Susan Heckler
Introduction
Susan Heckler of the University of St. Thomas passed away Tuesday morning
Susan Heckler, Ph.D., longtime Opus College of Business faculty member and Opus Distinguished Endowed Chair in Marketing, passed away on Tuesday morning of complications due to kidney failure. She was 55.
Heckler began her professional career as a chemist before earning her M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing from the University of Minnesota in 1987.
Heckler first joined the University of St. Thomas in 1984 as assistant professor of marketing. She went on to serve as visiting assistant professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Arizona in Tucson and visiting professor of marketing at Georgetown University.
She rejoined St. Thomas in 2003 as Opus Distinguished Endowed Chair in Marketing at the Opus College of Business, where she not only taught classes, but mentored new faculty.
As a founding member of the core faculty of the Full-time UST MBA program, Heckler was very influential in the program design and formation. She taught the core marketing course and a course on applied research methods that she had designed earlier in her career and modified for the program.
A gifted scholar, Heckler used her considerable analytical skills in her research. Her findings were published in top peer-reviewed journals throughout her career, including the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Consumer Research and Psychology and Marketing. She served on the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing for 10 years and contributed chapters to numerous scholarly works. In addition, she was a sought-after conference presenter.
Heckler was also a passionate teacher. During her teaching career, Heckler won numerous awards, among them Outstanding MBA Faculty from the University of Arizona in 1995-96 and again in 1998-99, and a Special Award for Excellence in Service to the Faculty from the University of Arizona in 2000. Also while at Arizona, she was elected to the position of secretary of the faculty, one of the highest ranked governance officers among the 3,000-member university faculty.
Heckler is survived by her husband, Dr. Christopher Puto.