Mary Hunt, Ph.D. (candidate)

Mary Hunt is Assistant Professor of Business & Psychology at Ave Maria University completing her PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. She currently serves as the Business Department Internship Coordinator, as a faculty mentor for students in the process of securing business-related internships both for credit. She has previously served as Director and Chair of the Business Department. Her research and consulting focus on performance management, career and leadership development, management strategy, entrepreneurship and the work-family interface. Her current research explores entrepreneurs’ social, psychological and human capital needs for supporting the work-family experience.

Mary is the creator and leader of the Ave Maria Center for Home & Family Life, an applied educational initiative fostering support for student, alumni and community for motherhood and family life designed to encourage women’s choices for prioritizing family life. She is co-founder of HomeAdvantage Plus offering education for creating a home that enhances work-life integration and family well-being. As a consultant she is recognized as a deep listener, with strategic insight who understands a client’s language and culture, effectively communicating with individuals across organizational levels.

Mary began her career in academia as a business professor at Lexington College in Chicago where, with the support of grant funding from Coleman Foundation, she created the College’s entrepreneurship program. She served as the College’s Academic Dean, directing all academic functions including faculty hiring, curriculum expansion and leading the academic re-accreditation process with the Higher Learning Commission. Mary was President of Lexington College, a small entrepreneurial hospitality management college where she was responsible for all general management, strategic planning and growth, as well as fund-raising and advancement initiatives.

Mary entered academia after more than a decade in corporate roles as a private banker, a product manager at Citicorp Mortgage, an organizational development manager in a large healthcare system and as an external consultant for service, governmental, nonprofit and manufacturing organizations such as Chubb Insurance, Edelman Public Relations, Motorola, Price water house Coopers and the U.S. Department of Labor. She is a member of the Work & Family Researchers Network, the Academy of Management and the Society of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and formerly served on the board of directors of the Virtuous Leadership Institute. She holds an Online Teaching Certification from the Online Learning Consortium (2019).

Selected Research & Presentations:

• Paper Presentation When is entrepreneurship an effective work-family conflict solution?  The roles of social and psychological capital, Work & Family Researchers Network conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada  June 2024.
• Professional Presentation.  A woman’s ambition: Expanding over time. Yuma Study Center Work & Life Conference, Washington, DC. November 2018.
• Paper Presentation. Entrepreneurial work-life balance:  A conceptual model of the roles of social support and psychological capital. Work & Family Researchers Network conference, Washington, DC.  June 2018
• Paper Presentation. An integrated understanding of the Common Good in entrepreneurial education. “Building Institutions for the Common Good” conference of The John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought at the University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, MN. June 2018.
• Paper Presentation. Hunt, M.K., Pickett, M., Ahmed, S. & Ayman, R., Work-Family Experience of Migrant, Immigrant, and Expatriate Workers: A Review. Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology (American Psychological Association Division 15), Chicago, IL. April 2018.
• Paper Presentation.  Home management for fulfillment and happiness.  Home Renaissance Foundation.  IV International Conference-Home: a place of growth, care and wellbeing.  London, England. November 2017.
• Paper Presentation.  Leveraging the role of self-employment for work-family synergy: Exploring the role of social support.  VII International Conference of Work & Family, Barcelona, Spain.  July 2017.
• Symposium Presenter. Employment or entrepreneurship: Work choice and satisfaction in light of work-family conflict, individual traits and social support. International Community, Work and Family Conference, Milan, Italy. May 2017.
• Respondent, Marketing and Catholic Social Thought.  Mission-Driven Business Education, Ave Maria, Florida, January 2014.
• Master’s thesis (2011). The relationship between work-family conflict, social support and performance among healthcare managers, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois.
• Symposium Presenter, Building and sustaining home management competency through professional skill transference.  Excellence in the Home—Sustainable Living:  Professional Approach to Housework, London, England. March 2011. 
• Paper Presenter; Hunt, M., Ayman, R., & Antani, A. (2009).  The relationship between work-family conflict, social support and performance among health care managers.  Work, Stress & Health 2009:  The 8th International Conference on Occupational Stress & Health, San Juan, Puerto Rico. November 2009.
• Symposium Presenter; Hunt, M., Ayman, R., & Antani, A. (2008). The link among performance ratings, ethnicity and work-family conflict in women health-care managers, Academy of Management Symposium “Managing Work and Family:  an International Perspective”, Academy of Management Conference.  August 2008.
• Presenter, Report-Writing for Results, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration, new employee conference, Washington, D.C. May 17-18, 2007; March 23-24, 2006.  
• Panel Presenter, Home Management Education in the Workplace, Excellence in the Home:  Balanced Diet, Balanced Life, London, England.  May 8-9, 2006.
• Presenter, Assertive Leadership, management education, McDonald’s Corporation, Oakbrook, IL. December 2005.