YSU student marketing association earns top prize

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown State University Student Chapter of the American Marketing Association placed first in the Chapter Exhibit Competition for Best Use of Conference Theme at the AMA’s 37th Annual Intercollegiate Conference in New Orleans.

Kendra Fowler, assistant professor of marketing and YSU-AMA faculty co-adviser, won Best Faculty Paper for her work, “Design and Facilitation of Online Discussions to Enhance Learning Outcomes,” co-authored with Veronica Thomas of Towson University and Mary E. Schramm of Quinnipiac University.

Students in the YSU Williamson College of Administration and YSU-AMA chapter officers Lexus Sparbanie, Angela Murphy, Krity Shrestha, Pratik Pradhan, Amanda Irwin and Stephen D’Angelo were accompanied to the conference by faculty co-adviser Christina Saenger.

Students competed in events, including marketing strategy and sales competitions, earned AMA Collegiate Role-Playing and Relationship Selling Certificates, networked with chapters from around the world and attended trainings, keynote speeches, presentations and panel discussions.

Students’ travel was funded, in part, from a marketing research project for Litco International in Vienna. The project included building a prospect database, and designing, distributing and analyzing prospecting and current customer surveys. Sparbanie, Murphy, Shrestha, Phil Rader and YSU-AMA alumnus McKenna Goske worked on the project and presented it to the client on March 31.

The YSU Chapter of the AMA is open to students of all majors across campus who want to gain real-world, hands-on marketing experience, participate in a variety of professional development activities, and give back to YSU and the local community. YSU-AMA meets bi-weekly in the Williamson College of Business Administration. For information, contact Saenger at csaenger@ysu.edu or 330-941-7256.