Student Spotlight: Virginia Leavell - Ph.D. Student at TMP

UC Santa Barbara’s Technology Management Program’s (TMP) Ph.D. in Technology Management, welcomes Virginia Leavell to the program’s second cohort.

Virginia completed her Master’s degree in Sociology from UCSB and is continuing her Ph.D. studies with TMP. "After taking the ethnographic methods course with Professors Leonardi and Barley, I knew this program was the perfect fit for me and my research interests." Virginia received her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Georgetown University in 2005. She then worked for several years in Northeast Thailand before returning to Washington DC to work for non-profits, unions, and founded and co-directed a DC-based consulting company. Eventually, this led her to want to pursue more in-depth study of the effects of automation and artificial intelligence technologies on labor, organizations, and workers, "I was eager to read about and research the questions I had about work and technology. That's why I wanted to study with people at TMP."  After focusing on theory and history courses in her Sociology program, Virginia is at home with the TMP graduate course offerings and thrilled to be participating in hands-on research projects with faculty.

For more information about the Ph.D. program, visit their website.