Barbara J. Busse

Barbara J. Busse, dean of the College of Communicaiton and Fine Arts and veteran faculty member and academic administrator, has worked at Loyola Marymount University and one of its predecessor institutions in four separate decades, beginning her career at Marymount College on the Westchester campus in 1969. She currently serves as dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts. She served as the University's first associate academic vice president, was on two separate occasions named acting dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts, and has been chairperson or program coordinator in each academic department in which she taught.

As an associate professor in Communication Studies, she taught debate, conflict management, communication consulting, gender studies, communication theory, and organizational communication. She has been named Teacher of the Year by her students and Woman of the Year by California Women in Higher Education, and has been initiated into Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society. She has been recognized by the California State Assembly in a resolution highlighting her "distinguished contributions to debate education." On three separate occasions during a 6-year stint teaching and coaching debate at Damien High School, her debate and forensics teams were named California State Champions by the National Forensic League.

In collaboration with her husband, Jay B. Busse, she has produced over 60 volumes of research and policy briefs for the academic debate community on national and international public policy issues. These volumes have been used in schools in each state of the union. For 28 years, the Busses co-directed the West's largest summer residential debate institute at LMU, attracting high school students from throughout the US. The pair also sponsored the Urban Debate Institute in both California and Nevada to bring policy debate education to marginalized inner city students. She has been chosen to serve as a debate critic in prestigious national and international competitions.

Dean Busse has been extraordinarily active in University governance, serving as one of four Faculty Advisors to the President, collaborating with several colleagues to develop the Faculty Senate and serving for years on the Senate, chairing the Core Review Committee, co-chairing the first Multicultural Affairs Committee, chairing the first Enrollment Planning Group, participating actively on work related to mission and identity, curriculum development, enrollment, and gender issues. She served as the University's Sexual Harassment Compliance Advisor for many years. She is currently on the Mission and Vision Committee for the Provincial of the California Province of Jesuits, and continues her work with the Marymount Institute for Faith, Culture, and the Arts on their advisory board.

Dean Busse completed her B.A. in Speech Communication (1968) at California State University at Fullerton and her M.A. in Speech Communication (1969) at California State University at Northridge.

LMU | LA - Loyola Marymount University

Barbara J. Busse