Contact: Sammy McDavid
Mississippi State's academic program in marketing will need considerable wall space to display a collection of new awards garnered at an international meeting in New Orleans.
Four faculty members and a doctoral student in the university's College of Business and Industry took top honors at the Society for Marketing Advances' recent 2001 conference. Recognitions included the selection of one faculty representative as a SMA Fellow and another for an award in classroom teaching innovation. The group also brought back three first-place awards for research studies they presented.
Begun in the early 1960s as the Southern Marketing Association, SMA is the leading professional organization for marketing educators. Its more than 600 members teach throughout the United States and in several foreign countries.
The award-winning MSU group includes:
--Ronald D. Taylor, a marketing professor and head of the department of marketing, quantitative analysis and business law, who was among two members inducted into the fellows program. An MSU faculty member since 1983, he is a 20-year SMA member and its former president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and program chair, among other leadership roles. A doctoral graduate of the University of North Texas, he was selected for the career honor on the basis of scholarship and research excellence, and service to the organization.
--Taylor and associate professor Brian T. Engelland, who earned first place in marketing research for their study of guidelines used in measuring consumer attitudes. They competed against faculty from the universities of South Florida and Texas, New Zealand's Massey University, and the Universidad de Monterrey in Mexico. Engelland, who holds a doctorate from Southern Illinois University, joined the faculty in 1997.
--Assistant professor Melissa L. Moore, a faculty member since 1999, who received the annual Houghton-Mifflin Award for Innovations in Teaching. Specifically, she was cited for a class exercise that helps illustrate the concept of product brand positioning. Moore was chosen over faculty from Baylor, Loyola of New Orleans, James Madison, and Creighton, among other schools. She holds a doctorate from the University of Connecticut.
--Professor Cynthia Webster, who was first in the consumer behavior research category. Dealing with purchase decision-making by marital partners, her report was selected ahead of entries from Alabama, Florida State, Louisiana State, and Tennessee, among others. Webster, who also holds a doctorate from North Texas, joined the faculty in 1989.
--Doctoral candidate Claire Stammerjohan of Starkville. Winning over peers from six other schools, her study dealt with the use of color in creating web-based advertising. She graduated cum laude from MSU in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in fine arts.