Professor Nasco possesses a rare mix of intellect and compassion. She is, by all accounts, a star in research and in the classroom.

The College of Business presented her with a Faculty Scholar Award in 2005 and an Outstanding Quality in Research Award in 2003. Nasco has also been nominated for either Outstanding Undergraduate or Graduate Teacher of the Year every year since 2004.

Nasco’s research focuses on consumer decision-making, as it relates to brand choices. She also studies sports marketing (how a consumer’s athletic identity predicts brand considerations, ad preferences, and brand choices), mobile commerce (how consumers react to marketing stimuli presented on wireless devices) and international marketing. More recently, Nasco has been examining consumer reactions to product placements and measuring implicit attitudes toward brands.

Nasco joined the SIUC faculty in 2002. Her teaching experience also includes stints at University of Florida, Indiana University and University of Notre Dame.

Nasco earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Florida in 1993 and a doctorate in social psychology from University of Notre Dame in 1999.

A second generation Italian-American, Nasco was born in Port Chester, New York and raised in south Florida. “Most people that I meet in the Midwest are always shocked that I wanted to move north,” she said. “But after going to graduate school at Notre Dame, I came to love the seasons (especially fall). Southern Illinois is the perfect place to live and work: great colleagues, little traffic, gorgeous scenery, amazing weather and a wonderful place to raise a family.”

Family and academics have always been important to Nasco. “For family vacations, my dad would load my mother, my brother and me into the family RV/camper and drive us around the country to visit college campuses!” she said. After graduating first in her high school class and accepting a full scholarship to the University of Florida, Nasco became a research assistant to Barry Schlenker, an eminent social psychologist. The rest is history.

Nasco now revels in her role as mentor to her students. “The thing I love most about SIU is having such close contact with students. Even though SIU has almost 20,000 students, it has a small school feel,” she said.

SIU is “small” enough for Nasco to feel comfortable sharing her other talent – singing. She has sung at marketing department graduation banquets and she has “dreams of being the ‘oldest’ American Idol, but the only ‘stage’ I’m used to is the one in my classroom in Lawson Hall,” she said.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Consumer decision-making & the use of alignable vs. non-alignable attributes in product choice
• Marketing communications on mobile devices
• Sports marketing & the influence of social identity on consumer behavior
• Mature consumer (age 55+) decision-making for service-related products

PUBLICATIONS

Nasco, Suzanne A., Elizabeth Grandon, & Peter Mykytyn, (forthcoming) “Predicting Electronic Commerce Adoption in Chilean SMEs using the Theory of Planned Behavior,” Journal of Business Research: Special Issue on Latin America.

Kulviwat, Songpol, Gordon C. Bruner II, Anand Kumar, Suzanne A. Nasco, & Terry Clark, (forthcoming) “Toward a Unified Theory of Consumer Technology Acceptance,” Psychology & Marketing.

Nasco, Suzanne A. and Gordon C. Bruner II, (forthcoming) “Perceptions and Recall of Advertising Content Presented on Handheld Mobile Devices,” Journal of Interactive Advertising (special issue on Mobile Advertising Issues and Challenges).

Nasco, Suzanne A. and William M. Webb, (2006) “Toward an Expanded Measure of Athletic Identity: The Inclusion of Public and Private Dimensions”, Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 28(4), 434-453.

Cooke, Alan D. J., Chris Janiszewski, Marcus V.M. da Cunha Jr, Suzanne A. Nasco, and Els De Wilde.  (June 2004) "Stimulus Context and the Formation of Consumer Ideals" Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), 112-124.

Nasco, Suzanne A. and Kerry L. Marsh. (1999), "Gaining Control through Counterfactual Thinking," Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25(5), 556-568.

Webb, William M., Suzanne A. Nasco, Sarah Riley, and Brian Headrick (1998), “When Athletes Can No Longer Compete: Reactions to Early Retirement from Athletics,” Journal of Sport Behavior, 21, 338-362.

AWARDS

2006 Nominated Outstanding Graduate Teacher of the Year, Southern Illinois University, College of Business

2006, 2005, 2004 Nominated Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher of the Year (Teaching Honor Roll), Southern Illinois University, College of Business

2004-2005 Faculty Scholar, Southern Illinois University, College of Business monetary award for excellence in Research

2003 Award for Outstanding Quality in Research, College of Business & Administration, Southern Illinois University

1999-2002 Presidential Fellowship (for Post-doctoral research), University of Florida

1999 Phillip Moore Dissertation Fellowship Award, University of Notre Dame, $5,000

1998 Statistical Consulting and Research Assistantship, University of Notre Dame

1993-1998 Presidential Graduate Fellowship, University of Notre Dame (full tuition&stipend 4 yrs)