Mid-American Conference honors Dr. Adam Rapp with Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success

Ohio University’s Dr. Adam Rapp, professor of sales and executive director of the Ralph and Luci Schey Sales Centre, has been honored by the Mid-American Conference (MAC) with the Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success.

Distinct from traditional academic or research-based accolades, the MAC’s Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success celebrates faculty members who demonstrate exceptional commitment to fostering a holistic student experience — supporting growth not only in the classroom, but throughout students’ collegiate and professional journeys.

Rapp, who was one of 13 individuals who received this year’s prestigious institutional award, noted that this recognition by the MAC underscores the broader educational mission that drives his work.

“I’ve always believed that our responsibility as faculty extends well beyond delivering content,” Rapp said. “It’s about equipping students with the skills, confidence and mindset to lead, to adapt and to create value in a constantly changing business environment. This award is meaningful because it recognizes the importance of investing in students as whole people — not just as learners, but as future professionals and leaders.”

At OHIO, Rapp teaches at both the undergraduate, graduate and executive levels, emphasizing student engagement through experiential learning. His courses integrate live case studies, real-world consulting projects and applied skill-building exercises designed to prepare students for immediate professional success. His excellence in the classroom earned him the Presidential Teaching Award for the 2022-23 academic year.

In addition to his role in Athens, Rapp serves as a visiting lecturer at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in Belgium and has taught globally in countries including Greece, Colombia, Chile and China. He also completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Houston’s Sales Excellence Institute.

Rapp has also authored three books and more than 75 peer-reviewed journal articles exploring the performance of front-line service and sales professionals. His work has appeared in leading academic publications, including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research and the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, where he was the past editor. His research has been cited nearly 15,000 times, and he holds an h-index of 46 according to Google Scholar. Additionally, Rapp has also been named a ScholarGPS Highly Ranked Scholar, ranking No. 6 globally in sales research based on lifetime contributions.

Beyond academia, Rapp brings extensive industry experience to his teaching and research. After earning his MBA, he spent several years in the market research industry selling and servicing accounts for major organizations such as Ecolab, Kraft, Georgia Pacific, FOX News and Kimberly Clark. He is the founder of GATS Group Consulting, a founding partner of the Sales and Leadership Development Group, and he currently serves as vice president of research integration at the Tyson Group. His work with the Tyson Group led him to create a sales force competency assessment tool for measuring skills and behaviors that predict future performance. This tool is currently the number one assessment being used in professional sports organizations across the country today.