Jeannette A. Colyvas

Jeannette A. Colyvas is an Associate Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy (SESP). She holds courtesy appointments as Professor of Management & Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management, Professor in Learning Sciences, and Professor in the Department of Sociology. She serves as Director of Undergraduate Programs at SESP and is a faculty member and executive board member of the Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems (NICO), faculty associate at the Institute for Policy Research (IPR), and faculty advisory council member for the Buffett Institute for Global Studies and Business Institutions Program (BIP).

Her educational background includes a PhD from Stanford University (2007), MA degrees in East Asian Studies and Sociology from Stanford, and a BA from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Professor Colyvas investigates why innovations in technology, management practices, and social interventions often fail to persist despite adoption, why effective solutions remain unimplemented, and why promising approaches go unnoticed. Her work spans biomedical innovation, university-industry-government science interactions, and social policy domains including education, housing security, and restorative justice, with emphasis on sustainable adoption of interventions addressing inequalities.

She has received multiple awards for mentoring and instruction. Her research has been supported by grants from the following organizations:

• National Science Foundation
• Spencer Foundation
• W.T. Grant Foundation
• Merck Foundation
• Novo Nordisk Foundation

With 15+ years of experience, she develops educational materials and teaches leadership courses across undergraduate, MBA, doctoral, and executive programs. She has collaborated with over 100 organizations to enhance social impact through network leveraging, strategic alliance building, and metrics development for sustainable change.