Faculty at NIU's College of Business are highly regarded thought-leaders, who are often quoted in the media or whose expertise is sought by major organizations. Many of our faculty have received teaching awards at the departmental, college, and university levels, including the prestigious NIU Presidential Teaching Award. Unlike faculty at other schools around the country, the majority of NIU's business faculty worked as business professionals before earning their PhDs. NIU business students learn from faculty who have been in the trenches, who understand business fundamentals, and who also explore best business practices...both existing and emerging. Such enduring commitment to meld theory and action -- and to provide opportunities for learners to put business concepts into practice -- has caused the college to be known as a place Where the Classroom Meets the Business World .
Read about some of our featured faculty who put meaning behind the phrase Where the Classroom Meets the Business World.
Mark Rosenbaum, Fulbright Scholar and a prolific researcher of services issues, has long been at the forefront of studying the workings and implications of the service industry...and he has been doing so well before the phrase "Services Economy" was coined. Rosenbaum's research focuses on services issues such as commercial social support, quality of life issues, commercial friendships, unethical shopping behaviors, ethnic consumption, and tourists' shopping behaviors. His most recent research combines the latest thinking in the fields of sociology, biology, and marketing. Through that lens, Rosenbaum explores how human beings are genetically predisposed to help those like themselves and how biological predispositions may reveal themselves in the retail setting and, consequently, on a firm's bottom line. Unique for an academician, Rosenbaum's research addresses mainstream cultural realities combined with provocative or previously unexplored marketplace phenomena. Such a combination has proven to be a magnet for media attention. In fact, Rosenbaum's research findings often receive national and international media coverage, with his work and NIU affiliation cited in major media outlets around the world: Washington Times, CNBC, National Public Radio-Chicago, International Business Times, the Washington Post, Singapore television broadcasts, SmartBusiness magazine, among others. Academic publications that have featured his research include: Harvard Business Review, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retail and Consumer Services, Services Marketing Quarterly, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Senior Housing & Care Journal, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Travel Research, Business Horizons, and Journal of Vacation Marketing, as well as numerous domestic and international conference proceedings. He is also a contributing author to Tourism Mangement: Analysis, Behaviour, and Strategy and on the editorial board of Journal of the Academy of Korean Marketing Science.
A highly respected scholar who is active in the global business arena, Rosenbaum is a Fulbright Scholar and has taught principles of marketing and services marketing at the National University of Management (NUM) in Cambodia. NUM is the leading business school in Cambodia and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in business administration, as well as community outreach and entrepreneurship programs through its Small and Medium Enterprise Initiative. Over his four-month stay, Rosenbaum was immersed not only in Asian culture as it pertains to business practices and norms, but also with the academic and business sectors in Asia, translating theory into practice. On the academic front and along with his teaching activities, Rosenbaum worked with NUM faculty to help them develop a Services Marketing course (previously not in existence at NUM). Rosenbaum also helped them to update their course delivery through the use of technologies such as Blackboard, podcasts, wikis, and video streaming lectures. On the business front, Rosenbaum was actively involved in NUM's Small & Medium Enterprise efforts, through which he educated leading practitioners in the fields of business, health care, and tourism on American business practices. Rosenbaum's and NUM faculty's interaction with these leading practitioners ultimately may result in improving the quality of life for Cambodian citizens.
Rosenbaum also consults on service marketing planning issues with Marie Stopes International in Southeast Asia, including Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Myanmar, and with a think-tank that works with P&G's consumer products division. In addition, he has taught undergraduate and graduate service marketing courses in the United States, Viet Nam, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Cambodia. Most recently in summer 2009, Rosenbaum was invited to join Arizona State University's Center for Services Leadership (CSL) as one of their CSL Faculty Network Research Fellows (www.wpcarey.asu.edu/csl) . In this role, he becomes part of a formal community of academic thought leaders focused on advancing the field of services.
Mark Rosenbaum's designation as a Fulbright Scholar and as a fellow with the Center for Services Leadership are both accomplishments of note. The Fulbright Scholar Program is a highly prestigious program and is the U.S. government's flagship program in the international education arena. Established in 1985, the globally recognized CSL strives to improve the business and academic understanding of the distinctive and growing role of services in organizations and with customers. In order to be a CSL Faculty Network member, faculty members must have an exceptional academic reputation, expertise within service research, and a firm commitment to advancing knowledge in the field.
Click here for an abstract of his latest published research paper "The Restorative Qualities of an Activity-based, Third Place Cafe for Seniors". For a free copy of the full article please contact Mark Rosenbaum, Fulbright Scholar and Assistant Marketing Professor, (mrosenbaum@niu.edu). (2009 entry)
Gerald Jensen may be a scholar-teacher in a nationally-ranked college, but even within the ivory towers of academia, Jensen's work makes a genuine impact … both in his students, on Wall Street, and in the board rooms of industry-leading firms.
It comes as no surprise that “investment” is an important concept to Jensen, who is an expert in the world of finance. What may come as a surprise is Jensen's commitment to utilize the concept of “investments” by making it the cornerstone of the faculty-student relationship. For Jensen, investing in students is serious business. As to the return he strives to realize, Jensen would say, “To see students develop a skill set that helps them to achieve more than they previously thought possible — in school and in their professional careers.”
