The goals of the Marketing Department during the 1996-1997 academic year mirrored the goals of the College of Business. These goals include: (1) Improving student learning to better prepare them for careers in business, (2) Increasing faculty intellectual contributions that enhance students’ learning, improve practice of management or advance knowledge in the field, (3) Increasing awareness of multi-cultural diversity and awareness among faculty and students, and (4) Increasing responsiveness to stakeholders. As described, the goals of the Marketing Department include the delivery of the Marketing curriculum but also related teaching, research, and service goals for the department in the broader context of the College of Business and Ohio University.

One of the primary measures of success for the Marketing Department is our ability to place our graduates in marketing or sales positions in top companies. As such, the most critical assessment of the Marketing Department has been related to the placement of graduates and information and feedback, both formal and informal, that faculty receive from employers. The assessment measures for the overall program and the curriculum are in the process of being developed as described below. Institutional Research currently collects data on recent graduates, including placement. Resent results from these surveys shows a high degree of satisfaction among graduates from the College of Business and the Marketing Department. The placement rates of graduates is very high, and several faculty have worked to develop and nurture relationships with companies that employ our graduates. Feedback from the marketing advisory council (marketing executives), the professional advisory council (salespeople and sales managers), and the student advisory council suggests that the Marketing Department continues to improve in the quality of its instruction, research, and reputation.

The Marketing Department has been continually evolving in an effort to better serve its stakeholders. Over the past two years, an effort has been made to develop a Center for Consultative Sales. The Center has been developed as a response to stakeholders, especially students. Nearly eighty percent of all Marketing majors are first employed in sales related positions. In developing the Center and an accompanying Sales Certificate based on a focused curriculum, the Marketing Department is helping majors to be better positioned for their first job after graduation. In addition, the Marketing Department has reached out to other majors, such as Finance, and encouraged cooperative efforts to involve students to take sales related course work. Since nearly sixty percent of all university graduates are first employed in a sales or sales related position, the Marketing Department has a lot to offer other majors, even other colleges.

The Marketing Department has also engaged in constant interaction with various advisory councils, and this year the department sought specific feedback from the councils on the content of Marketing courses. In an effort to improve Marketing courses, the thoughts and opinions of executives and other professionals are very important.

The Marketing Department has also developed new courses, including two courses to help our students to be more successful in their first (and later) positions. The first course prepares students by exposing them to ideas and techniques that will make them better businesspeople. The course relates to "tools for life success," and it was well received by students in its experimental offering. A second course attempts to expose students to executives from various industries and provide an intimate setting for interaction with the executives. The course, for seniors only, enriches student perception of the business world and provides a perspective that helps students to understand the application of the issues presented in other Marketing classes.

The first change that the department anticipates is the development of set of more specific goals and objectives for the 1997-1998 academic year. The goals and objectives will be consistent with the mission of the College of Business and the focus of Ohio University, but will be focused specifically on the Marketing Department. The goals and objectives will be developed by the marketing faculty and reviewed with the appropriate committees and the dean before final acceptance by the department. Specific areas to be addressed will include student learning and its measurement, intellectual contributions by faculty, service activities directed to the College of Business and to the community and region, curricular integration, and interdisciplinary contributions in teaching and research.

The Marketing Department plans to work on surveys targeted at assessing specific learning outcomes of marketing majors after graduation. In moving toward this goal, the department has begun to gather specific information from our senior students to enhance our ability to contact them after their departure from Ohio University.

The Marketing Department plans to work very closely with our advisory councils, including the student advisory council, the professional sales advisory council, and the marketing advisory council to assess the curriculum and suggest areas for improvement in the delivery and content of each course in the department.

Measurement of employer satisfaction with our graduates relative graduates from other institutions will be explored. Such an instrument will enable the department to determine how we are preparing our students for success in the business world, in terms not only of providing students with the tools necessary to perform, but also in terms of their ability to learn continuously and to think creatively and strategically in their chosen field.

The Marketing Department will develop a web page that will provide a means to communicate with former students and prospective students as well as current students regarding changes in the department, our plans for the future, and current programs and opportunity for stakeholder involvement.

Assessment of faculty activity will follow the College of Business evaluation documents. However, more focused evaluation geared toward continuously improving each faculty member in the classroom and in other important performance areas will be explored during the 1997-1998 academic year.