Cheryl Barksdale

Cheryl Barksdale is the director of Leadership Development Programs for Executive MBA Programs within UT’s Haslam College of Business. She is also a Senior Lecturer, regularly teaching leadership and human resource management courses within Graduate and Executive Education and within the Department of Management. In addition, Cheryl is a core faculty member in UT’s Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness, a program aimed at sharing best practices in business leadership and strategy with local and regional non-profit leaders. She was awarded with the Allen H. Keally Excellence in Teaching Award in 2013, and she received the Outstanding Faculty Award in the Master of Science in Human Resource Management program in 2015.

Cheryl earned a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Tennessee. Her main areas of professional interest are leadership and leadership development, employee selection and retention, experiential learning, performance management, and organizational culture and change. In addition to teaching, Cheryl regularly consults on these topics with local and regional organizations such as the Knoxville Utilities Board, Aegis Sciences Corporation, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley.

On a more personal note, Cheryl enjoys tracking down the best farm-fresh, organic produce that Knoxville has to offer, experimenting with new ingredients and cooking methods, and sharing the results with friends and loved ones.