If achieving more than previously imagined is the measure, consider the experience of former student Nick Calamos (M.S. Finance 1989), Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Investments/CIO of Calamos Investments. Calamos originally pursued a master degree at a private institution, but characterized the experience as average and grew disenchanted … so much so, he withdrew from the private school. Calamos enrolled instead in NIU's graduate business program. There, he experienced rigorous coursework of real substance and a professor in Gerry Jensen who challenged students to think both like an accomplished investor and a seasoned business professional. “Professor Jensen never tailored the material to the average or to the mediocre. Instead, he pushed each student to achieve their personal best … and sometimes beyond.” Go beyond a personal best Calamos did. He credits his NIU business education and finance professor Gerry Jensen, in particular, with helping him to create a successful business model, which he instituted — and employees still use — at Calamos Investments.
A prolific researcher, Gerry Jensen is widely regarded as an industry expert in both business and academic circles. Over the past five years, Jensen's research findings have received national and international media attention, with his work and NIU affiliation cited in major media outlets, including: CNBC — Squawk Box, CBS News, ABC World News, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, BusinessWeek, Financial Week, Investment News, USA Today, Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Morningstar, Dow Jones Capital Markets Report, Yahoo! Singapore Finance, and the Nikkei Kinyu Shimbun (Japan). Jensen remains closely affiliated with the finance community, engaging in endeavors with the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute. He carries professional credentials as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), having passed all three levels of the comprehensive CFA Exam. In 2005, Jensen was awarded the CFA Charter, representing the highest possible level of certification in the field. On the academic front, the body of Jensen's intellectual contributions is exhaustive. Jensen's research studies have been published in a wide range of top-tier journals, including: Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Portfolio Management, Journal of Financial Research, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Futures Markets, Journal of Investing, Financial Management, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Financial Review, and Journal of Alternative Investments, among others. Most notably, Jensen has the distinction of being published in the premiere academic journal The Journal of Business, which is produced by the University of Chicago Press and publishes only the highest quality papers in all business disciplines. To date, Jensen's scholarly study represents the first and only NIU paper ever accepted for publication in this esteemed periodical. (2008 entry)
Click to check out Gerald's personnel page.
Kathleen McFadden, a nationally-regarded expert in transportation and healthcare quality, reaches new heights as a scholar-teacher in NIU's nationally-ranked College of Business. McFadden does so by taking a strategic view — sometimes from 35,000 feet — of the relationship between operations management and competitive advantage, focusing closely on the aviation industry and the healthcare industry.
McFadden's research on quality management and service operations management generates substantial interest. Since 1998, McFadden's research on aviation safety has been spotlighted in television, radio, and print media, ranging from ABC News, FOX News, the Chicago Sun-Times, WMAQ Radio (NBC/CNN affiliate) to Aviation Safety magazine. Beyond media interest, McFadden's expertise is also highly regarded within some of the most powerful circles in the United States government. She has served as an expert witness and contract researcher for the Federal Aviation Administration, and previously won two research grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
McFadden is no stranger to collaborating with business executives who endeavor to meld academic theory with emerging business realities. Moreover, McFadden brings those collaborations into the classroom for the benefit of her students. Previously, McFadden was an early participant in shaping the Motorola-NIU College of Business strategic alliance. Currently, she is one of a small handful of key players at NIU developing a multi-college program in Healthcare Policy and Management, which is designed to help leaders in healthcare to think and act more strategically. McFadden also plays an integral role in the IBM-NIU College of Business alliance, through which the college has been named a SSME Partner School. SSME — Services Science, Management, and Engineering — is a new initiative for IBM. Through the SSME initiative, IBM invites only the best institutions that meet specific criteria to partner in the program, such as NIU, Arizona State, Carnegie Mellon, Ohio State, North Carolina State, Maryland, California-Berkeley, and Wharton. The firm's interest in the NIU College of Business was prompted by the college's unique combination of operations and information systems, an area in which McFadden has consistently made inroads over the years.
McFadden, an award-winning scholar, received the “best doctoral dissertation award” from the Aerospace Human Factors Association and the University of Illinois, as well as the prestigious “best application paper” award at the 2000 National Meeting of Decision Sciences Institute. She has had her intellectual contributions published in a wide range of top-tier journals, including Journal of Operations Management, Human Factors, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Healthcare Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Quality Management Journal, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Journal of Air Transport Management, Journal of the Operational Research Society, and OMEGA, among others.
Quality is McFadden's trademark in terms of the standard of performance she places not only within her scholarly endeavors and industry consultations, but also on her faculty-student relationships and the learning experience. A recipient of several departmental teaching awards, McFadden succinctly defines success in the classroom: “My goal is to instill in students a deep appreciation for quality as it relates to all aspects of what it means to be a business professional. This runs the gamut from successfully applying business concepts to modeling the behavior of a stand-out business leader. This is how NIU students develop the strongest possible competitive advantage for themselves…which reflects back on their alma mater. (2008 entry)
Click to check out Kathleen's personnel page.
Click to check out a recent article Health Execs Surveyed on Education Needs...NIU Initiative to Address Changing Needs in Health Care Industry.
Click to check out Rick's personnel page.
Marketing professor provides students with value-added experience. (2008 entry)