Prior to entering the teaching field, Quinetta Roberson worked as a financial analyst for CoreStates Bank in Philadelphia. Now, immersing herself in teaching and research and loving both, she realizes the boundary between her “life” and “work” no longer exists.

When CoreStates was in the midst of downsizing, Quinetta assessed what she loved and what she did best. The answer to this question, which was school, led her to explore academe as a career. She had several good offers, including one from her alma mater, the University of Delaware, but, says Quinetta, “I had to shoot for the stars.” Happily for the ILR School, shooting for the stars brought her to Cornell two years ago, as an assistant professor in the Department of Human Resource Studies. Her research interests revolve around issues of organizational justice and strategic diversity management.

Quinetta faced some challenges discovering her niche in a small town after being a city phenom. “I had to find my way,” is how she explains her process of active planning to get involved in life in Ithaca. By deciding to try one new activity each week, such as following the local wine trail, auditioning for a local movie, exploring the gorges, or visiting the local parks, she immersed herself in the community. Her advice to current students is similar: take advantage of all Cornell has to offer, explore all the wonderful opportunities, get involved, find your way.

Roberson finds Cornell’s principles of academic freedom translate into lots of guidelines but few actual rules. She had to find her way in this regard as well, and did so by establishing her own consistent guidelines for grading and student expectations. Because Quinetta’s approach to teaching and her actual classroom atmosphere are informal and fun, some of her students initially imagined, incorrectly, that she wasn’t demanding. She describes her expectations as very high. Feedback from her students made it clear that many expected higher grades from her. In this respect and on other issues, Roberson has found that “Cornell students are more willing to challenge you.” Given this feedback and her personal interest in organizational justice, she addressed the issue by explicitly outlining expectations in the course syllabus and providing detailed guidelines for all course projects. She continues to strive to ensure fairness in instruction and grading processes and believes that her initiatives have raised the level of her students’ performance.

Quinetta believes that participation and interaction are an essential part of the learning process. Her goal is for her classroom to be an environment in which all students have the opportunity to participate and feel comfortable in doing so. She collects pictures and information on student interests during the first week of class to get to know them. This process helps her tailor class discussions to meet the diverse needs of her students. “I believe that in demonstrating an enthusiasm and energy for the subject matter, students may develop the same level of interest in the subject and my class.” Quinetta has been successful in engaging students through her teaching methods, which vary from lectures to readings, cases, and class discussions. Her excitement about teaching is equally palpable.

Her class repetoire includes HR 560: Human Resource Management and HR 667: Employee Relations & Diversity. ILRHR 560 informs students of basic concepts and topics in human resource management (HRM), and brings them to an appreciation of the importance of HRM to organizational performance and competitiveness. In addition, the course is designed to help students develop skills around managing human resource issues in organizations and build their critical thinking and problem solving capabilities. Students complete several projects, including an individual case analysis that describes how the course content helps solve realistic business problems, and a team project that involves consulting work with a real-world organization. Quinetta has attempted to increase the practical value of the course by having her students work on current human resource issues with nearby organizations. For example, during the spring 2000 semester, students reviewed and revised the employee handbook for the Village of Dryden. During the fall of 2000, students worked on a consulting project with Corning, Incorporated in which they researched career branding. Last spring, students worked with the City of Ithaca to research and provide recommendations on using psychological testing for its police force.

Quinetta holds a PhD in Organizational Behavior from the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland at College Park and an MBA in Finance and Strategic Planning from the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh. She earned her undergraduate degree, in Finance and Accounting, at the University of Delaware. In addition to supervising interns, independent study projects and graduate students, she frequently does organizational assessments and interventions. She actively lectures and consults on matters within the arena of her expertise and participates in several professional associations. She is the faculty advisor for Cornell’s Minority Business Students Association, serves on the Membership Committee for the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and has participated on ILR’s Computing Committee.

Excitement and enthusiasm pervade Roberson’s life outside of work, too. Quinetta describes herself as an extreme sports enthusiast; thrills include whitewater rafting, snowboarding, bungee-jumping and skydiving. Lugeing is next on the list of challenges Roberson has compiled to broaden her sports experiences. She freely admits, “Some would call me an adrenaline junkie.” In fact, some might compare the adventure of beginning to teach to the rush of flying down a tube on a sled. They are both challenges overcome with thought, skill, and energy, talents that Roberson possesses in abundance.

—ILR Connections, Winter 2002