William Hauck

After 16 years in the retail industry, William Hauck joined the School of Fashion as Assistant Professor of Design and Merchandising in the year 2000. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Communications from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. His corporate industry experience covered a wide range of topics, including resources, store operations and merchandising, and he worked within the distribution/logistics departments of various national and regional retailers. 

Now, William, known as Bill to staff and students, teaches courses in the retail and buying areas of the curriculum and serves as a Coordinator of the Merchandising Internship program. He has also served as the School's Assistant to the Director for the past three years. William’s aim is to help students develop a core set of relevant, yet transferrable skills and competencies, to boost graduate employment prospects. These include technical and knowledge-based, research and discovery, problem-solving, analytical, and decision-making, communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills. 

Bill’s research focuses on the area of corporate social responsibility and ethical behavior in merchandising, particularly in relation to various human resources issues in the retail sector. His first-hand experience of how common sexual harassment can be in the fashion and retail sectors is something he’s exploring, with a particular focus on how to recognize and manage sexual harassment behavior. William has co-authored several articles on the subject of sexual harassment in the workplace, which have been published in a number of academic journals.

Alongside this, Bill is also researching the area of consumer behavior, with a focus on social responsibility, pricing, and elasticity of fashion and luxury products and services. He has also co-authored articles on ethics and consumer price perceptions, which have been published in an international journal.

Education

• M.A., Communications, Northern Illinois University
• B.A., Communications, Northern Illinois University