NIU Business Dean Denise Schoenbachler has been named the 2015 Outstanding Dean by the International Honors Society Beta Alpha Psi. Founded in 1919, Beta Alpha Psi is an honor organization for financial information students and professionals. There are over 300 chapters on college and university campuses with over 300,000 members initiated since Beta Alpha Psi’s formation.
Schoenbachler was nominated by NIU’s Gamma Pi Chapter of BAP and then selected by the Board of Directors and leadership of the international honors society. Her selection for this honor recognizes her commitment to student organizations like Beta Alpha Psi in the NIU College of Business.
Schoenbachler became dean of NIU Business in 2006, following distinguished academic career spent almost entirely at NIU. She arrived on campus as an assistant professor of marketing in 1992 and began building a reputation as an outstanding teacher (she earned the department’s Excellence in Teaching Award for six straight years) and a prolific researcher with numerous “Best Paper” awards to her credit.
After being named chair of the Marketing Department in 2002, she rallied the faculty into one of the most dynamic units within the college and increased funding for student scholarships by 100 percent. She also helped create two funded professorships and secured the college’s first endowed scholarship in marketing. Schoenbachler also gained a reputation for building partnerships, developing joint programs with a number of other departments across campus. It was also under her direction that the department launched its successful “NIU Apprentice” class, which drew international attention.
Schoenbachler will be presented with the award during BAP’s August 2015 annual meeting, which draws more than 1,500 students and faculty advisors from across the country and the world.