Professor of Business Debika Sihi was selected to the Marketing Management Association (MMA) Board of Directors to serve a three-year term. In this role, Debika will have the opportunity to help shape the strategic direction of the organization and contribute to the continued growth and success of future marketing scholars, including service related to doctoral student consortiums and editorial/review work for conference proceedings and affiliated journals.

Professional Academic Advisor Jenny Terry Roberts ’95 received the Organization Advisor of the Year Award for her work with SU’s chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, the gender-inclusive national service fraternity. APO was founded 100 years ago on the principles of leadership, friendship, and service; the Alpha Gamma Kappa chapter was chartered at SU in 1991. Jenny joined in her first semester as a student at Southwestern and loves helping current students keep it going strong. Additional awesome SU APO Advisors include Faculty Advisor Debika Sihi, Community Advisor Paul Ford ’00, and Scouting Advisor Scott Roberts ’94.

Olivia Bakke ’25, Zachary Collins ’25, Shobby Enakpene ’26, Christina Kuras ’25, Kacy Miller ’26, Abby Ryan ’25, Elise Samples ’25, and Vanessa Villarreal ’25 participated in the National Collegiate Digital Marketing Championship held at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business on April 1. All students demonstrated fantastic mastery of digital marketing strategy.

Professor of Sociology Maria Lowe, sociology and business graduate ThuyMi Phung ’23, and sociology and art history graduate Katherine Holcomb ’23 presented their co-authored paper titled “The Interaction of Race and Racial Grievance: Predictors of American Attitudes about Critical Race Theory” at the Eastern Sociological Society annual meeting in Boston from March 6-9.

Professor of Business Debika Sihi co-hosted a panel with Hannah Walters, Associate Professor of Marketing at Northern State University and author of “AI in Marketing: Applications, Insights, and Analysis,” at the Marketing Management Association Spring Conference. The panel explored four initiatives for integrating AI as a tool to develop critical thinking across marketing courses. Debika also presented her early-stage research project titled, “Place Marketing: Bridging the Gap Between Longtime Locals, Newcomers, and Tourists through Digital Marketing,” which examines how city marketing and communications teams manage the evolving brand identity of fast-growing communities.

Assistant Professor of Economics Hieu Nguyen had a research article accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Journal of Comparative International Management. Dr. Nguyen, the study’s main contributor, and his co-authors, Quang Evansluong of Umeå University and Aliaksei Kazlou of Linköping University, employed the Getis-Ord statistic, a local indicator of spatial autocorrelation, and a combination of publicly available and restricted-access data on new business formation in Sweden, to extend the existing discourse on native and immigrant entrepreneurship. The selection and agglomeration theories of economics and the disadvantage and cultural-capital theories of entrepreneurship research were used to rationalize some of the patterns observed in the study. A link to the paper’s preprint is available here.

Sociology and business alumna ThuyMi Phung ’23 has published an article with Professor of Sociology Maria Lowe titled “The Armed Home and Support for Trump: Predictors of Americans’ Attitudes Toward Gun Violence” in the Journal of Integrated Social Sciences. This work represents ThuyMi’s first peer-reviewed publication and stems from her Fall 2022 capstone project. The article can be found here. ThuyMi continues her research on attitudes about gun violence at the University of Washington where she is completing her Master’s in Public Health.

Abigail (Abby) Ryan ’25 and Professor of Business Debika Sihi have published their research, “Crafting and Evaluating Generative AI Prompts: Insights from Students, Educators, and Marketers,” in Marketing Education Review. This work draws on perspectives from these different groups to design a prompt engineering assignment that can be integrated into a variety of marketing courses. The abstract of the article can be read here.

Alumna Samantha (Sammi) Saenz ’23 earned the third highest performer distinction for the Enterprise Management Program, covering the entire geographic area spanning from the Rio Grande Valley to San Antonio. In her role, she engages in marketing, sales, and customer success management.

