Thank you for your interest in Northern Illinois University's College of Business. NIU's College of Business is housed in Barsema Hall, the university's state-of-the-art facility. Since the founding of the business college in 1961, we have graduated more than 42,000 alumni. A large majority of our alumni have gone on to become successful business executives in the Chicago area and around the world. In fact, it is because of our close proximity to Chicago that our business college can build extensive partnerships with many firms, alumni, and business leaders. We do this with you -- the student -- at the forefront of our mind. Each semester, our students can expect visits from more than 100 business professionals who come to the college to share their career experiences in many of the college's classes. Students also have opportunity to learn from executive level experts -- including company founders and CEOs of major conglomerates -- who visit the college to provide keynote presentations on business topics such as ethics in business, global competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and microfinance. Many classes in the college provide our students with firsthand exposure to working on a cross-functional team to solve real business problems for organizations. Additionally, our students can plan on help from the college's alumni and business partners when seeking an internship experience. And when seeking employment after graduation, our students also have the incredible resources provided by the university-sponsored job fair, which is the largest job fair in Illinois.
The college is home to outstanding faculty who are committed to the belief that educating students and exploring new knowledge through academic research are equally important. Only academically qualified and professionally qualified instructors-the majority of whom worked in the private sector before becoming professors-teach in the college's undergraduate and graduate programs. NIU business faculty include a Fulbright Scholar as well as prominent research and teaching award recipients, many of whom are world-renowned in the fields of accounting and finance, as well as nationally recognized in the fields of marketing, management, and operations management and information systems.
Students, faculty, recruiters, and business partners alike seek out the excellent programs in the college. NIU's College of Business has been ranked for three consecutive years (2007, 2008, 2009) by BusinessWeek as among the very best undergrad b-schools in the nation. The college's outstanding programs include the highly ranked undergraduate and graduate accounting programs, top rated professional sales program, the finance department's student managed portfolio, the OM&IS unique curriculum blending operations and technology education, the management department's strong human resources focus, and the M.B.A. Program, ranked for three consecutive years (2006, 2007, 2008) by Crain's Chicago Business as one of the top programs in Chicago. Throughout the college, there is a continuous focus on excellence and on identifying and implementing innovative, current practices. Day to day, it is an exciting place to be!
I am pleased you took the time to visit our website. I look forward to your participation in the NIU College of Business, whether as a student, faculty member, alumnus, business partner, or friend of the college. Please feel free to contact me in the Dean's Office if you would like to learn more about the college.
Sincerely,
Denise D. Schoenbachler, Dean
NIU College of Business
Where the Classroom Meets the Business World
denises@niu.edu
1(815) 753-6225