
This award is selected by an award committee, which is independent of the NLS leadership team. Committee members are selected by the committee chair with support by the NLS liaison group. Committee members are selected with the intent of ensuring a representative committee in terms of seniority, interdisciplinarity, nationality, and sex. The role of the chair is to guide the committee through its decision and work with the NLS liaison in organizing the process. The committee independently reviews the nominations and votes the candidates in rank order. The committee then discusses the top ranked candidate(s) and arrives at a decision.