Susan A Timm

Susan’s doctorate is in education for business, which she received from the Department of Management at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb. Her areas of concentration include adult continuing education, communication (especially listening and nonverbal communication), diversity, learning to learn, and training and development. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication studies from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Since she loves learning, Susan also completed a post-graduate master’s degree in foundations of education.

Currently, Susan is an associate professor in the Department of Office Administration & Technology at Elgin Community College (ECC), Elgin, Illinois. In this capacity, she teaches Business Communications, Customer service, Introduction to College studies, Office Procedures, Professional Development, Executive Transcription, Speech, and some software classes such as PowerPoint and Word. Previously, she was a professional advisor and visiting faculty for DePaul University’s School for New Learning. She also served as adjunct faculty for the Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations at NIU, where she primarily taught Education as an Agent of Change and Foundations of Minority Language, a course that introduces people to English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual education issues in the U.S. Susan has served on dissertation and master’s committees, including one for a doctoral student at Wyoming University.

Formerly, Susan was an Instructor in the Department of Communication at NIU. For 7 ½ years, she served as the assistant director for the Office of University Resources for Latinos (URL) at NIU. Before the position at the URL, she taught in the Department of Management at NIU and at several different community colleges. Susan has taught both graduate and undergraduate as well as presented numerous workshops and seminars both for professional organizations and in corporate settings.

Being a member of several different professional organizations provides Susan with up-to-date information and allows her to network with others in the field, including leading experts. She belongs to the following professional groups: American Association of Women in Community Colleges; Association for Business Communication—Diversity Committee; Delta Pi Epsilon (honorary business education graduate research society)—President, Local Chapter; the International Association of Administrative Professionals; Illinois Association for Career & Technical Education; Illinois Business Education Association; and National Business Education Association.

Susan is also a card-carrying member of the ILA (International Listening Association). She served on the Executive Board for three terms. In addition, she is a Certified Listening Professional (CLP)^TM. Her doctoral dissertation, “A Comparative Analysis of the Influence of Listening/Nonverbal Communication Training on Multicultural Sensitivity,” earned the International Listening Association’s (ILA) Graduate Thesis/Dissertation Award for excellence in research. Considered to be one of the leading listening experts in the Midwest region of the U.S.A, Susan has published numerous articles and presented several workshops, many dealing with listening and other communication areas.

Professional Profile

Dr. Susan Timm is a highly accomplished professional with proven track record of success, leadership, and innovation in all facets of higher education over diverse industrial, business, and instructional environments. You can add your company’s name to the growing list of corporations for which Susan has provided training, including (to name just a few):

• AT&T; Caterpillar Tractor Company
• Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, New York
• Discover Card Marketing Group
• Motorola International
• New York State CETA/JTPA
• Northern Illinois University
• SAC/USAF, Officers’ Training Program.

Susan brings a multicultural perspective to whatever topic she discusses. A native Texan, she has traveled extensively because of her father’s military career. Susan had the exciting opportunity to live in Canada and Spain as well as in several states throughout the U.S. In addition, she was an exchange student in Colombia. As an adult, her travels have brought her to Japan, Mexico, and Taiwan. Currently, Susan serves as an advisor to the United Students of All Cultures (USAC) international student club at Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, Illinois, where Susan is an assistant professor.

Susan’s doctorate is in education for business, which she received from the Department of Management at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb. Her areas of concentration include adult continuing education, communication (especially listening and nonverbal communication), diversity, learning to learn, and training and development. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication studies from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Since she loves learning, Susan is recently completed a post-graduate master’s degree in foundations of education with a concentration in multicultural education. She also earned trainer certification from Motorola University, in its five-course Customer Care curriculum.

Susan’s diverse educational experiences and training have prepared her for a myriad of training and teaching opportunities. At ECC, Susan teaches business communication, college studies, customer service, office procedures, professional development, speech, and some technology classes. In 2002, she earned a federal grant (U.S. Department of Education’s Preparing Tomorrows Teachers to Use Technology—PT3). In addition to developing some courses for on-line delivery, Susan has designed web pages and has conducted various workshops on on-line delivery and on making web pages accessible. One of her web pages won a 2002 Award for Most Accessible Site.

In addition, she is a professional advisor and visiting faculty for DePaul University’s School for New Learning, where she has taught business communication and research classes. She also has served as adjunct faculty for the Departments of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations and of Management at NIU, where she primarily teaches graduate-level courses in communications (M.B.A. program) and in English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual education issues in the U.S.

Formerly, Susan taught in the Department of Communication at NIU. She also served as the assistant director for the Office of University Resources for Latinos (URL) at NIU.

Being a member of several different professional organizations provides Susan with up-to-date information and allows her to network with others in the field, including leading experts. Just a few of the professional groups to which she belongs include: Association for Business Communication—Diversity Committee; Delta Pi Epsilon (honorary business education graduate research society)—President, Local Chapter; the International Association of Administrative Professionals; Illinois Association for Career & Technical Education; Illinois Business Education Association; and National Business Education Association.

Susan is also a card-carrying member of the ILA (International Listening Association), where she serves as the chair of the Business Interest Group. In spring 1998, her doctoral dissertation, “A Comparative Analysis of the Influence of Listening/Nonverbal Communication Training on Multicultural Sensitivity,” earned the International Listening Association’s (ILA) Graduate Thesis/Dissertation Award for excellence in research.

Considered to be one of the leading listening experts in northern Illinois, Susan has published numerous articles and presented several workshops, many dealing with listening and other communication areas. In 2006, she was selected as one of the top 50 adult educators in the United States and Canada!

Some of her publications to date include the following:

♦ Timm, S. A. & Armstrong, K. B. (Eds). (2002). Counting Our Chickens Before They Hatch Constructing New Visions of Diversity, Thresholds in Education, 28(2).

♦ Timm, S., Aurand, T., & Ridnour, R. (2000). Listening Competence within Marketing and Other Business Disciplines: Phase I―Measuring College Student Perceptions, The Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, 42(2), pp. 78-89.

♦ Timm, S., & Schroeder, B. L. (2000). Listening/Nonverbal Communication Training, International Journal of Listening, 14, pp. 109-128.

♦ Timm, S. (2000). Listening Experiential Exercise, In K. Taylor, C. Marienau, and M. Fiddler (Eds.), Developing Adult Learners: Strategies for Teachers and Trainers, pp. 207-211. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

♦ Timm, S. (1995). Chapter 20: Oral Communications, Office Systems and Administration (Prentice Hall), third ed., B. L. Schroeder (Ed).