Eliot Elfner began teaching at St. Norbert in the fall of 1971. He served St. Norbert College for 86 semesters and has made significant contributions to business administration discipline, the division of social sciences, and to the college at large. Eliot's leadership in the business administration discipline was immeasurable. He was instrumental in transforming the discipline into a group of bona fide professional academics in business. Importantly, he led this transformation while reminding faculty that we are a business program rooted in the Catholic, Norbertine, liberal arts traditions. Within the social science division, Eliot has been an important leader, serving as associate dean for a total of 8.5 years. He was skilled at doing the difficult balancing act of being a leader and proponent for the social science faculty while preserving his role on an administrative team. An accomplished scholar, he has a long list of publications and presentations, many related to the assessment of student learning outcomes, an expertise that he used to champion assessment at St. Norbert College. Finally, as a teacher, Eliot demanded that his students stay abreast of what was happening in the “real world.” Using his extensive connections in the community, he was masterful at bringing local business leaders to his classroom in an effort to prepare his students for the world of business that they will confront when they leave St. Norbert College.

Biographical Note written by Joe Dyal, 2019.