Marketing is concerned with the identification and assessment of consumer and industrial market needs and the development of marketing programs to satisfy those needs. Marketing personnel in profit and nonprofit organizations analyze markets and industries to identify new opportunities and refine existing ones. Marketers are also responsible for developing management products, promotional programs, distribution systems and prices that are appropriate to the targeted market opportunities.
Programs
Professor Mike Wittmann, Department Head
Office: 109 Alston Hall
The marketing department at Culverhouse is for students whose interest is in the customer interface in either an industrial (business to business) or consumer (business to consumer) setting. Marketing is the process by which businesses communicate their intrinsic value to customers and other businesses. Marketing majors learn how to communicate value to customers, win customer trust and maintain and enrich customer relationships by delivering world-class products and services; and they apply this knowledge through real-world projects. Success in the marketplace requires firms to develop and execute marketing strategies that consider such factors as customers, competitors, economic conditions and global opportunities. In support of a firm's customer-focused mission, marketers engage in such activities as professional selling, services marketing, new product development, supply chain management, global marketing and social media marketing, as well as the research and strategic planning activities that undergird all activities in today's data-driven economy.
The marketing faculty is dedicated to student success. They bring real-world corporate experience to the classroom, and our programs are designed to enhance the student-corporate interface through on-campus corporate visits, internships, mentoring opportunities and jobs.
- Major
- Minors
Faculty
Chair and Professor
- Mike Wittmann
Professors
- Arthur Allaway
- Thomas Baker
- Robert Morgan
- Kristy Reynolds
- Clay Voorhees
Associate professors
- Adam Farmer
- Sebastian Forkmann
- Bryan Hochstein
- Carol Jones
- Christine Ringler
- Stacey Robinson
Assistant professors
- Carlos Bauer
- Abhi Bhattacharya
- Michelle Daniels
Instructors
- Joe Calamusa
- Jim Karrh
- Candace McCain
- Sarah Miesse
- Cherie Moman
- Kassandra Ross
- Rachael Smallwood
Professors emeriti
- Sharon Beatty
- Alex Ellinger
- George Franke
Courses
A survey course that describes the nature of domestic and global marketing management. Emphasis is placed on market analysis to include consumer, industrial, institutional, and governmental markets for goods and services. Also emphasized are the marketing management functions of planning, pricing, promoting, and distributing goods and services in business and nonprofit contexts. Students are limited to three attempts for this course, excluding withdrawals.
Analysis of the basic processes underlying buyer behavior. Various factors are examined, including external influences (e.g., culture, reference groups, family) and internal influences (e.g., perceptions, attitudes, personality). Primary emphasis is on final consumers with a secondary emphasis on the external and internal influences affecting organizational buyers.