Rebecca Achen, Ph.D.

Dr. Rebecca Achen is a Professor of the Practice at the University of Kansas and the Program Director for the Professional Performance program. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Kansas in the Department of Health, Sport, and Exercise Sciences. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed academic journal articles and has been a contributor to books on social media in sport and sport management. Her research has primarily focused on the use of social media as relationship marketing tools in the context of sport and fitness. She is also actively engaged in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Dr. Achen has years of experience in sales and marketing inside and outside of the sport industry. She currently works as a marketing consultant where she helps small businesses create marketing plans and manage their social media presence. She founded a content business, The Engaged Professor, in 2024, with the goal of helping teachers adapt and improve their teaching in the evolving educational landscape.

She is currently a Member-At-Large in the Sport Marketing Association and will serve as the Vice President of Student Affairs beginning in the fall of 2024. She is on the editorial board for Sport Marketing Quarterly and the International Journal of Sport Communication.

At KU, Dr. Achen teaches in the Professional Performance program. She previously worked at University of the Pacific as a Visiting Assistant Professor and at Illinois State University as an Assistant Professor and Sequence Coordinator for the Sport Management Graduation Program. She has also taught in many graduate and undergraduate sport management programs and MBA programs as an adjunct. She holds a B.A. in Sport Management from Southwest Minnesota State University and a M.S. in Sport Management from Winona State University. She is also a Certified Digital Marketing Professional through the Digital Marketing Institute.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaachen/

Website: https://www.rebeccaachen.com/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tVIUm2cAAAAJ&hl=en