Tony Passino
Research

Preventing irrelevance.

My work asks how management scholarship can be useful to the communities most affected by the problems it studies.

Interests

Community-based participatory action research; grand challenges and the Sustainable Development Goals; civic engagement; research for policy impact; organizational theory; the future of higher education research and teaching.

Dissertation

The Approaches, Benefits, Challenges, and Tensions to Conducting Impact-oriented Scholarship in Management and Organization Studies
In progress
Preventing Irrelevance: Robust Action Research for Grand Challenges
In progress
Impact Approaches: A Portraiture Study of Management Scholars
In progress

Ongoing research

Cultural Preservation as Grand Challenge: Organizing Community Archives as a Cultural Commons
Foster & Passino · 2026 · Preparing to submit
Domination and Resistance in the Meat Industry: A Gramscian Analysis
Passino · 2026 · Preparing to submit
Coming of Age as an Academic Under Fire: A Public Narrative of Hope
Passino · In progress
The Art and Science of Meeting the Students Where They Are
Passino, Contu, Poole, Naya · IRB approved
Employee Green Behavior in Higher Education: A Literature Review
Passino · Preparing to submit

Grants & awards

Integrating Sustainability and Changemaker Skill Building into Engineering Textbooks and Beyond
$60,000 · Lemelson Foundation (Co-PI)
National Skill Building and Empowerment of Environmental Changemakers
$15,000 · LUSH Cosmetics (Co-PI)

Academic presentations

2026 · 2 items
  • Passino, T., Levine, M. Teaching for Impact: Crafting Lessons that Last in an Era of Changing Knowledge. MOBTS, Ann Arbor. June (Academic Workshop).
  • Foster, P., Passino, T. Cultural Preservation as Grand Challenge: Organizing Community Archives as a Cultural Commons. Academy of Management, Philadelphia. July (Paper, accepted).
2025 · 6 items
  • Passino, T., Foster, P., Leighton, S., Kayahan, A., Yang, M., Murphy, D. The Impact Lab: A Student-Led Participatory Action Research Project. AOM Student Community. December.
  • Passino, T., Levine, M. How do we foster hope as educators? MOBTS, Fort Wayne, IN. June.
  • Passino, T. One Useful Approach to Future Research on Grand Challenges. GWU Summer Doctoral Institute. June.
  • Passino, T. One Useful Approach to Future Research on Grand Challenges. EGOS Subtheme 10, Athens. July.
  • Foster, P., Passino, T. People's archives, artistic artifacts and social movements. EGOS Subtheme 80, Athens. July.
  • Lovegood, R., Parker, V., Peever, A., Passino, T., Uecker, C. Integrating Story Telling, Research, and Practice. AOM, Copenhagen. July (PDW).
2024 · 4 items
  • Cook, A., Erskine, S., Lavine, M., Lovegood, R., Luna, K., Spencer, K., Passino, T. Critical Not Coercive. MOBTS, Salem MA. June.
  • Barnieh, Y., et al. (incl. Passino, T.) Making Experiential Learning Accessible. MOBTS, Salem MA. June.
  • Passino, T. Domination and Resistance in the Meat Industry: A Gramscian Analysis. EGOS Subtheme 15, Milan. July.
  • Passino, T., Sharma, M. Changemakers — Building Skills to Create Environmental Change. 49th Annual Natural Hazards Workshop, Boulder CO. July.
2022 · 1 item
  • Passino, T. Employee Green Behavior in Higher Education: A Literature Review. GWU Research Showcase.

Public engagement presentations

Keynotes, workshops, and invited talks delivered beyond the academy — for organizers, students, policymakers, and the broader public.

2026 · 5 items
  • Generations United in Action: A Month of Hope, Health and Community. Elders Climate Action. June.
  • Justice in Every Breath: Bridging Generations for Climate Action. Mom's Clean Airforce. June.
  • The future for you: Energy costs, climate health, and careers. Climate Action Campaign, Phoenix AZ. February.
  • Buddies w/o Borders Keynote. Global Education Destinations. January.
  • Changemakers: Building a Better Future. Cengage. January (Workshop).
2025 · 3 items
  • Building Emotional Resilience and Positive Outcomes. Cengage. October.
  • Generations United in Action: Storytelling for Social Change. Elders Climate Action. June.
  • Empowering Leadership Through Community Engagement. USHLI, Chicago IL. February.
2024 · 7 items
  • Preparing Future Environmental Changemakers. International Youth Conference, NYC. September.
  • Discussions on the Future of Intergenerational Unity. International Youth Conference, NYC. September.
  • From Fields to Policy: Farm Bill & Food Justice. NYC Climate Week. September.
  • From Fields to Policy: Understanding the Farm Bill. NYC Climate Week. September.
  • Intergenerational Climate Action. Elders Climate Action. June.
  • Green Jobs & Dream Jobs. Change the Chamber. June.
  • Environmental Changemaker Live Sessions. Change the Chamber. Jan / Feb.
2023 · 3 items
  • Annual Scholarship Awards Dinner. HLCNI, Fort Wayne IN (Invited Speech).
  • VOICE Day of Action. Indiana Statehouse, Indianapolis IN (Keynote).
  • Storytelling Workshop & Brand and Experiential Marketing. Truth Initiative.

Questions driving the work

On people

How do we better organize people to address climate change?

On knowledge

How do we make academic knowledge actually accessible?

On problems

How might we involve people in identifying problems — not just solving them?

Video

Evidence from the Galápagos Islands →
Methods coursework
A video project from a graduate-level qualitative and quantitative methods course.
Employee Green Behavior in Higher Education →
Systematic literature review
Overview of a systematic literature review on employee green behavior. Conceptual model (PDF) →