Dr. Cleavenger received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the University of Mississippi (1997). His undergraduate majors were economics and finance, and he earned an MBA from UNC-Wilmington. He currently serves as a clinical faculty with the Department of Management. He previously served on the faculties of Covenant College and the University of South Carolina-Beaufort where he was the Sharon and Richard Stewart Chair. His professional experience includes co-founder of LEAPS.BIZ, an internet start-up options trading business and work with KPMG consulting in their telephony support division. During his tenure at UCF, he has received the teaching incentive award, the Dean’s Excellence Award for “Most Transformative Moment” award and the Fulbright Scholars award where he taught and conducted research at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, during the 2016-2017 academic year. In 2016, he completed a manuscript under the working title “UnRaveled – Experiencing Emotional Freedom” that has yet to be published. He and his wife Maya have two grown children, Samuel and Meg.

Teaching / Research Interest

Dr. Cleavenger has taught more than 20,000 students in the primary core management course over the past 10 years. In addition, he has taught Organizational Behavior, Strategic Management and Leadership in various graduate programs. His research interest include citizenship behavior, help-seeking behaviors, entitlement and leadership. His most recent research interest is in “trust” as a construct applied to developing nations.

Areas of Expertise
Change Management, Coaching, Emotion Regulation, Conflict, Leadership and Motivation.

Research & Consulting Activity
Dr. Cleavenger’s research has been published in outlets such as Business Horizons, Journal of Business & Psychology & Management Communication Quarterly. He has worked as a senior consultant with KPMG (now Bearing Point), but is not now actively consulting for fee.