Texas Tech Rawls College of Business Assistant Professor Earns National Honor

LUBBOCK, Texas, March 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- No more pencils, no more books ...

From kindergarten to adulthood, few people are unable to complete the common phrase - usually associated with the coming of summer, and the end of school. But for Texas Tech University Rawls College of Business Assistant Professor Shannon Rinaldo, Ph.D., it's that exact philosophy within the classroom that has garnered her 2012 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Outstanding Marketing Teacher of the Year Award.

Rinaldo will be recognized along with two other recipients at the May AMS national conference in New Orleans.

Rinaldo doesn't use textbooks in her college classroom. Instead, she focuses on a "service-learning" curriculum that incorporates real-world experience for her students. And, her technique not only allows students hands-on experience with marketing practices alongside real businesses, but also provides them with greater opportunities for job placement upon graduation.

"Marketing as a whole is changing across our country," Rinaldo said. "And, we have to change the way we're teaching it to our next generation of future leaders in the industry. Studying cases from a textbook simply doesn't cut it anymore when we have a generation of students bombarded with technology and the need to stay ahead of the fast-paced communication highway."

Rinaldo's curriculum puts students directly in front of local businesses to help problem-solve, strategize and execute marketing plans for multiple groups - from both the private and public sectors. Additionally, she implements social media into her curriculum to make sure students are learning how marketing is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in today's technological world. Finally, Rinaldo incorporates multiple in-class activities that encourage students to evaluate marketing scenarios - from YouTube branding to crisis management, and from statistical compilation to comparison/contrast.

"All of this allows students to learn real-time consumer behavior," Rinaldo said. "Our world is constantly changing, and we have to change with it - both in the classroom and in the real world."

Garnering the honor is rare as a first-time nominee and not the norm for a discipline-wide award to be earned as an assistant professor, said Debbie Laverie, Ph.D., Rawls senior associate dean.

"Shannon is relatively early in her career - and this makes it even greater for her to earn this honor," Laverie said. "Her cutting-edge teaching philosophy sets the bar for higher education nationally, and this award is proof of that. We're extremely proud."

Rinaldo will participate in a special teaching session at the May conference, where she said she plans to expand on her teaching techniques at the Rawls College of Business.

http://www.rawlsbusiness.ba.ttu.edu/

Contact: Kim Davis - (806) 544-4255

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SOURCE Texas Tech University Rawls College of Business