Dana D'Angelo with a class in Barcelona.
Dana D’Angelo’s first job out of college was working at what was then Andersen Consulting, where she stayed for two years before enrolling in Drexel University to earn an MBA.
Her plan was to return to the consulting firm upon completing her master's, which she did, but something happened along the way that changed her professional journey. While attending Drexel, D’Angelo worked as a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Accounting.
“I loved it,” she said in a recent interview.
That teaching experience greatly influenced D’Angelo’s professional trajectory, though it went unrealized for some time. The fondness D’Angelo had acquired for teaching nagged at her long after she received her MBA and returned to the consulting firm.
“I missed being at Drexel,” she said.
D’Angelo reached out at the time to a Drexel mentor, the late Thomas J. Hindelang, who was vice dean at LeBow College of Business, and the two had lunch at White Dog Café. By the time dessert rolled around, he offered her a full-time job as a teaching professor at LeBow. She felt it was simultaneously fate and a calling.
“I never looked back,” D’Angelo said. “It was just full steam ahead after that.” D’Angelo returned to Drexel in the fall of 1994 as a full-time professor.
Three decades after answering that fateful calling, D’Angelo was among four Drexel faculty recognized in 2023 for implementing outstanding innovations in teaching and learning with the inaugural Provost Award for Undergraduate Teaching Impact. This award recognizes full-time faculty who have made a distinctive impact through excellence in teaching, primarily at the first- or second-year undergraduate level.
This adds to nearly two dozen awards and other formal recognition D’Angelo has received over the years for her teaching.
In this interview, D’Angelo reflects on how her roles at Drexel evolved, a course she co-taught with her father, and so-called Lollipop Leadership.
Dana D'Angelo (center) with students in Lisbon.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
I use an open-minded teaching and learning approach that supports global awareness and international experience; personal, team and leadership development; as well as creative thinking, and experiential learning.
What are some of roles you have held during your tenure at Drexel?
When I look at my career at Drexel, I view it in chunks. After teaching for a few years, I started as Director (Department Head) of General Business Studies. While there, I oversaw the Foundations of Business Sequence program, the University Seminar program, the Learn by DUing program, which was a consulting-based project course for non-profits, and other first-year initiatives. After that, I spent a decade focused on faculty development, serving as a three-time appointed Fellow in the LeBow Center for Teaching and Learning and at the University level as an assistant director for the teaching and learning units. Peer support and the opportunity for better classrooms for undergraduate students were my two main goals while in those roles. Over the last decade, I have focused on global engagement for first- and second-year students.
How did you get involved with global?
Over a decade ago, there was an MBA residency program going to Chile. While there was a primary instructor, they needed a second person on the trip. I was asked if I would be interested in going as a backup. I said yes. I went and I loved it. Upon returning, I went to Drexel Global to tell them I’d like this to be my specialty with undergrads. I have developed and facilitated nearly 30 Intensive Courses Abroad (ICAs) since 2014. We’re going to Greece in September, and it will be my 30th ICA. I also established the first Freshman Friendly ICA, which is now an Education Abroad option. We were also doing virtual global classrooms and projects in 2014 before the pandemic made Zoom popular. Our premise is to give them global before they study abroad. It’s “Global out of the Gate,” and the experience they get is remarkable.
What is Lollipop Leadership?
My late mentor Tom Hindelang always had lollipops on his desk, and I took one every time I was in his office. There is a TED Talk called Lollipop Leadership, which delves into how even the smallest of gestures can make a huge difference. I show the TED Talk in class and give each student two lollipops — one for them to keep and the other to give to someone. I remind students that success — impact and influence — is both big and small. It’s also one way that Tom continues to live.
You have a knack for coming up with creative courses. Describe the one you co-developed with your father.
My father was in the Air Force for years and worked for General Electric and retired from Lockheed Martin. He did a lot of leadership work at Lockheed and we both love movies. One of the courses we did was Leadership in Film. There have been iterations of the course, but some of the earlier movies we used in the class were Remember the Titans, Apollo 13, Wall Street. I even did one iteration of the course using only Disney animated movies. When I started to do my global work, I took it abroad and used movies from the country we were in such as Prague in Mission Impossible. I use film to connect the country and its history and culture.
There was also a funk course.
I have a friend who came to one of my business classes as a guest speaker. He was so good I told him he should think about being an adjunct teacher. He responded that if he ever were to teach, it would be on something fun and interesting like funk music history. He’s a self-taught funk expert. I like new projects and, through Pennoni Honors College, co-created a history class on funk music. He was an expert guest speaker and we visited WXPN and studied for Funky Friday. It took off and we co-taught it for several years.
What’s next?
Who knows what the next decade will hold. About eight years ago, I re-connected with the accounting department and developed a course for non-business majors. I have become more of a mentor than a mentee. Life has come full circle. It has been an amazing, amazing ride.