Deborah Heisley

deborah.heisley@csun.edu • (818) 677-2926 • JH 4136

Website: http://www.csun.edu/~ddh7030

Deborah Heisley received her Ph.D. from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University in 1990.  She served on the faculty at The Anderson School at UCLA for ten years before joining CSUN in the year 2000.

Professor Heisley’s research interest is consumer behavior.  She approaches consumer behavior with a sociological and anthropological perspective.  She is primarily interested in meaning structures created by cultures, the symbolic meaning of goods, and the consumption experience.  She examines these meanings in the context of culture, gender, status groups, and the family.She typically, but not exclusively, uses qualitative methodologies.  She is an expert in in-depth interviewing, visual research, and analysis of qualitative data.

Professor Heisley is active in the research community.  She has widely published and presented her work.  For detailed descriptions of her publications and presentations, go to her web page for the link to her vita.

Professor Heisley is a committed and excellent teacher with high quality standards for students.  Her specialty is client-based projects.  Client-based projects help students link theory to application and help the University build relationships with the business community.  She has run these client-based projects in many different formats, both at the Anderson School and at CSUN.  She has presented her insights regarding client-based projects to the Marketing Educators’ Association.  For more detailed descriptions of the courses she has taught, go to her web page for the link to her vita.

Professor Heisley actively serves her field, CSUN, and her community.  She is a frequent reviewer for the Journal of Consumer Research and the Association for Consumer Research.  She has organized conference sessions, tracks, and conferences.  Since joining CSUN she has become Acting Director of the Small Business Institute.  She is on the Introduction to Marketing course Quality Control Committee and the MBA Curriculum Committee.  She has also served as the American Marketing Association Faculty Advisor.  In the broader community, Professor Heisley actively serves the special needs community.  She is on the Associates Campaign Committee and The Development Committee for The Frostig Center, a prestigious research and teaching institution in Pasadena for children with special needs.  She served two years on the School Based Management Board for Emelita St. School, LAUSD and helped spearhead a Library Campaign that resulted in the opening of a $140,000 library in October of 2000.  This elementary school serves a diverse population with a high proportion of children who are under-priveleged and children who have special needs.