Dr. Kedir Tessema

Associate Professor
Sidhu School of Business

Simms Center on Main Room 222D
kedir.tessema@wilkes.edu
(570) 408-3235

Dr. Tessema graduated from University of San Diego in 2015 with a PhD in Leadership Studies. Having completed his study at a university that first started offering Ph.D in Leadership Studies, Dr. Tessema began teaching graduate courses at Shenandoah University with a rank of Visiting Assistant Professor. In Aug. 2017, he was appointed Assistant Professor at Wilkes University. Dr. Tessema teaches courses both in the undergraduate and graduate programs.

Dr. Tessema has published more than 16 peer reviewed articles. His research interest includes interdisciplinary topics such as leadership discourses, leadership education and workplace sensemaking behaviors of employees, culture, and social media and higher education leadership.

Journal Articles

Conference Proceedings

  • Tessema, K. (21-26 October 2021). Reimagining the content of undergraduate Leadership Studies curriculum. 23rd Annual Global Conference of International Association of Leadership. Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Tessema, K. (21-26 October 2021). Workplace followership: Adopting and adjusting to complex leadership. 23rd Annual Global Conference of International Association of Leadership. Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Tessema, K. (04-09 November 2020). Understanding followership in workplaces: The Utility of sense-making approach. Paper presented at the annual conference of International Leadership Association (ILA), Virtual Conference.
  • Tessema, K. (24 -27 October 2019). Discursive practices to impose a leadership meaning in the business media, International Leadership Association (ILA) in Ottawa, Canada.
  • Tessema, K. & Michael Q. (24 -27 October 2019). Deconstructing and disrupting hegemonic leadership perspectives and practices in leadership education. Paper presented at the annual conference of International Leadership Association (ILA), Ottawa.
  • Tessema, K. (9-13 August 2019 ). Discursive representation of "Leadership" in the business media, 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Boston, Massachusetts.
  • Tessema, K. (October 2018). Pedagogical sense making in leadership classrooms. Paper presented at the annual conference of International Leadership Association (ILA) West Palm Beach, FL, USA.
  • Getz, C., & Tessema, K. A. (October 2014). The pedagogy of socializing students into their communities of practice. Paper presented at the annual conference of International Leadership Association (ILA) San Diego, California, USA.
  • Tessema, K. A. (August 2012). Addressing student inequality through leadership in higher education. Paper presented at the annual conference of International Network of Philosophers of Education (INPE), Addis Ababa Ethiopia, Ethiopia.
  • Tessema, K. A. (November 2010). Refashioned for local-relevance and originality: academic writing at an Ethiopian university. Paper presented at the annual conference of Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN), Cambridge, UK.
  • Tessema, K. A. (May 2010). University-based teacher education in Ethiopia in this decade: A case study. Paper presented at the conference of Bahr Dar University Teacher Education, Bahr Dar, Ethiopia.
  • Tessema, K. A. (November 2007). The emergence of action researchers out of linked experiences: Seized opportunities in impoverished contexts. Paper presented at the annual conference of Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN), Umea, Sweden.
  • Tessema, K. A. (November 2008). Conducting action research in third world contexts: rigor and relevance. Paper presented at the annual conference of Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN), Liverpool, UK.
  • Tessema, K. A. (April 2007). The threats of massification to educators: The case of Haramaya University. Paper presented at the National Conference on Higher Education, Addis Ababa,