Like many talented youngsters growing up in the suburbs of New York City, Jill Kern considered an acting career. All Children's Theater, a children's repertory theater company in the city. Today, she watches many of her friends from the group on television, even in movies, but Kern has landed her starring role in the classroom. That is one of the reasons why I decided to pursue an academic career.
Multiculturalism is a theme in the first course and the focus of the second.
One of her teaching philosophies is that in order for students to understand why people behave as they do in organizations, they first must gain insight into what motivates their own actions. From the first day of class, Kern encourages students to reflect on their behavior. To break the ice and help students learn about stereotypes, Kern asks them to find others in the room with certain characteristics, such as fluency in a language other than English, inability to drive a stick shift, or a religious background other than Christianity. Kern's interest in multiculturalism also fuels her research. Most recently, she has been developing a theory of gender relations in organizations.