Meet DePaul’s Newest Business Professors

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The Driehaus College of Business welcomed three new tenure-track faculty members to its faculty this fall. Meet Assistant Professors Gary Chen, Zheng Han and Jennifer Tatara, who bring wide-ranging teaching, research and professional accomplishments to their new roles at DePaul:

Gary Chen
Assistant Professor
School of Accountancy & MIS

Gary Chen has a diverse background in accounting and engineering, and he teaches courses in accounting information systems. Prior to joining DePaul, he was an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he received the Dean’s Recognition for Outstanding Teaching. He earned his PhD in accounting from Northwestern University.

Chen’s research intersects accounting with corporate social responsibility, finance, information technology, labor relations and supply chain management. His interdisciplinary approach to research provides new insights into the economic forces that impact corporate accounting disclosures and those that drive information searches by decision-makers.

His scholarship has been published in leading journals, including Journal of Accounting and Economics, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Information Systems, and Accounting & Finance. His scholarly work has been nominated for several best conference paper awards. Chen also regularly serves as a referee and conference discussant and has received the FARS Excellence in Reviewing Award.

“I believe a good teacher makes course topics more relatable and can break down and explain difficult concepts,” Chen says. “Toward that end, I incorporate relevant current events and material across multiple sources beyond the textbook into class discussions and assignments. I also believe in providing students with ample support and individualized attention, making myself as accessible as possible to help students excel in my classes.”

Zheng Han
Assistant Professor
Department of Management & Entrepreneurship

Zheng Han holds two doctoral degrees—one in analytics and operations and one in mathematics—from the University of Kansas (KU). At KU, he taught or served as a teaching assistant for a broad range of classes, including business analytics, operations and supply chain management, and business/engineering calculus. As a PhD candidate, Han received the Constance B. Ducey Teaching Award in 2018 and was one of the only two awardees school-wide. He previously worked at the University of Science and Technology of China, where he helped develop the curriculum for the international MBA course, “Big Data and Business Analytics.”

Han’s research explores sustainability, healthcare operations management, operations management, and marketing interface. His scholarship has appeared in journals that include Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and he has served as an ad-hoc reviewer for the European Journal of Operational Research and Naval Research Logistics.

“With my dual background, I am able to bridge the gap between ‘sciences’ and ‘arts’ in the classroom, connecting the dots for my students,” Han says. “It is a privilege to grow with my students, to help them expand and sharpen analytics skillsets, to see them gain from real cases and hands-on experiences, and, eventually, to witness them stepping up as tomorrow’s business leaders.”

Jennifer Tatara
Assistant Professor
Department of Marketing

Jennifer Tatara completed her doctorate in marketing at the University of Memphis and was a visiting professor at the university, where she received the 2021 PhD Student Outstanding Teaching Award. She has taught courses that include principles of marketing, advertising and sales promotion, integrated marketing communications and business analytics.

During her doctoral studies, Tatara was the lab manager for the Customer Neuro-Insights Research Lab at the University of Memphis. She conducted research using biometric hardware and software, such as eye-tracking, electroencephalogram, galvanic skin response and heart rate sensors. She has been an invited speaker on topics such as the “Application of Biometric Research in Sales” and “Neuromarketing.”

Tatara’s research interests include consumer-based strategy, crisis management and consumer neuroscience. Her research has been published in the Journal of Business Research, Marketing Education Review’s Teaching Moments and JMR Scholarly Insights by AMA DocSIG, and she has received multiple best paper awards. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked in Miami as an associate broker at Aon Risk Solutions, the leading global provider of risk management.

“It is an exciting time for students and practitioners in the field of marketing due to emerging technologies—such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, portable eye tracking and text, voice and facial analysis—that allow for new opportunities to garner consumer insights,” Tatara says. “I feel privileged to be able to teach that which I personally find fascinating and do my best to instill that same level of enthusiasm in my students.”