Featured Scholar: Charlotte Westerhaus Renfrow, JD
Clinical Associate Professor-Business Law and Management
Indiana University Bicentennial Professor
Distinguished and Titled Professor
From Classroom to World: "Developing Global Leaders Through Intellectual Diversity"
Charlotte Westerhaus-Renfrow is a licensed attorney, Distinguished and Titled Professor, and Clinical Associate Professor of Management and Business Law. An award-winning educator, professional development coach, and speaker, she brings extensive professional and legal experience to her academic work at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University–Indianapolis. She teaches courses in Negotiations, Team Dynamics, Inclusive Leadership, and Business Law, and her evidence-based, practice-oriented pedagogy has been recognized with multiple awards for teaching excellence.
Westerhaus-Renfrow has served in academia since 1996 and joined the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University–Indianapolis in 2012. She also taught as an adjunct faculty member at the Maurer School of Law from 2008 to 2010. Her engagement with students across undergraduate programs, the Physician MBA, and executive education is exceptional, and she has been recognized repeatedly for her teaching excellence. Her awards include the College Student Council Distinguished Honors College Faculty Award, the Kelley School of Business Innovative Teaching Award, the Kelley Evening MBA Teaching Excellence Award, the IUPUI Women’s Leadership Award, the Schuyler Otteson Teaching Excellence Award, and the Delta Sigma Pi Teaching Award from the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa.
In recognition of her scholarship, teaching, and public engagement, she was also appointed an Indiana University Bicentennial Professor in 2019 and received the Indiana University Bicentennial Medal in 2020 for her service and contributions to the institution.
A licensed attorney since 1991, Westerhaus-Renfrow has held multiple pioneering positions in the legal field. While earning her Juris Doctor, she clerked for Honorable Justice Brent E. Dickson of the Indiana Supreme Court and became the first African American woman to serve as both associate and editor of the Indiana Law Journal. She was inducted into the Indiana University Maurer School of Law’s prestigious Academy of Law Alumni Fellows in 2022.
Charlotte’s work to develop global leaders through intellectual diversity is another great example of how IU Indianapolis’s faculty members are TRANSLATING their RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE.
Selected Publications in IU Indianapolis ScholarWorks
With several research works contributed to IU Indianapolis's free, open access repository, Professor Westerhaus-Renfrow has made translational research knowledge available to professionals, researchers, students, and communities around the world.
Oesch-Minor, et al. (27 April 2023). Project-Based Learning: IUPUI High-Impact Practice Taxonomy. (2023). Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/items/319918b7-b4ab-4b44-94e4-922e59ad46fd
Zheng, L., Westerhaus-Renfrow, C., Lin, S. Z., & Yang, Y. (2022). Assessing Intercultural Competence in The Digital World: Evidence from Virtual Exchange Experience in a Study Abroad Program. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 34(4), 418–441. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/items/07990ed6-f4a2-490d-a1f5-a5f435128084
Westerhaus-Renfrow, C. (2022). Ensure that constructive feedback is truly constructive. Indianapolis Business Journal. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/items/9501e5ff-ccb9-4588-b248-0e52bb448bcf
Westerhaus-Renfrow, C. (2022). Nonverbals: What they see is what they hear. Indianapolis Business Journal. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/items/3bf3c1cf-08e5-4b28-a532-1012d4117eb9
Westerhaus-Renfrow, C. (6 Dec. 2019). How to Get to Yes with Win-Win Negotiations. Presented at The Art of Negotiation, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Zheng, Lin, Westerhaus-Renfrow, C., Lin, Stanley Zhiwei. (2019 October). Enhancing Global Learning, Improving Intercultural Competence, and Virtual Exchange Experience: An Example from a Business Study Abroad Course. IVEC, presentation. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/items/73f9a461-aab7-4f85-932c-51a25e3fc5e2
Westerhaus-Renfrow, C. (6 Dec. 2019). How to Get to Yes with Win-Win Negotiations. Presented at The Art of Negotiation, Indianapolis, Indiana. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/items/686072b6-99af-4cf5-a0b5-7b88e9539378