Kathi Tunheim is a passionate, hard-working woman who has had an amazing journey through life so far. She has had six careers that have taken her all over the world and eventually led her to her current position as an Assistant Professor of Economics and Management at Gustavus.
Kathi attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., and double majored in Communication Studies and Spanish. During her final semester at Concordia, Kathi was a student teacher and realized that she enjoyed teaching, but wanted to teach something other than high school students.
Following this, Kathi attended the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and received her Masters in Communication Studies where her masters program focused on training and development within communication studies, and her favorite class was interpersonal communication.
At the end of her time at the University of Wisconsin, she acquired an internship with Republic Airlines, and in 1983 was recruited to work for them full time. During her five years of employment, Northwest Airlines bought out the company, and Kathi became the Manager of Training.
“It was fascinating to be pretty young—23 to 28 years old—and to be traveling all over the world interviewing, hiring and training people,” Kathi said.
In 1987, she was recruited to work for the Carlson Travel Group as the Director of Training. When Kathi began working with this company she was a one person department. By the end of her five years with Carlson Travel Group, there were 20 people in the department.
In 1992, Kathi was recruited to work for the American Express Financial Advisors as the Director of Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness.
“This is where I became really interested in the art of leadership development and focusing on really helping leaders to be successful,” Kathi said.
At the end of her five years with the company, Kathi experienced a serious illness and discovered that she had a hole in her dura, which surrounds the spinal cord. Kathi was forced to lay flat on her back for six months in order for the hole to heal. This was a trying time for Kathi, as she is such an active and involved person.
“During this time I realized that if I were to make my life count, I needed to make a different choice. I decided I wanted to do something more meaningful than working for more money,” Kathi said.
This is when she decided to go back to school to get her Ph. D in Human Resource Development at the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
In 1998, she opened her own business called the Tunheim Leadership Group.
“I felt like I was being called to teach and be a leader in my community and church. To do this best while working on my Ph. D, I opened my own business,” Kathi said.
“I started my own business because I have three kids, and then I would have more control over my schedule [so I could] be involved in volunteering at their schools and at church. I thought I could have a better work life this way.”
Over the next ten years, Kathi ran her own company and taught briefly at the University of Minnesota, Concordia St. Paul and Augsburg College.
Kathi’s experience teaching at Augsburg College inspired her to continue teaching at a Lutheran college. In the fall of 2008, she was hired as an adjunct faculty member for management and economics at Gustavus.
Although Kathi commutes about 65 miles one way to teach at Gustavus, she does so with pride.
“The students are worth it. I really enjoy teaching at Gustavus. I have the brightest students I have ever taught.”
Kathi is currently on the tenure track at Gustavus and will continue working hard for her students.
“The people of the Gustavus community really welcomed me warmly when I was an adjunct professor. I am proud to be a part of this community, and I will continue to contribute to the development of students and faculty,” Kathi said.