Kathleen Rust
Doctorate of Business Administration, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
MBA, University of Southern Indiana
B.S. in Economics, University of Southern Indiana
Kathleen Rust has published articles in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Business and Psychology, the Journal of Education for Business, the Journal of Applied Business Research and several others. The former chair of Elmhurst’s Department for Intercultural Studies and former director of Intercultural Faculty Development, Dr. Rust has taught at Elmhurst College since 1999.
As a child, my favorite pastime was playing “teacher” with my little sister as the “student,” so from a very early age I loved teaching! As a young student, however, I was very shy and fearful of speaking in front of the class—something I carried into adulthood. As a college student I remember sitting in class listening to my professor and thinking, “I could do that!” meaning teach. I was encouraged by several professors too. So, I decided the best way to overcome my fear of public speaking was to learn how to do it by pursuing an occupation that requires speaking in class. And it worked!
I have found that I learn so much from my students—each class is different, with new students bringing unique talents and interests. What I strive to teach students is the importance of becoming responsible citizens as well as responsible managers: that no manager should be concerned solely with profitability; an effective businessperson is consciously concerned about the needs of the larger community. In addition, managers must be able to work effectively with persons from diverse backgrounds, be willing to make tough decisions that benefit all parties affected by the firm, and be able to learn from their own mistakes in judgment.