MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Kelly Manix, assistant professor of management in the Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University, has been appointed as the Tolbert Faculty Fellow of Ethical Leadership. 

As the Tolbert Faculty Fellow, Manix will serve as the faculty champion, leader and central point of contact for all extracurricular and co-curricular activities related to business ethics in the Jones College of Business.

Manix thanked Jones College Dean Joyce Heams, Management Department Chair Deana Raffo and her department colleagues for their support in assuming the position, which includes an annual stipend.

“As the Tolbert Fellow, I will champion ethical leadership across the college by planning and facilitating Ethical Leadership Week and building initiatives that prepare students to lead with moral awareness and integrity,” Manix said.

“I’m grateful to further integrate teaching, research, and service in ways that align with my mission to enhance virtue and well-being in organizational life.”

Manix earned her Bachelor of Science in Music Business Management and her M.B.A. from MTSU. She has taught at the collegiate level for the past nine years and completed her Ph.D. in management at the University of South Alabama in 2022. 

“Dr. Manix has a clear passion for fostering ethical awareness and leadership development in students, and her research, teaching, and service collectively reflect the spirit of the Tolbert Faculty Fellow designation,” said Raffo, who recommended the appointment. “She is well-positioned to serve as a focal point for initiatives that promote ethical leadership across the college.”

Manix’s research focuses primarily on humility, ethics, and moral leadership and influence. Through her work, she seeks to enhance individual virtue and well-being in organizational and societal contexts. 

She has been published in American Business Review, Applied Psychology, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, and Journal of Individual Differences. 

In 2021, her research won Best Doctoral Student Ethics Paper and Best Doctoral Student Innovative Teaching Paper at the annual Southern Management Association conference. Before her academic career, she held several management roles in the recording industry and food service/retail industries and ran two small businesses.

Launched in 2020, the Tolbert Faculty Fellow position was made possible through a contribution by MTSU alumnus Larry Tolbert (’73) and his wife, Martha, of Murfreesboro.

The college’s weeklong Tom and Martha Boyd Ethical Leadership Week brings local alumni and leaders into the classroom each spring to share their experiences and advice on how to uphold ethical principles in the workplace.

The MTSU Department of Management among five departments within the Jones College of Business, which also includes programs in Accounting, Economics and Finance, Information Systems and Analytics and Marketing. 

— Jimmy Hart (Jimmy.Hart@mtsu.edu)