Dr. Kimberly Reeve Brings Business Beyond the Classroom

Associate Professor of Business Dr. Kimberly Reeve finds creative ways to involve her students and fellow faculty in her cross-disciplinary research. As a result, she’s been invited to share their scholarship in publications and presentations across the world, from Hong Kong to Lisbon.

Reeve teaches seven different business and nonprofit courses at King’s, bringing over 25 years of experience working as a management consultant as well as leading development and marketing teams at global and national organizations.

In her ethics class, she draws on examples from her work with Christian and secular organizations. She probes her students to use biblical principles to talk through how they might have handled some of the situations she has faced. “I share a lot of personal experiences,” she says. Her candor fosters personal and professional bonds with students not relegated to the classroom. As the faculty advisor for the House of Queen Elizabeth I, she also mentors non-business students who are sorting out personal and work-related challenges.

Reeve’s mentorship has had tangible effects on her students. After taking her class on negotiations, Juliarose Childs (Business Management ’19) and Laura Paradis (Business Management ’19) developed their own business called Fe | Negotiations to teach women and minorities how to advocate for themselves when applying for a job, signing a contract, and negotiating a salary.

Since joining the College in 2016, Reeve has collaborated with King’s students and faculty on half a dozen research projects published and presented at conferences across the globe. With topics ranging from the role of earned income in nonprofit organizations to corporate sustainability in the sub-Saharan oil industry, the research reflects Reeve’s self-described “unique and bizarre” interests. These projects have opened the doors for students seeking research opportunities.

For these collaborative projects, Reeve chooses a topic that she wants to explore, “then finds the skills I don’t have,” she says. For one research project on diversity in master’s business programs, she partnered with Dr. Dami Kabiawu, whose academic strengths include quantitative analysis. King’s colleague Dr. Jared Pincin lent his economic perspectives and writing experience to another paper about corporate social responsibility in the extractive industry in Africa. Reeve says she enjoys the challenge of independent research projects that allow her to “learn more and tap into someone else’s expertise.”

In turn, her collaboration with students has offered them opportunities to hone their research and academic writing skills, and has provided impetus for further research on Reeve’s part. Her paper on social impact bonds, co-authored by finance adjunct Michael Hrynuik and business management major William “Scott” Devine (’19), was an extension of Devine’s senior project, which Reeve mentored and continued through research of her own. Another paper was an extension of her doctoral dissertation.

Still other research projects have been prompted by Reeve’s work outside of King’s. Reeve teaches graduate students at the International School of Management and is chair of ISM’s diversity committee. She says, “One of the things we wanted to do was look internally at how their very diverse student body is (or is not) succeeding.” This question is what prompted her collaboration with Kabiawau.

When Reeve announced the topic in a class and presented the opportunity to help with research, her student Emily Bingham (Finance ’18) was intrigued. Bingham says, “I jumped at the opportunity to work with two of my favorite professors and women I admire. Dr. Kabiawu was performing the quantitative research portion of the project and Dr. Reeve was spearheading the writing—talk about a dream team!”

Additionally, all of the students involved are Christians with natural curiosity and developing research skills. Reeve says,

All have gained an understanding of the academic writing process. Also, students have been able to dive more deeply into areas that are of interest to them. Ollie Garrett (Business Administration ’18) was able to use his internship with Matt Sherwood, a King’s Fellow, to gain insights into how we should structure the paper on corporate social responsibility.

Reeve’s then-faculty assistant Sami McClish (Business Administration ’18), who assisted with research, writing, editing, and the creation of a PowerPoint presentation for Reeve’s paper on earned income in the nonprofit sector, says, “Dr. Reeve taught me a lot of professional-level critical writing, thinking, and speaking skills. She approaches teaching opportunities with poise, passion, and patience.”

Reeve says that her collaboration with students and other faculty has been mutually beneficial. Her cross-disciplinary research gives her a platform on the international stage and among secular professionals. “I love being able to interact with other researchers around the world, and one key way to do this is to always have research that can be presented at international conferences,” she says. “It’s great to be able to provide a Christian voice and commentary in a research discipline that is often void of faith.”