Assistant Professor of Economics Dinushka Paranavitana chaired a session titled “Health Behavior I” at the 94th Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association in Washington D.C. from November 23 – 24. She also presented her paper titled “The Unintended Consequences of Women’s Clinic Closures on Preventive Care” during this same session. This paper was also presented at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Fall Research Conference at National Harbor, MD from November 21 – 23.

Professor of Business Debika Sihi and two of her first-year seminar students, Abigail Norton ’28 and Mateo Torres ’28, were featured in a Litmaps Community Highlight, a newsletter received by over 100,000 researchers all over the world. The students were highlighted for their work visually mapping a literature review. The piece is available here. (Students granted permission to share their work, and the students’ names were redacted on the piece to protect their privacy due to the wide distribution of the newsletter, so they have agency on if/how they want to share the piece.)

Assistant Professor of Economics Chandrayee Chatterjee had two research papers presented at the 2024 Annual Conference of the Southern Economic Association in Washington, D.C. from November 23–25. She presented a paper titled “Examining the Spillover Effects of Weight Loss Product Advertising on Nutritional Choice and Physical Activity.” Her paper titled “The Role of Inattention in Statistical Discrimination” was also presented by her co-author at a different session.

Professor of Business Debika Sihi joined the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Applied Marketing Theory, a double-blind, peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles focused on academic research with contributions for marketing practitioners and academics.

ASIANetwork/Luce PostDoc Fellow in Economics Maorui Yang published “Long-Run Effects of Childhood Exposure to Medical Marijuana Laws on Education and Labor Market Outcomes,” along with co-author Han Yu, in the Journal of Labor Research (2024): 1-33.

Assistant Professor of Business Raji Kunapuli presented a solo-authored paper, titled “Effect of Abstract Language on Critics’ Selection of Referents for IPOs” at the Southern Management Academy Conference in San Antonio, TX.

Sam Irizarry ’23 was an invited panelist at the Texas Communicators Network meeting focused on the topic “Connect & Conserve Through Social Media.” He represented Hill Country Conservancy, where he enhances the organization’s online presence through content strategy, social media management, and digital storytelling. More information about the panel can be found here.

Associate Professors of Business Gaby Flores and Hazel Nguyen, along with colleagues, published an article titled “The only  daughter effect: Examining the impact of child gender on a CEO’s hiring decisions” in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal. The paper, which examines gender bias in top management hiring, can be found here.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi published an article titled “Sustainability and Marketing: Examining the Digital Impacts” in the book Advances in Digital Marketing and eCommerce  by Springer. She virtually presented this work examining the developing standards, measurement, and disclosure of environmental impacts related to the advertising industry at the Digital Marketing and e-Commerce Conference held June 26-28 in Barcelona, Spain.

Two East Asian Studies faculty members, Associate Professor of Art History Allison Miller and Visiting Professor of Economics Maorui Yang, and two students attended the ASIANetwork conference in Atlanta, Georgia from April 12-14. Natalie Davis ’27 presented her poster titled, “Dueling Depictions: Zhang Zhixin and the Politics of Femininity in Chinese Scar Art.” Kate Medlock ’26 presented her poster titled, “Reviving the Past: A Mid-Western Zhou Jade Pendant and its Neolithic References.” Maorui presented on the panel, “Teaching and Research in the Liberal Arts: ASIANetwork-Luce Postdoctoral Fellows.”

Olivia Bakke ’25, Logan LeBlanc ’25, and Abby Ryan ’25 competed in the National Collegiate Digital Marketing Championships hosted by Baylor University on April 10-11. They competed in all the events and demonstrated outstanding team camaraderie. Logan won the Viral Competition on YouTube marketing.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi and Student Researcher Abigail (Abby) Ryan ’25 presented their research project, “Proactively Leveraging Generative AI Tools in Marketing Courses: A Process for Prompt Engineering Assignments” at the Marketing Management Association’s Spring Educators Conference on March 21-22.

