Irina Naoumova, professor of management and entrepreneurship in the Barney School of Business, has been honored with a 2026 Humphrey R. Tonkin Award. It recognizes full-time faculty members for scholarly and/or artistic creativity.
Naoumova is known for her impressive scholarly output, which includes more than 40 peer-reviewed works (37 while at UHart) and a dozen research grants. Her work is frequently referenced by other professionals (by one count, more than 1,500 times), making her one of the most cited faculty members in Barney School history.
Naoumova has been a professor at Barney since 2008, teaching integral courses such as principles of entrepreneurship, strategic management and business policy, and managing in a global environment. In addition to entrepreneurship, her areas of expertise include strategy and corporate governance in transitioning or emerging economies, as well as international business and its associated management roles.
“Irina’s research addresses some of the most complex and pressing issues in international business, such as cross-cultural values, global strategic decision-making, corporate governance in transitional economies, and decarbonization strategy,” notes Aarti S. Ivanic, dean of the Barney School and a professor of marketing. “Her scholarship spans organizational, societal, and institutional levels—an interdisciplinary integration that few scholars achieve. It is this kind of scholarship that exemplifies her extraordinary interdisciplinary integration and helps connect economies, culture, strategies, sustainability, and institutional theory. As such, her contributions go well beyond what is expected of a faculty member at her level of experience.”
Naoumova’s doctorate in economics and management is from Kazan State University in Tatarstan, Russia, where she also chaired the department of management. After arriving in the United States, her career as an educator included seven years at the University of Tennessee before coming to Hartford. She has also received two prestigious Fulbright scholarships from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to teach and conduct research abroad.