Orono Resident Receives Prestigious Promotion

Orono resident Dr. Kathi Tunheim, Assistant Professor of Economics and Management at Gustavus Adolphus College, has been named the inaugural holder of the Board of Trustees Endowed Chair in Management and Leadership in the Department of Economics and Management at the College.

The position was created when six members of the Board of Trustees anonymously pledged $5 million for two endowed faculty positions in September 2010.

“Dr. Tunheim is a tremendous asset to Gustavus," President Jack R. Ohle said. "Her work both inside and outside the classroom with students has proven to be incredibly valuable." 

Dr. Tunheim holds a bachelor’s degree in speech communication and Spanish from Concordia College, a master’s degree in communication from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Ph.D. in human resource development from the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development.

With nearly 30 years of experience in the corporate world, Dr. Tunheim is an educator who has been in the trenches of several prestigious companies. She managed training and development at Northwest Airlines and Carlson Travel Network, and served as Director of Leadership Development at American Express Financial Advisors.

In 1998, she founded Tunheim Leadership Group, Inc., a consulting firm with a mission to recognize, educate, and inspire leadership, team and organization development to help others reach their God-given potential. Some of her many clients include Medtronic, Cargill, American Express, Luther College, Augsburg College and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics.

Dr. Tunheim accepted a tenure-track position at Gustavus in 2008 and has been a fixture in the College’s Department of Economics and Management ever since. Along with teaching courses such as Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Professor Tunheim has been instrumental in the development of two key leadership and mentoring programs on campus.

She devleoped Gustavus Women in Leadership, a student/alumni program that seeks to help the women of Gustavus in their academic, professional, and personal leadership development. She has also been a leader in the development of the Gustavus Alumni Mentoring & Business Leadership Program, which seeks to provide Gustavus economics and management majors with relevant business information and experience through personal and professional mentoring relationships with successful Gustavus alumni.

“I am humbled and honored to receive this endowed chair,” Dr. Tunheim said. “Partnering with students, faculty, staff, and alumni for the past five years at Gustavus has been a privilege. I look forward to even more collaboration with the constituents of the Gustavus community to help our students be even more successful in the future."