As a college professor I have three main activities in my work life: teaching, research and service. I enjoy all three activities and find that one of the best parts of my job is that I am always doing different kinds of activities.

Teaching

I love teaching because I see the positive impact I have on many students. My favorite part of teaching is getting to know my students and then hearing about their successes here at CSU Chico as well as after they have graduated. I regularly keep in contact with past students via email so be sure to keep in touch! I have taught a wide range of courses in my academic career. While at ASU, I taught the introductory marketing course and Marketing Management. In my year at Villanova, I taught the introductory marketing course, a Services Marketing class, as well as two MBA classes (Strategic Marketing and Services Marketing). At Chico, I have taught Survey of Marketing (MKT 370), Consumer Behavior (MKT 371), Services Marketing (MKT 478), Web Localization (MKT 566) and E-Marketing (MKT 465).

Research

Doing research as a faculty member entails investigating some important marketing related topic, writing a research paper and submitting the paper to an academic journal or conference. Before papers are published, other faculty from around the world read the research paper and determine if they feel it is an interesting topic with a contribution to the marketing literature. During my doctoral program at ASU, my research interests in services marketing (marketing related to services such as hotels, airlines, phone companies, etc) developed. After several years investigating services marketing issues, I focused on the important role of technology and how it impacts the delivery and consumption of services by customers.

My dissertation focused on how customers decide whether or not to use a new technology to perform service activities on their own (instead of a service employee performing a task for them). I called these technologies Self-Service Technologies (SSTs). Examples of SSTs include self-scanning at the grocery store, ATM, pay at the pump terminals, Internet shopping, etc.

My research in this area has been presented at numerous conferences as well as published in several academic journals. I have published papers in the Journal of Marketing (the leading marketing academic journal), the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Service Research, Academy of Management Executive, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, Management Decision, International Journal of Service Industry Management Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Management Education and the International Journal on Media Management.

In addition to investigating how and why consumers decide whether or not to use SSTs, my research also focuses on how managers can effectively implement new SSTs, customer satisfaction with using SSTs, the role of technology anxiety and how companies can make customers feel more comfortable with new technologies, and how customers perceive delays when using technology (like waiting in line or a slow web page). Future research issues I plan on exploring include the effectiveness of online advertising, online live customer support and shopping cart abandonment.

More recently I have begun to explore classroom issues in my research. Factors such as how faculty form and select groups, the impact on team performance, and different perceptions of groups between faculty and students are important to understand. I also hope to explore the role of technology in the classroom, how it impacts learning, and different perspectives of faulty and students.

Service

An important part of my job is to provide service to Chico State (the university, college and the department) as well as to the marketing profession. I regularly attend conferences and review papers for journals. In addition, I am affiliated with the American Marketing Association, Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Educators Association, Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma and the Golden Key National Honor Society.

Closer to home, service to the university is something I really enjoy doing. While at Villanova, I was the faculty advisor for the Marketing Association. Here at Chico I have served on the Human Subject in Research committee (we make sure research subjects are protected) and am currently serving on the world wide web guidelines committee (we oversee the Chico State web page), the Campus Planning Committee, and recently stepped down from the the AS Business Council. In the College of Business I was the Chair of the Dean Search Committee which hired Dr. Willie Hopkins and was the faculty lead for the creation of the CATS fundraising campaign during the 2004-2005 academic year and supervised the 2005-2006 CATS campaign. I have been the CSUC AMA faculty advisor since 2005-2006 and will continue to support this great student group. These service opportunities allow me to positively contribute to the university as well as work with faculty across campus whom I might not otherwise have a chance to meet.