SU Marketing Professor Named AMA Advisor of the Year

SALISBURY, MD---Dr. Debbie Easterling, a marketing professor with Salisbury University’s Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, recently scored a first during the 20th annual National Collegiate American Marketing Association (AMA) Conference in New Orleans, where she won the Hugh G. Wales Faculty Advisor of the Year Award.

Her achievement made Salisbury the first campus in conference history to have two Wales honorees. Dr. Memo Diriker, director of SU’s Business Economic and Community Outreach Network, won the award in 1992.

“It’s like winning an Oscar,” Easterling said, explaining the award’s prestige within the AMA. “It was a total surprise.”

Students representing the SU AMA chapter, which nominated Easterling also were honored for Outstanding Performance in Professional Development. This award is based on the chapter’s events throughout the year. These included a networking reception with faculty and staff, a networking workshop with representatives from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, team-building activities and a marketing research project for Seacrets Bar and Grill in Ocean City, MD.

The SU chapter also received recognition for its exhibit booth, voted No. 1 out of 45 exhibits in the “Good Educational Value” category. Following conference’s focus on “Building Brand Equity,” the tiki-themed booth invited participants to play a game: balancing on a surfboard while answering questions about famous brand-name characters such as Betty Crocker and the Jolly Green Giant. At the same time, SU students marketed the brand equity of SU’s AMA chapter.

Some 1,400 students and advisors from more than 110 AMA chapters from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico participated in the international conference. For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.