Associate Clinical Professor
University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Businesswomen in the workplace, Work-Life Balance
Nicole Coomber is on the faculty in the Management & Organization area at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. Dr. Coomber completed her PhD in Education Policy and Leadership in May of 2012 at the University of Maryland’s College of Education. Her research interests include leadership, team dynamics, and experiential learning. Dr. Coomber teaches a variety of courses including Managing People and Organizations, Leadership in Action, Non-Profit Consulting, and Cross-Cultural Challenges in Business. Before joining the faculty at Smith, she worked with the QUEST program leading efforts in curriculum and corporate development.
Professor of the Practice in Systems Thinking & Design | Fellow, Center for Leadership, Innovation and Change
University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of BusinessManagement, Systems Thinking, Work-Life Balance
Dr. J. Gerald Suarez is a premier educator, speaker and consultant in the fields of Organizational Design, Systems Thinking and Total Quality Management. Suarez joined Smith in 2005 as Executive Director of the multidisciplinary Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams (QUEST) Honors Fellows program. He was a Ralph J. Tyser Teaching Fellow and an Executive Education Senior Fellow. From 2008 to 2010 he served as Associate Dean of External Strategy, leading the offices of marketing communications, recruitment and career services. Suarez earned the prestigious Allen J. Krowe Teaching Excellence Award and has been consistently selected a Top 15% Faculty Member at the Smith School. He teaches at the corporate, executive MBA, custom EMBA, international, and undergraduate levels. He is also a Lockheed Martin Visiting Technical Fellow. Prior to joining the Smith School, Suarez served under two administrations in the White House as the Director of Presidential Quality -- the first such post in the institution’s history. In this capacity, he initiated efforts to inculcate systems thinking and organizational redesign into the White House Communications Agency, the White House Military Office and the Executive Office of the President of the United States. He also served as Director of Customer Support and Organizational Development for the White House Military Office. Suarez traveled aboard Air Force One and Presidential helicopters in numerous missions worldwide. He received many Presidential awards and commendations for his work, including the Exceptional Civilian Service Medal, the White House Distinguished Service Award, the Commander-in-Chief Coin, and the White House Certificate for Meritorious Service. Prior to his White House assignments, Suarez worked for the Office of the Under Secretary of the Navy’s Total Quality Leadership Office and for the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center in San Diego, California. In these roles, he served as a researcher, instructor and consultant for both the Department of the Navy and the Department of Defense (DoD). Suarez has been active academically in both the United States and abroad. For ten years, he was a Visiting Professor at the Asturias Business School in Spain and was presented with the 49th Jovellanos Award in 2002, and the 4th Dali Original Sculpture Award in 2008 for his significant contributions to the advancement of social responsibility. At the National Graduate School of Quality Systems Management, he led the development of the institution's academic vision as the Chief Academic Officer, and was subsequently named Faculty Member of the Decade (1993-2003). Suarez has traveled to Shanghai and Tianjin, China as an educator and consultant, and in 2006 he designed and delivered an accelerated MBA train-the-trainer program to a select team of faculty members of the Islamic University of Gaza in Cairo, Egypt. Suarez has produced several publications and instructional videotapes on teamwork, organizational redesign, and how to manage fear in the workplace. He collaborated with the late W. Edwards Deming and served as facilitator during his famous 4-day quality seminars. His publications and training strategies for educating the Defense workforce in quality management received DoD-wide distribution. His work has been showcased in international publications such as the Harvard Deusto Business Review as well as in national publications such as Quality Progress, the Journal for Quality and Participation and Executive Excellence. His research on “Fear in the Workplace” was featured on public television and showcased in the commercially available video series, "Better Management for a Changing World." Suarez holds a master's degree and a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico, and he has been certified as a Chief Information Officer by The National Defense University Information Resources Management College. He is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences. Currently he resides in Fairfax County, Virginia with his wife and three children.
Director of Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program and Clinical Associate Professor
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic MedicineDepression and Anxiety, Empathy, Gratitude, Job Satisfaction, kindness, Meditation, Mindfulness, positive parenting, Self Care, Stress Management, Work-Life Balance
Scott Glassman, PsyD, is a nationally recognized expert in positive psychology, health behavior change, and motivation, as well as a licensed psychologist and author of A Happier You: A Seven-Week Program to Transform Negative Thinking into Positivity and Resilience. He directs the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and has received numerous grants for developing patient-centered healthy lifestyle interventions. His seven-week wellness program, A Happier You ®, has been featured on SiriusXM and NPR. He is also in the process of adapting the program for youth athletes. Dr. Glassman is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers and has been a speaker and trainer at many national and regional organizations, including the American Psychological Association, the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance. He contributes to Psychology Today and the health section of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Dr. Glassman has been interviewed and/or cited by Forbes, AARP, Prevention Magazine, Well+Good, The Hill, KATU-TV Portland, NBC10 Philadelphia, CBS3 Philadelphia, Academic Minute, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and other print and online outlets.
Business Law, Labor Law, remote work, WFH, Work From Home, Work-Life Balance, working remotely
Joshua E. Bienstock has been a practicing employment and labor lawyer for 30 years, and a mediator for over 10 years. His research focuses on conflict resolution in the world of higher education and how different cultures contrast in their approach to conflict resolution. For over a decade he has been an invited lecturer at Cornell University and the City University of New York (CUNY), addressing business, governmental and educational delegations from Vietnam, Korea, and China on the topics of conflict resolution and collective bargaining. He has been an invited international speaker, presenting a series of lectures in China related to conflict resolution, collective bargaining, negotiation, mediation, and arbitration to faculty, students, and lawyers in seven universities and three law firms/non-governmental organizations in 2013 and 2014. Recently, he was invited by CUNY to speak to a group of visiting civil servants from Jinlin, China.
Bienstock is also certified by the New York State Office of Court Administration to provide Continuing Legal Education (CLE) courses to members of the New York State Bar. In the past, he has conducted CLE courses on “Alternative Dispute Resolution for Lawyers” and “Negotiating Techniques and Strategies for Lawyers” and recently developed a CLE course on the topic of “Mediation Skills for Lawyers.”
The author of a monthly article in the Queensboro News Magazine of the Queens Chamber of Commerce on topics related to labor and employment law and conflict resolution, Bienstock has published a series of articles on doing business with international business partners and effectively negotiating in a culturally diverse world. Articles cover China, South Korea, Jamaica, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates.