WFRN Lifetime Achievement Award
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes extraordinary scholars who have made enduring contributions to the work-family community. The award is selected by the Executive Board of the WFRN.
2026 Award Co-Recipient: Brad Harrington
WFRN is delighted to recognize Dr. Brad Harrington as co-recipient of the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Nominator Jennifer Sabatini Fraone writes of Dr. Harrington’s long-term visionary leadership of the Boston College Center for Work & Family. The Center was the country’s leading university-based center focused on helping employers enhance the quality of life for its employees and their families. By bridging the worlds of academic research and corporate practice, the Center identified the highest-quality research available enabling employers to create workplaces that supported the employee experience. This was done through a wide range of vehicles including executive briefings, research reports, semi-annual roundtable meetings bringing together leading employers and scholars, and the Rosabeth Kanter Award done in partnership with Professor Shelley MacDermid of Purdue University,
In addition, Dr. Harrington’s pioneering “The New Dad” research series, which commenced in 2009, resulted in nine published research reports and numerous articles in academic journals and popular press that focused on the changing role of fathers in contemporary families. That research has been widely cited in media across the globe, resulting in hundreds of newspaper articles, radio and television interviews, corporate presentations, as well as invitations to speak at the White House and participate on state and national task forces on working families.
In collaboration with Boston University Professor Tim Hall, Dr. Harrington co-authored Career Management and Work / Life Integration: Using Self-Assessment to Navigate Contemporary Careers. This book, and his courses in Boston College’s MBA and undergraduate Capstone programs served as a model that continues to provide essential opportunities for reflection and goal-setting, preparing young people for the complicated path to fulfilling personal and professional lives. Brad’s combination of 20 years of corporate human resource experience at Hewlett-Packard, 24 years as leader of an academic research center, and his unwavering commitment to translating research into solutions and actions to benefit employees and their families make Brad an excellent candidate for the WFRN Lifetime Achievement Award.
2026 Award Co-Recipient: Ellen Ernst Kossek
WFRN is delighted to recognize Ellen Ernst Kossek as co-recipient of the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Nominator Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth writes of Dr. Kossek’s extraordinary scholarly productivity, which includes 112 articles; 56 chapters, 6 journal special issues; 10 books; and 12 public scholarship products. Dr. Kossek secured research grants totaling over $34m from funders including NIH, NSF, Sloan, and Russell Sage Foundations. A Distinguished Management Professor Emerita and current scholar at Purdue University, she received the Lu Ann Aday award, which annually recognizes the best social science research conducted by a Purdue faculty member. Nationally, she has been elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Management, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She was one of very few scholars chosen to receive a Work Life Legacy award from the Families and Work Institute in 2014. Internationally, she is one of the most recognized researchers among those whose work has been highlighted in the international competition for the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Research on Work and Family, recipient 2015; finalist in four other years and nominated another four years.
In 2018, Dr. Kossek was recognized as a Top Ten extraordinary contributor to work-family research. In 2025-2026, she received a prestigious research fellowship to Stanford University. One marker of a scientist’s impact is citations. Since 2020, she has been in the top 2% most-cited scientists globally. Dr. Kossek (as of February) registered 37,808 total citations. She has 4 articles that have been cited more than 1,000 times, and 72 articles cited more than 100 times. Another indicator of achievement is professional leadership. Dr. Kossek served as the first elected President of the Work and Family Researchers Network. She has served on the Board of Governors for the National Academy of Management. At the National Academies of Science, she has served on 2 panels. Her advice has been sought from U.S. government agencies, international organizations and centers. She’s won multiple mentoring awards. As her nominator writes, “she is fearless in her ability to ‘speak truth to power’ about gender and diversity in ways that her audience can hear and absorb.” Perhaps the best phrase that captures Dr. Ellen Ernst Kossek’s career is “relentlessly generative”!