Please give a brief background on yourself and your career.
I graduated cum laude from Wellesley in 1983 with a degree in English literature. After graduating with my M.B.A. in marketing and finance from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) in 1990, I stayed on to complete my PhD in 1994. I spent a few years as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan Dearborn and a few years as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing at UIUC before joining the University of Houston as a Clinical Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship at the C. T. Bauer College of Business. “Clinical Professor” means that I am a full-time faculty member, active in research, teaching and service, but non-tenure track.
How has your career changed since you originally envisioned it at Wellesley? What other careers did you consider as a student?
Ha! What career vision? At Wellesley, I had only vaguely formed ideas about a career after graduation. I thought I would work in the field of media communications, possibly writing/producing for television. I was so clueless! My first job after graduating from Wellesley was as a legal assistant in Washington D.C. for a K-street firm. I did not have any intentions of becoming a lawyer, but I did love living in D.C. My “communications job” involved obtaining copies of legal filings from the FCC. However, it was in my role as a legal assistant that I became interested in marketing. After reviewing advertising and marketing documents that were part of a large lawsuit, I decided to pursue a career in marketing. I went back to school for my M.B.A. and discovered that I loved the research side of marketing, especially understanding consumer behavior. My dissertation explored how our moods affect our consumption behaviors. I’ve also published several articles on impulsive buying behavior.
How has Wellesley contributed to your career?
Wellesley is the primary reason that I am a professor with a PhD. My Wellesley experience inspired (compelled?) me to pursue graduate school. It was not merely the excellent education I received, but additionally the “culture of excellence” that surrounded me. With so many amazing alumnae, I felt it was expected of Wellesley graduates to seek important positions, significant job titles, and meaningful occupations. Our speaker at graduation – Susan Sontag – told us, “Be bold. Be bold. Be bold.” According to U.S. Census 2013 data, 1.68 percent of Americans over the age of 25 have a PhD. My Wellesley education inspired me to be part of the two percent of Americans with a PhD.
What is a typical work day or work week like for you?
My typical work week? As a colleague once noted, “I love being a professor. I have so much flexibility. I can work any 80 hours a week I want to.” It’s true! Aside from time in the classroom, I can arrange my research, grading and class prep to suit my own schedule. The downside of this is that I’m never “done with work.” In a typical week, I spend about one third of my time on teaching, grading, and preparing for class, one third of my time in meetings, and one third of my time working on research projects. This is not optimal, and I need to discipline myself to spend more time on research.
What piece of advice would you offer students looking to get into your area of interest and expertise?
Interested in a career as a marketing professor at a research-oriented university? Talk to your professors about their research! I would also encourage students to a) take advantage of any opportunity to work on a research project with a faculty member, and b) take advanced math courses. Marketing is a social science not a hard science, but it involves data analysis and requires good quantitative skills. Also, you need to be a self-starter, highly disciplined, and able to handle rejection. Getting research ideas published can be a difficult process.
What do you wish you had known as a student?
I wish I’d known how open and receptive faculty are to working with students – I would have formed closer relationships with some of the professors I had, and I would have pushed myself to find a faculty mentor with whom I could complete a thesis or a research project.
If you could come back and take one class at Wellesley what would it be?
It is so hard to choose – there are so many interesting classes being offered! I’d love to take any of the Wintersession courses offered through the Albright Institute because I wholeheartedly believe in the Institute’s mission. I want to sit in on Margery Lucas’ psych seminar, “Topics in Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences – How We Choose” because I think the student discussions would be fascinating. I want to take James Oles art seminar, “Imagining Mexico and the Border in Film” because I’ve spent time with Jay through Wellesley alumnae functions, and he is wickedly smart and funny and I don’t know enough about our neighbor to the south. And I want to take Margaret Cezair-Thompson’s “The Art of Screenwriting” because…why not? There, I think I’ve filled out my academic schedule!