Faculty & Staff

Biography

Dr. Varner has her PhD, MBA, and MA are from the University of Oklahoma. She has the Staatsexamen and Assessorenexamen from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, Germany.

Varner has extensive international experience. She grew up the in former East Germany and studied in Germany, France, Great Britain, the United States, and Taiwan. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Lugano, Switzerland where she teaches annually and at the University of Shanghai, China. She has taught "Asian Business" and "German-American Business Environment" at the Ecole Superieure des Sciences Commerciales d'Angers in France and has given guest lectures at universities in Belgium, China, Germany, and Japan. She has given more than 70 presentations at professional meetings and published more than 50 articles in journals such as The Singapore Management Review, The Review of Business, Human Resource Development Quarterly, The Journal of Business Communication, The Journal of Education for Business, The Business Communication Quarterly, She is co-author of Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace.

As Director of the International Business Program, Varner has developed exchange programs with schools in Canada, England, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and Thailand. She has also developed internship programs in Spain and China.

Varner has been honored with the Outstanding Membership Award and the Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teaching Award of the Association for Business Communication. She was named a Caterpillar Scholar and a State Farm Fellow by Illinois State University. She received the Woman of Distinction award in Education for McLean County
As president of the Association for Business Communication in 2000 to 2001, she contributed greatly to the internationalization of the organization. She was chair of the Ethics Committee and is an active member of the International Committee. She is a member of the Academy of Management and the Academy for Human Resource Development. She serves as a reviewer for a number of scholarly publications and consults for a variety of national and international firms.

Varner is the leader of the Illinois State University Export project which matches small businesses with student teams to develop the export potential of small companies. The Export program has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.