Familiar faces in new places at College of Business

by Joe King

As the College of Business prepares to move into new quarters at Barsema Hall next fall, some familiar faces are moving into new leadership roles.

Denise Schoenbachler was named chair of the marketing department Feb. 1 and Nancy Russo was named chair of the operations management and information systems (OMIS) department on Jan 1, replacing Bill Tallon, who now is associate dean of the college.

Denise Schoenbachler

Schoenbachler, who replaces the retired Peter Kaminski, looks forward to a variety of challenges. "As we move into Barsema Hall, I think there will be some pressure on the entire college to perform and to raise our profile as a business school preparing students to work on the technological forefront," Schoenbachler said. In fact, raising the profile of the marketing department in particular is one of her primary goals.

"We have excellent programs and have cultivated some very strong affiliations with industry (through things like our Sales Advisory Board) and various professional organizations (like the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing), and I would like to see us capitalize on those things a bit more," she says.

Schoenbachler, who earned her Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, joined NIU in 1992. She is actively involved in the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation and the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing. She also is the OTA/Off the Record Research Professor of Marketing Research.

While Schoenbachler is learning her new job on the fly, Russo has enjoyed some on-the-job training. She worked as assistant chair of the department from October 2000 through July 1, 2001, when she was named acting chair, and became chair on Jan. 1, 2002.

Like Schoenbachler, Russo plans to build upon relationships that the department has developed with the Chicagoland business community. "In our field, things change so quickly that we must maintain strong ties with our partners in the business community to ensure that our curriculum is as up-to-date as our technology," she says.

Nancy Russo

The move into Barsema Hall could be a boon to enhancing those relationships, she believes. "It will allow us to interact in new ways, not only with our students but also with the external community. Barsema Hall will be a state of the art facility, one that people will want to come out and use because it contains the latest technology," she says.

Russo received her Ph.D. in management information systems from Georgia State University and joined NIU in 1991. She is actively involved in the international information systems community and in 1998 was a visiting professor at University College Cork, Ireland. She is an associate editor of the Information Systems Journal, and serves on the editorial boards of Information Technology & People and Information Systems Review.

Among those wishing Russo well is her predecessor, Bill Tallon, who was named associate dean of the college last July.

Bill Tallon

Tallon became associate dean after serving as chair of the OMIS department for nine years. He received his Ph.D. in operations management from the University of Iowa and came to NIU in 1990 after serving on the faculty at the University of Virginia. While he continues to teach and research, Tallon has added several new tasks to his plate, the biggest of which are ensuring that business programs and processes make a smooth transition into Barsema Hall and coordinating the reaffirmation of the college's accreditation, which is due for renewal in 2003.

The tasks appeal to two of his favorite teaching and research interests, which are logistics and quality management, Tallon says.

"These projects are large-scale and of high significance to the College of Business. They come with challenges, but they are enjoyable and very rewarding. They will undoubtedly be tremendous learning experiences," he said.