Melissa Manwaring

Academic Division: ManagementA former practicing attorney, Melissa teaches negotiation and organizational behavior in Babson’s graduate and undergraduate programs. She is comfortable designing and teaching courses in a range of formats, from the traditional classroom to a blended online / face-to-face approach. In 2016, Melissa received the Dean''s Award for Teaching Excellence. She has also taught negotiation courses at Harvard University and Simmons College. Melissa''s research interests include negotiation, teaching and learning, curriculum design, and ethics. She currently chairs the Teaching Innovation Fund Committee and serves as education editor for Negotiation Journal. For several years, Melissa served as Babson''s college-wide Director of Learning Assessment. From 2001-2009, Melissa served as the Director of Curriculum Development at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School (PON). Melissa originally studied negotiation at Harvard Law School with Getting to YES co-authors Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton and was trained as a mediator through the Harvard Mediation Program. She has mediated dozens of legal and commercial disputes. Additional professional activities include co-chairing international negotiation pedagogy conferences at Harvard Law School and ESSEC Business School (France); serving as a Visiting Academic Leader at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico; facilitating negotiation and mediation curriculum development efforts at Balkan-region universities; and delivering a keynote and workshop at a mediation conference in Moscow, Russia. Prior to her academic career, Melissa practiced law at private firms in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, focusing on commercial litigation, intellectual property counseling, and dispute resolution, with clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. As an independent consultant, Melissa has taught negotiation theory and skills to thousands of students and clients from around the world, including Fidelity Investments, General Electric, International Finance Corporation, Bank of Norway, MARS Inc., Red Cross, Boston College, University of Texas, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, and numerous public school districts. Other areas of expertise include: Commercial Negotiations, Legal Negotiations, Negotiation Pedagogy, Curriculum Design and Learning Assessment.​

Academic Degrees

• M.Ed., Harvard
• JD, Harvard Law School
• BA, University of Illinois

Awards & Honors

2016 - Dean''s Award for Excellence in Teaching (Graduate Programs), Babson College