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Lisa DeFrank-Cole

(She/her)
Professor of Leadership, West Virginia University

Dr. Lisa DeFrank-Cole is Professor and Director of Leadership Studies at West Virginia University. She is an active member of the International Leadership Association, especially the women and leadership member community. Writing about and studying leadership for more than 20 years, she focuses her research and writing on women. She was a Fulbright Specialist Scholar in the Kingdom of Bahrain; awarded the WVU Mary Catherine Buswell prize for service to women, and was recognized as a West Virginia “Wonder Woman” by West Virginia Living Magazine. She was the inaugural Harriet E. Lyon Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and is currently the F. Duke Perry Professor of Leadership at WVU. She is author of the textbook Women and Leadership: Journey Toward Equity (Sage, 2022) with Dr. Sherylle Tan and has produced two co-edited books: Women’s Leadership Journeys: Stories, Research, and Novel Perspectives (Routledge, 2019); and A Research Agenda for Gender and Leadership (Elgar, 2023), also with Sherylle Tan.

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of Leadership Studies, West Virginia University

Honours

Fulbright Specialist Grant recipient