Report of the Academic Program Review Committee on the
Department of Marketing, J. Mack Robinson College of Business (RCB)
May 2, 2007
Approved by CAP, May 15, 2007
APRC Review Committee: Mary Shoffner (chair), Mary Finn, and A. Faye Borthick
1. Department Profile for AY 2004-AY 2006
The Department of Marketing offers degree programs at the undergraduate, MBA, specialized master’s and PhD levels. Shortly prior to the review period, and in response to demands from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), Business Communication merged with the Department of Marketing. The Department also houses two research centers (Center for Mature Consumer Studies and Center for Business and Industrial Marketing). Faculty members are involved in several service/outreach programs (Marketing RoundTable, MAX Awards, Women’s Leadership Forum, and Women’s Mentor Program) and serve as journal editors and as officers in professional associations. The department has experienced a series of failed searches for endowed chair positions and a merger of Business Communications faculty into its program. The department is convinced that leadership must come from the hiring of additional senior intellectual leaders to re-invigorate the department’s faculty.
1.1. Faculty and staff
Over the course of the review period the number and rank of faculty members was extremely stable. Currently, the department has 26 full time faculty members, including nine tenured professors, nine tenured associate professors, and eight non-tenure track faculty. It also employs 17 part-time instructors. All professors are men and 67% of the associate professors are women. There are no tenure track assistant professors at this time. Among the tenured faculty, less than one quarter is non-white. Among the non-tenure track faculty, 67% are women and 12.5% are non-white. While the department relies upon graduate teaching assistants for course instruction in the upper division undergraduate degree program, their numbers are not included in the description of faculty. The department notes 5.7 staff positions with the following areas of responsibility: business management, student services and scheduling, technical/clerical support, reception, special projects and foundations accounts.
1.2. Average credit hour productivity by level and faculty type
Consistent with the then nation-wide trends in MBA enrollments, student enrollments in both the MBA concentration in Marketing and specialized MS program in Marketing declined steadily over the three-year period from AY 04–06. Noting the caveat that enrollment figures may be misleading because students may, but are not required to, declare a major/concentration at time of admission, the three year average numbers of majors by degree program were as follows: BBA in Marketing: 1,177; MBA - Marketing: 206; MS - Marketing: 20; PhD - Marketing: 13.
Overall credit hour productivity over the review period has increased, despite declines in enrollment at the Master’s degree level. The overall three-year average total credit hours were 12,459 undergraduate upper division and 4,462 graduate hours, for a combined total average of 17,102. Full-time faculty (tenured and non-tenure track) taught over half of the total upper division undergraduate credit hours and over 90% of the graduate credit hours. However, graduate credit hour generation has increased quite significantly among non-tenure track faculty, from 18% in AY 2004 to 45% in AY 2006. Correspondingly, graduate credit hour generation by tenured faculty has declined from 74% in AY 2004 to 47% in AY 2006. This change is attributed to a curricular change that added communications courses required for all MBA students in the College, and courses in that area are taught by non-tenure track faculty or part-time instructors. Data provided by the department from peer and aspirational institutions did not permit comparison on credit hour productivity. The full-time student to full-time faculty enrollment ratio at the RCB was 31:1 compared to 31.6:1 at business schools at peer institutions and 26.2:1 at business schools at aspirational institutions.
1.3. Scholarly productivity
Department faculty published 84 peer-refereed articles during the 2004-2006 study period (an average of 28 refereed publications per year), yielding an average of 1.5 per year per graduate faculty member. The Department as a whole averaged one book and 13.7 conference presentations with a proceedings publication per year. Procuring external funds for research has not been emphasized within the Department and this is typical of business fields. Over the three-year period of review, five individual faculty members were awarded funds, yielding a total department average of $339,734 in external funding and $16,234 in internal funding. Data provided by the department from peer and aspirational institutions did not permit comparison on scholarly productivity.
1.4. Service
The Department is engaged in several outstanding service projects including: (a) the Marketing RoundTable that brings together senior marketing officers from leading Atlanta corporations; (b) the MAX awards event that brings senior business leaders to campus and funds an endowment for minority scholarships; (c) Women’s Leadership Forum, and (d) Women’s Mentor Program. Department faculty members serve as editors of three journals in marketing, on editorial boards of other journals, and serve as senior officers of leading academic associations.
