2025 MAOL Julie Belle White-Newman Award recipients

The prestigious award recognizes exceptional capstone projects in the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership program.
A portrait of Maura Bremer Peterson. She is smiling and wearing an olive green turtleneck, brown blazer, and a gold necklace. Her hair is down.

Maura Bremer Peterson MAOL’24, 2025 recipient of the MAOL Julie Belle White-Newman Award. Photo by Evan Taylor Studios.

The Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership (MAOL) program announces the 2025 recipients of the Julie Belle White-Newman Award for Outstanding Leadership Research. This prestigious award, established in 2008 by former program director Rebecca Hawthorne, PhD, honors Julie Belle White-Newman, PhD (1923–2017), co-founder of the MAOL program and program director from 1985 to 1993.

The award recognizes exceptional MAOL capstone projects, evaluated based on project quality, paper quality, presentation quality, and project management and leadership.

2025 Award Winner: Maura Bremer Peterson MAOL’24

Cultivating Joy in Dispersed Employees: A Proposed Model for Organizational Leaders
Bremer Peterson’s action research explores how organizational leaders can cultivate joy in remote and hybrid work environments to improve employee engagement, collaboration, and retention. Her study, based on surveys and a “joy assessment†at a mid-size consulting firm, offers actionable insights for fostering a positive and connected workplace despite the challenges of remote teamwork, such as isolation and communication barriers.

A portrait of Michelle Sherman. She is smiling and wearing glasses, a turqouise blouse, and a silver necklace. She has a blonde bob.

Michelle Sherman '24. Photo by Profeshie Studio

2025 Honorable Mention: Michelle Sherman ’24

Supporting Nonprofits and their Leaders to Increase Mission Impact: Major Insights from a Practicum with a Nonprofit Intermediary
Sherman’s practicum research in nonprofit strategic planning identified the key factors that influence mission impact for nonprofit organizations. Through her work at a nonprofit intermediary firm, Sherman analyzed strategic planning processes with seven NPOs, highlighting the importance of effective facilitation, flexible planning, ethical community engagement, and co-leadership models. Her research provides valuable insights into improving organizational effectiveness and leader well-being.

Please join Íæż½ã½ã and the MAOL program in congratulating Bremer Peterson and Sherman for their outstanding research contributions. Their work continues to inspire and elevate the MAOL community.

A special thank you to Deb DeMeester EdD, MDiv, who chaired the selection committee this year, as well as committee members Kira Dahlk, Stacy Dean, PhD, Elizabeth Tegeler, MLIS, and Amanda Steepleton MAOL’21 for their thoughtful evaluation of this year’s nominees.

 

Related content:

University community mourns the loss of Julie Belle White-Newman, professor emerita