For Roberson, taking time out means whitewater rafting, bungee jumping or skydiving. As the only Cornell faculty member with skydiving experience, she’s also taken on the role of adviser to the university’s skydiving team. But whether jumping from planes or safely on the ground, a mentor should be experienced and easy to talk to, says Roberson. She is a product of The PhD Project, which helps promote diversity among business school faculty by increasing the number of minority doctoral candidates.

“What is most impressive about Quinetta is that, despite her extraordinary achievements, she is known for ‘keeping it real;’ just ask any of The PhD Project doctoral students who were amazed to learn that the fun sister they were hanging with was the very same ‘Roberson et al’ that they cited in their research,� says Dr. Olenda Johnson, who mentored Roberson while they both attended the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business.

Johnson, an assistant professor of business administration at North Carolina A&T University, says the student she once mentored “has far exceeded anything I could have accomplished.�

Now that she’s tenured, Roberson says she has more flexibility in terms of her research. Her primary area of expertise remains organizational justice — the study of how fairly people are treated in the work place — but she’s added diversity as a secondary specialization. In addition to her teaching duties, she’s also found time to travel to Milan, Italy, and is serving as an expert witness in a class action lawsuit involving workplace bias.

Research and teaching, however, remain Roberson’s passions.
“Teaching is gratifying,� she says, “because I get to see students learn and apply what they’ve learned in corporate America.�

— By Tracie Powell