1.5. Noteworthy Departmental Features
The Department of Marketing holds several endowments worth over $3 million. Currently seven of nine professors hold endowed positions. Two recently endowed positions are not yet filled ($1 million Richard and Susan Lenny Distinguished Chair in Marketing) and ($500,000 E. Vachel Pennebaker Eminent Scholar Chair in Direct Marketing). The Department also houses two research centers, the Center for Mature Consumer Studies and the Center for Business and Industrial Marketing.
1.6. Degree Programs
The Department of Marketing offers BBA, MBA, MS, and PhD programs in Marketing.
1.7. Student Enrollment and Degrees Awarded by Year for Marketing Degree Programs
The number of majors and degrees conferred by year and the average over the three-year period of review is presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Number of Marketing Majors & Number of Degrees Conferred by AY and Averaged
Degree / AY 2004 / AY 2005 / AY 2006 / 3-Year AverageMajors / Degrees / Majors / Degrees / Majors / Degrees / Majors / Degrees
BBA / 1207 / 202 / 1159 / 202 / 1164 / 181 / 1176.7 / 195.0
MBA / 235 / 69 / 207 / 70 / 177 / 59 / 206.3 / 66.0
MS / 25 / 8 / 21 / 6 / 15 / 7 / 20.3 / 7.0
PHD / 14 / 4 / 11 / 6 / 15 / 2 / 13.3 / 4.0
The six-year retention rate for fall 1999 juniors was 70.7% and graduation rate was 68.5%. For Master’s level students the fall 2000 retention rate was 77.1% and the graduation rate was 75.0%. For PhD level students the fall 1996 retention rate was 80.0% and the graduation rate was 80.0%.
1.8. Quality of Students by Degree Program
1.8.1. Input Variables
1.8.1.1. Undergraduate degree (BBA in Marketing)
Admission into the RCB requires students have completed 45 credit hours and earn a minimum GPA of 2.5. The reported SAT scores for juniors and transfer students’ GPA enrolled in the B.B.A. in Marketing were comparable to other students enrolled at the University and the RCB. Information was provided only for Fall 2005 new freshmen and transfers. For new freshman enrolled in the University and the RCB, the average SAT score was 1,091, whereas for freshmen Marketing students, the average SAT score was 1,056. New transfers to the University reported an average GPA of 3.01; new transfers into RCB reported an average GPA of 2.98, and new transfers into Marketing reported an average GPA of 2.98. Throughout the report, the Department commented that the diversity of Marketing students is a plus, but nowhere is there any information on this diversity.
1.8.1.2. Graduate degree programs (MBA, MS, and PhD)
Table 2. Enrolled Graduate Students’ Average Graduate Admissions Test Scores and Number and Percentage Accepted by Degree Program
Degree Program / AY / GMAT Verbal / GMATQuantitative / GMAT Total / Number Accepted / Percentage Accepted
MBA / 2004 / 33 / 37 / 584 / 67 / 37.9%
2005 / 36 / 37 / 606 / 52 / 40.3%
2006 / 36 / 36 / 601 / 45 / 37.2%
MS / 2004 / 35 / 38 / 605 / 19 / 34.5%
2005 / 35 / 38 / 600 / 15 / 36.6%
2006 / 35 / 42 / 637 / 6 / 20.0%
PhD / 2004 / 34 / 42 / 620 / 4 / 7.4%
2005 / 37 / 44 / 673 / 6 / 12.8%
2006 / 37 / 40 / 628 / 8 / 28.6%
1.8.2. Evidence of Student Learning
The Department of Marketing notes that it is responsible for assessing the learning outcomes of students in its BBA and MS programs, but not those of the MBA or PhD programs in Marketing. The latter are the purview of the RCB. There was no discussion regarding how the student learning outcomes in Business Communications courses are assessed.
The department completed two cycles of assessment of student learning for its BBA and MS programs. BBA students complete the ETS Major Field Test for Business, which is comprised of 120 questions (10-15 questions per discipline) designed to measure “student knowledge and ability to apply significant facts, concepts, theories, and analytical methods in key business disciplines.” The percentile score for Marketing majors on the ETS Marketing questions was at least in the 80th percentile across the three-year reporting period.