Assistant Professor of Economics Chandrayee Chatterjee presented her co-authored paper titled “Spillover Effects of Advertising: Do TV Advertisements for Non-Food Health Products Promote Healthy Food Choices?” at the American Marketing Association Winter Academic Conference at St. Pete’s Beach, FL, on February 25. The paper was accepted for a session in the competitive paper category.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Amy King wrote, directed, and produced a staged reading of her new play Finger Lickin’ Goodat the Jones Theatre in February. The cast included students Jason Bui ’27 as Raymond, Kyle Bussone-Peterson ’24 as Kevin, and Connor Bustos ’26 on stage directions. They were joined by guest Gina Houston in the leading role of Alice and Director of Business Internships and Assistant Professor of Business Andy Ross as Jim, etc., in his acting debut! The reading was also performed at Austin Community College in Highland Park.

Assistant Professor of Economics Chandrayee Chatterjee was invited to present her work in the Economics Seminar Series at the Department of Economics and Decision Sciences at Western Illinois University. She presented her paper titled “Spillover Effects of Advertising on Health Behavior and Nutritional Choices” virtually on February 16th.

Assistant Professor of Economics Chandrayee Chatterjee jointly organized a session called “The Economics of Risky Behavior” and presented her paper titled “Vaping Regulations and Mental Health of Teenagers” at the 2023 Annual Conference of the Southern Economic Association in New Orleans from November 18th to 20th.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi published her coauthored paper “Implementing Big Data Analytics in Marketing Departments: Mixing Organic and Administered Approaches to Increase Data-Driven Decision Making” in Informatics. The paper examines different strategies utilized by marketing departments to become more data-driven in their decision making.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi participated on a panel about innovations to connect students with industry practice at the Marketing Management Association Conference, held virtually October 13–15. Sihi also presented her research project titled “Remaining Relevant and Renewing Perceptions: The Use of Interactive Marketing by Small Businesses during Operational Disruptions” at the Interactive Marketing Research Conference, held virtually October 20–22 and 25–26 and hosted by the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University.

Assistant Professor of Business Raji Kunapuli’s co-authored paper titled “Seeking Input When the Train Has Left the Station: The Decoupling of Participative Strategic Decision-Making Processes and the Role of New Technology in Symbolic Management” was published in the journal Strategic Organization.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi helps different organizations develop marketing campaigns to highlight the importance of budgeting and financial literacy, stemming from her days as a volunteer with Junior Achievement. Recently, she shared insights about budgeting for college students in U.S. News & World Report.

Southwestern University alumni Jose Melendez ’20 and Mikayla Miller ’19 graduated from the Rice University master of accounting program this May.

Part-Time Assistant Professor of Economics Mohammad Khan had an article titled “Household Evacuation Planning and Preparation for Future Hurricanes: Role of Utility Service Disruptions” accepted for publication in the journal Transportation Research Record.

Please join us in congratulating the recipients of the following awards:

• 2021 Teaching Awards
• Tenured: Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore
• Tenure-track: Assistant Professor of Business Gabriela Flores
• Visiting, part-time, and staff with faculty rank: Director of General Chemistry Labs Willis Weigand
• 2021 Jesse E. Purdy Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Works Award
• Tenured: Associate Professor of Communication Studies Bob Bednar
• Tenure-track: Assistant Professor of History Joseph Hower
• 2021 Excellence in Advising Award
  • Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair

Business and biology major Andrew Vergote ’21 gave a talk titled “Novel Bioinks: The Gateway to Bioprinting Complex Biological Tissues” at the 2021 BBB South Central Virtual Regional Convention. The talk resulted from research that Vergote completed with Assistant Professor of Physics Cody Crosby in spring 2021. They plan to continue this research as a funded Faculty–Student Project this summer.

Nereida Zarco ’16 and Associate Professor of Economics and Business Debika Sihi were selected as members of the inaugural Marketing EDGE Ambassador program, a select group of corporate professionals, students, and academics that help connect students to opportunities in the field of marketing.

Associate Professor of Economics and Business Debika Sihi  was invited to join the editorial review board for the Journal of Business Research  under the Big Data and Analytics track.

