Building Confidence as Women

Jonathan Miles

While growing up in Kansas, Jon thought that he would get a job working in information technology and spend the rest of his life happily sitting alone at a computer. Once he had completed a Computer Science degree from Kansas State University and several years in the IT industry, Jon realized that a future in technology without significant interaction with other people was quickly becoming his own private hell. After a short dalliance with managerial roles (and an MBA from KSU), Jon found the love of his life: teaching. He began a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Michigan State University. During his pre-PhD life, Jon held such varied roles as Comic Book Store Owner, UNIX Systems Administrator, Project Manager, and Statistics Instructor.

Despite top-notch training in OB research (and much to the chagrin of his professors), Jon chose to turn away from a research-based life and pursue a career as a teaching-focused professor. He spent three years at the University of Cincinnati, creating, teaching, and managing an undergraduate course on professionalism and ethics before moving on to Rice Business in the summer of 2018. He loves creating interactive classrooms, where students work together with the instructor to teach each other and experience the material directly through personal stories and classroom exercises.

Though his main focus is teaching, Jon has been published in the Academy of Management Journal, serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Organizational Behavior, and is an ad hoc reviewer for Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. His research blends his interests in technology, team processes, and decision-making to examine how members of organizations work together and make decisions in an environment filled with technology and competition for attention.