In addition, the BBA program relied upon the capstone course (MK 4900) in 2004-2005 and two required courses (MK 4100 and MK 4200) in 2005-2006 to assess identified program objectives. In each assessment cycle, similar program objectives were assessed: (1) student’s ability to critically analyze a firm’s marketing problems and formulate effective marketing solutions in key decision areas; (2) student’s understanding of basic principles of strategic marketing planning; (3) student’s ability to interpret, evaluate and synthesize research results for decision making.
For the MS Marketing program, a subset of graduate faculty assessed student learning in two courses (MK 8200 and MK 8900) by rating student performance at accomplishing six program objectives: to identify marketing problems and opportunities and to fashion marketing solutions; to demonstrate a customer/client orientation; to analyze and interpret appropriate information; to collect, analyze and interpret marketing research; and to identify ethical issues and design alternative strategies. The mean scores on only one objective declined and the department is addressing this decline.
1.8.3. Additional Outcome Measures
During the study period, PhD Marketing graduates have taken academic positions at quality programs, such as Purdue, Oklahoma State, and Notre Dame Universities. Also during the study period, three students or former students co-authored publications in premier journals with Department faculty.
1.9. Service Course Offerings
Under the APRC definition of service courses, none are offered by the Department of Marketing.
2. Assessment
Marketing faculty members are committed to excellence in teaching, research and service outreach. It is a viable program with nine endowed positions, two of which are recently endowed and not yet filled. Business Communications faculty members offer courses that service all RCB units. Together, the self study report and the external reviewers’ report present a comprehensive picture of a large, mature but fragmented department that for the most part is successful in its endeavors. However, the department has a desire to increase its performance and reinvigorate its faculty by defining its strategic focus and enhancing its standing within the RCB and University.
2.1. Academic quality
2.1.1. Instruction
Marketing is an essential discipline within the broad field of business, and it is critical to the success of the RCB. At the bachelor’s and Master’s levels, the Department offers courses in consumer marketing, business marketing, logistics, marketing research, advertising, and retailing. Overall, there was very little discussion of the curriculum of the program contained in the body of the self study. The external reviewers found the curriculum of both the marketing and business communications programs to be appropriate, and we yield to their expertise. However, they did make some suggestions to updating and branding both curricula, which we will incorporate into our recommendations.
The student learning outcomes assessed at the graduate and undergraduate level appear to be very similar. Both require demonstration of critical thinking skills in the major field. The assessment reports for the MS - Marketing state that students will “develop advanced technical and analytical competency in a select area that extends their basic marketing skills,” but how this is assured in instruction and through assessment of student learning is less clear. Information on whether different criteria are used to assess performance across the degree levels (BBA, MS, and PhD) was not included.
Results of the NSSE Survey indicate that Marketing majors compared to their peers (RCB, GSU, doctoral 2003, and Urban 2003) wrote more papers (both long >20 pages and short <5 pages). Faculty members are scheduled for CTW training in summer of 2007.
Comparison of survey results of Marketing alumni to University alumni indicate lower scores on several key items, including the level of academic challenge and the effectiveness of teaching. Comparison of survey results of current Marketing students to University students did not yield any significant differences on items.
2.1.2. Research
The Department of Marketing’s stated goal is to produce three premier journal publications per year and it has accomplished that goal. Further, half of the tenured faculty authored (co-authored) in such journals over the review period. However, the productivity of the faculty as a whole was less impressive, averaging 1.5 articles per year.
Refereed publications in select premier journals are highly prized by the department and regarded as more important than publication in other outlets or than grantsmanship; indeed the external reviewers did not comment on procurement of external funds. The external reviewers were critical of the quality of some faculty publications, and noted the need for faculty to increase their program’s visibility through publication in premier journals. The self study itself states that several associate professors do not have the record of publication in premier journals necessary for promotion.
Two research centers operate out of the Marketing Department – Center for Business and Industrial Marketing and Center for Mature Consumer Studies. Both centers were reviewed this year by the Research Center Review Subcommittee of the Senate Research Committee. Both centers were criticized by the external reviewers for their perceived inability to foster research that was ultimately published in top premier journals. They also noted that the centers seemed isolated from the faculty.