One would half-expect anyone on the NIU College of Business faculty to be caught up in the hoopla this year. After all, they’ve been given a palatial new classroom building with technology other schools would kill for.

Get Rick Ridnour talking, though, and the focus quickly turns to students: how much he loves working with them, how they challenge him, the mutual respect he and they enjoy. After 12 years of teaching full-time in NIU’s marketing department, he feels he has the perfect job in the perfect place.

Over the years, some of Rick’s best marketing students also worked in the Northern Star advertising department. He quickly realized that was no coincidence. Students would come to class talking about real-life experiences in sales, time management, deadlines, project management, depending on other people and handling rejection.

“Working at the Northern Star is one of the greatest opportunities a student can have,” he said. “It’s all of the things this college should represent. This is real. This is no ivory tower. This is running a newspaper and doing it responsibly.”

Kelly Hahn, former Star ad manager and now an account representative with the Moline Dispatch, said Dr. Ridnour never made students feel unimportant – always taking time for them, even if they weren’t in his classes.

“He had such a passion for teaching that made going to class so much more enjoyable,” she said. “His enthusiasm was contagious. On numerous occasions he came willingly to talk with the advertising staff of the Northern Star. Every time he left, the staff was motivated and excited.”

Star Business Adviser Maria Krull adds: “When we have a situation arise and the kids are bouncing ideas back and forth, I always tell them, “See what Professor Ridnour thinks.”

Students and colleagues recognize Rick’s devotion. In 2001, he won an NIU Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award, after receiving several similar honors over the years from the Marketing department and the College of Business.

Rick’s tidy Barsema Hall office still smells like new carpet. On the bookshelves stand a few small, framed photos of his wife Amy, their two sons and daughters-in-law and four grandchildren. There isn’t much on the walls, though. It’s clear that Rick doesn’t hole up here.

“This is not my office,” he said. “The classroom is my office.”