Meet the New McDonough Faculty: Dana Kanze

We are pleased to welcome new faculty members to the Georgetown McDonough community this fall. 

In our Meet the New McDonough Faculty Series, learn more about the interests, specialties, experiences, and personalities behind the talented academics inside the Rafik B. Hariri Building on Georgetown’s campus. 

We spoke with Dana Kanze, assistant professor of management, about what she hopes to accomplish at Georgetown through her engagement with students, classroom teachings, and beyond.

What institution or previous line of work are you coming from?

Before coming to Georgetown, I was a faculty member at London Business School in the organizational behavior department for five years. That was my first academic position after receiving my Ph.D. from Columbia Business School. Prior to academia, I worked in investment banking, strategic consulting, and venturing.

What are you most looking forward to about teaching at Georgetown McDonough?

At London Business School, I was fortunate to teach a popular course called Leading Teams and Organizations to masters- and executive-level students. At Georgetown, I look forward to teaching courses to a student body that also encompasses undergraduates. I am also excited about teaching on the topic of entrepreneurship, which closely aligns with my research.

What is your area(s) of expertise and which subject(s) are you most passionate about?

My research area lies at the intersection of entrepreneurship and gender bias. As a former founder who was involved in the process of raising funds for her venture, I am passionate about understanding the ways in which we can help close gender gaps in venture capital financing specifically, and in entrepreneurship more broadly.

How would you describe your teaching philosophy?

I try to create an environment that allows all students to shine regardless of their personal characteristics. I struggled early on in school in terms of dealing with various factors such as English as a second language, introversion, and learning difficulties relating to a childhood accident. That’s why I’ve designed my classes so students can contribute both on and offline, synchronously and asynchronously, in dyadic- and team-based configurations, across exercises with varying degrees of stimulation, in more intimate and larger group settings, both verbally and via written contributions. 

I am also taking great care to ensure that underrepresented community members in the entrepreneurial ecosystem make their way into the classroom, whether that be as founders, joiners, investors, policymakers, intrapreneurs, franchisees, family businesspeople, or researchers. I want all students to see themselves as potential members of this ecosystem.

What is your favorite quote and why?

I love the quote widely attributed to Dolly Parton: “Find out who you are and then do it on purpose.” I apply this insight to myself and to my students as well. Business schools are places where we have the luxury of learning who we are and what we want for our work selves. In a psychologically safe environment, we can experiment with new habits, ritualizing those behaviors that we want to enact on a daily basis. At the organizational level, the same applies to cultures – regardless of whether we are working in the smallest of startups, the largest of established firms, or the organizations that lie in between – we don’t want culture to “just happen” to us. We need to approach those shared values, norms, and assumptions with intention if we’re going to live them out each day at work.

What do you hope to bring to the McDonough community?

I hope to learn a lot from the interdisciplinary community at McDonough. In terms of what I can bring to the table, it would probably be the perspective of having lived and worked across different regions, sectors, organizational sizes, and stages. I am eager to bring that array of lived work experiences to the conversation wherever relevant.