Michael Mandel

Michael Mandel is a seasoned practitioner with more than two decades of experience leading and providing consultation for strategic communications initiatives. As an award-winning advocate and educator, he has translated his personal experiences and professional expertise into transformative opportunities for his students and consulting clients alike.

Informed by those experiences and expertise, Michael's teaching philosophy has three tenets: (1) provide immediately applicable knowledge and skills in every class, (2) meet students where they are, and (3) place the development of critical thinking skills at the center of every lesson. He is a co-author of three business communication textbooks from publisher Kendall Hunt: Cracking the Code, The Secret Handshake, and Stand Out. These popular titles have been adopted by instructors all around the country, from Tucson to Texas and North Dakota.  

Michael served as chair of the Eller College faculty governance committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion from 2021 to 2025 and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Eller College Faculty/College Advisory Committee.  He has been a certified Hogan Assessments Coach since 2022, and has served as instructional team lead of the BCOM 314 platform since 2023, where he leads an instructional faculty team and mentors student preceptors.

At the intersection of emerging technology and reputation architecture, he is the developer of Radian, a scalable, full-stack reputation management platform used by professionals around the world. His recent scholarly work includes a chapter on Human-Centered AI Design for Higher Education Sociotechnical Learning Ecosystems for a forthcoming book from IGI Global Publishing, and he was one of two Eller College nominees for the CUES Distinguished Fellowship for his project, "Closing the Gap: Leveraging Generative AI to Align Professional Identity and Reputation in Business Communication".

For more information about Michael or his consulting services as the principal of Mandel Management Solutions, go to https://www.m2powered.com.

Courses

• BCOM 314: Business Communication (instructional team lead)
• MGMT/ENTR 381: Nonprofit Organization Management
• MGMT 475: Topics in Management
• BCOM 512: Advanced Strategic Communication

Teaching Interests

• Managing individual and organizational reputation
• Navigating the intersection of credibility, charisma, and reputation
• Centering communication as the key influencer of reputation
• Using human-centered AI design for sociotechnical learning ecosystems
• Translating theory into practice
• Employing equitable and inclusive pedagogy

Professional Associations

• Member, National Communication Association (NCA)

Certificates

• Hogan Assessments coach: "Professionals who complete this foundational workshop can administer the Hogan personality assessments: the Hogan Personality Inventory, the Hogan Development Survey, and the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory. Badge earners understand the fundamentals of personality and its relationship to leadership and job performance. Earners can interpret assessment data in connection with job context, deliver feedback to assessment takers, and apply assessment results in talent decisions."
• Hogan 360: "The Hogan 360 qualification gives coaches, managers, and professionals the skills to help leaders understand their reputation at work using an industry-leading, data-driven assessment. Badge-earners have improved feedback and coaching skills and can use the Hogan 360 to: understand the leader’s unique strengths and development opportunities; examine how they are perceived by colleagues; identify which strengths may be being overused; and create an actionable development plan."
• Google AI Professional: "Those who earn the Google AI Professional Certificate are fluent in AI, and have completed 7 courses demonstrating their ability to apply AI to the skills where AI is transforming work: Brainstorming, Research, Communication, Content Creation, Data Analysis, and coding. They have built a portfolio of 20+ artifacts using AI, and vibe coded a custom AI solution. They prompt effectively, evaluate outputs, and leverage AI tools responsibly to solve real workplace challenges."
• University of Arizona Safe Zone