Kate Zipay, PhD
Kate Zipay is an Assistant Professor in the Organizational Behavior and Human Resources area at the Mitch Daniels School of Business at Purdue University. She is also an affiliate of the Center for Working Well, an interdisciplinary hub at Purdue dedicated to advancing research and practice on building healthier, more sustainable ways of working.
Kate’s research examines how life outside of work shapes employee emotions, attitudes, and experiences at work, as well as how contemporary issues of justice affect employee outcomes. Her work has been published in leading journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
Kate received her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. Prior to joining Purdue, she began her faculty career at the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon. Before pursuing her doctorate, she worked in public accounting at Deloitte.
In addition to her research, Kate is passionate about helping organizations and individuals rethink how we work and live. Through speaking engagements, workshops, and outreach efforts, she translates research into actionable strategies that support both thriving organizations and thriving people. She frequently delivers evidence-based talks on intuitive working, work–life integration, and well-being, helping professional, student, and community audiences navigate a changing world of work with more clarity, sustainability, and humanity.
In 2024, Kate was awarded (in collaboration with Allison Gabriel) the inaugural BetterUp grant from the Center for Purpose and Performance, recognizing her research on Intuitive Working — a novel approach that leverages adaptive cues to promote sustained performance and well-being.
Kate has been recognized across institutions for exceptional teaching. In 2024, she was named a “Career Champion” at Purdue for her work in preparing students for success beyond graduation. She has received distinguished teaching awards in every term since arriving at Purdue and was recently nominated for Purdue’s 2025 Early Career Teaching Excellence Award. In 2021, she was selected as one of Poets & Quants Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors, and she received the Lundquist College of Business Exceptional Teaching Award for Core Business Courses spanning the 2019–2021 academic years.
In the field, Kate serves as Chair of the Making Connections Committee within the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management, helping to plan flagship professional development workshops for the Annual Meeting. She also serves on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Applied Psychology. She is dedicated to strengthening both the academic and professional communities that shape the future of work.