Kate Zipay is an Associate Professor in the Organizational Behavior and Human Resources area at the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business at Purdue University. Her research examines how people build healthy relationships with work by investigating the influence of experiences beyond the workplace—including leisure, hobbies, family, community, and third places—on employee well-being, motivation, and performance. She also studies interpersonal relationships at work, including organizational justice, psychological safety in third places, and the role of complex emotions in shaping employee outcomes. Her research has been published in Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organization Science, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. She is the Center for Working Well Associate Director of Research and Impact.

Kate received her PhD from the University of Georgia. Prior to joining the faculty at Purdue, she began her academic career as an Assistant Professor at the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon. Before pursuing her doctoral degree, she worked in public accounting at Deloitte.

In 2021, Kate was recognized as one of Poets & Quants' Top 40 Undergraduate Business Professors. She received the Lundquist College of Business Exceptional Teaching Award for Core Business Courses (2019–2021) and the Daniels School of Business Teaching Innovation Award in 2026. In 2025, Kate was also named to the Thinkers50 Radar alongside Dr. Allie Gabriel, recognizing them as emerging management thinkers whose work is shaping the future of management.

In the classroom, Kate focuses on preparing students to lead effectively in changing organizations and cultivate workplaces that are healthy, meaningful, and high performing. Professionally, she serves on the Executive Committee of the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management, where she chairs the Making Connections Committee and leads flagship professional development programming for the Academy of Management Annual Meeting. She also serves on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Applied Psychology.