Assistant Professor of Business and Director of Business Internships Andy Ross presented “Designing a Study Abroad Program for Business Students” at the 13th annual Virginia Tech Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy on February 5, 2021.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi provided insights about Netflix’s audio-only version of its content in an article for Lifewire, a technology information website (ranked a top-10 tech information site in 2017). Read the article here.

Part-Time Assistant Professor of Economics Mohammad Khan presented a paper titled “The Deadly Connection between Hurricanes and Sinkholes: Analyzing Market Responses to Multiple Environmental Risks” at the virtual Allied Social Science Association 2021 Annual Meeting on January 3.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi presented a coauthored project titled “The Use of Social Media and Social Interaction in Crowdsourcing in the FFE (fuzzy front end) of NPD” at the Society of Marketing Advances Annual Conference November 4–7, 2020. This project examines the impact of online versus offline mechanisms of crowdsourcing on idea generation during the new product development process.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi presented and chaired a panel titled “Calm during Crisis: Creating Classroom Environments that Foster Learning and Collaboration” at the Marketing Management Association Conference October 28–30, 2020. She and two colleagues (from a private and public university) led a discussion on different initiatives to support and engage students during a challenging academic year.

Associate Professor of Business Hazel Nguyen and economics graduate Diana Trevino ’20 presented their research titled “They’ve Figured It out! Gender Differences in Executive Language Styles through Shareholders’ Letters” at the virtual Financial Management Association Annual Meeting on October 23. The presentation was based on work conducted as part of SCOPE 2019. In their project, Nguyen and Trevino  ask whether there are differences in language and communication styles used by female versus male CEOs and how these language differences represent differences in leadership styles. They find that there are significant differences in thematic tones between female and male CEOs. Female CEOs’ languages are more comprehensible and emphasize transformational changes, optimism, mutual understanding, and rapport more than those of male CEOs while also being more resolute and authoritative.

Part-Time Professor of Economics Jim Christianson was one of three Austin certified public accountants selected via a random drawing to serve on the the City of Austin Applicant Review Panel. This panel will select 60 applicants for the City of Austin Independent Citizens Redistricting  Commission, which is charged with redrawing the 10 City of Austin Council districts after the 2020 census is complete. Christianson teaches Accounting and Business Law at Southwestern. 

Associate Director of Admission Rebecca Rother and Associate Professor of Economics and Business Debika Sihi presented a session about business degrees in the liberal arts through the Colleges that Change Lives virtual program.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi  was interviewed, along with the vice president of brand at E.l.f. Cosmetics and faculty from the University of Virginia and Carnegie Mellon, for an article in Retail Dive  on what the future of TikTok means for retail. Read the article here .

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi taught a class on August 4, 2020, titled Marketing for Start-Ups during COVID-19 for 25 entrepreneurs. She offered guidance on developing and adapting marketing strategies in the current economic environment. On August 7, 2020, Sihi was an invited speaker at the virtual Summer Stukent Digital Summit, where she conducted a session titled “Cookies, Clicks, and Credit Cards: Teaching Students How Their Data Is Used and Protected.” The session covered how to structure multiple class lessons on data use and privacy. Specific topics included the consumer privacy paradox and the current regulatory environment (e.g., the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act).

Five Southwestern students, Tanmai Korapala ’21, Melanie Lim ’21, Cassidy Mayfield ’20, Thuymi Phung ’23, and Blake Stilwell ’22, completed the Marketing EDGE Summer Series, in which they participated in interactive sessions with the director of graduate development at Equifax, the vice president of marketing for the Brooklyn Nets, the CEO of FishUSA, Inc., and university students around the country.

Emeritus Professor of Economics Emily Northrop’s op-ed about climate change and COVID-19 was featured in AL.com. It can be read here.

Associate Professor of Business Debika Sihi served as a judge for the American Marketing Association (AMA) Collegiate Case Competition in collaboration with Cotton Incorporated. The competition includes submissions from student teams from different universities across the U.S.