Dr. Amber Manning-Ouellette joined the Iowa State University leadership studies faculty in fall 2015. She teaches CLPS 270, "Campus Leadership Development," and CLPS 322, "Leadership Styles and Strategies in a Diverse Society." She also directs the center’s global leadership study abroad program, which traveled to Stockholm, Sweden in the summer of 2015 and 2016.

Her research interests include college student sexuality, women’s leadership, higher education policy issues, college student development, gender and diversity issues, first-year student transition and retention assessment. Her doctoral dissertation is titled “In a Woman’s Voice: A Qualitative Study on How First-Year College Women Understand their Sexual Experiences” and examines how first-year women understand, navigate and reflect on their sexual experiences during college. Manning-Ouellette has presented her research at numerous national conferences such as the annual meeting for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, NASPA, and the Association for the study of Higher Education. She is the co-author of an article on health care reform and higher education published in 2014 in the NASPA Women in Higher Education Journal, and the Gardner and Barefoot text, "Your College Experience," forthcoming in 2015, contains three chapters edited by Manning-Ouellette on emotional intelligence, thinking and wellness.

Previously, Manning-Ouellette served as the director of enrollment management for the Southern Illinois University Carbondale College of Business, focusing on the recruitment and retention strategies of undergraduate business students. She also coordinated over 90 sections of first-year seminar courses, and served in various teaching positions. She co-coordinated the first annual women’s leadership conference at SIU Carbondale, which focused on increasing women in STEM, business and agriculture fields. In addition, she created a first-year women’s leadership course and living learning community in 2011. She holds a bachelor’s in psychology, a master’s in counselor education, and a doctorate of philosophy in educational administration and higher education, all from SIU Carbondale.