October Edition 

marketing dept faculty for october monthly update

October 30–31: The Virginia Tech Professional Sales Program hosted its Sales Board of Advisors for the Fall 2025 meeting, where members provided strategic guidance, shared industry insights, and judged live Advanced Selling role-play sessions. Their feedback and mentorship continue to strengthen the program’s curriculum and enhance student readiness for real-world success. Many thanks to Gregg Argall, Darrell Gehrt, Brian Busbee, Matt Hinkle, Mahir Ahmed, Jennifer Dobrzynski, Randall McCrea, and Chris Corcoran for their continued leadership and support.

October 28: Through the AEF–ANA University Membership supported by Paramount Advertising, the Department of Marketing hosted Pete Chelala, Vice President of Streaming Media Sales at Paramount Global, for an inspiring guest talk with advertising and marketing students. Coordinated by Carolyn Kogan and Shilpa Rao, the event deepened the department’s collaboration with AEF, which continues to enrich student learning through ANA industry resources and virtual forums that bridge marketing theory and practice.

October 27: France Bélanger and Donna Wertalik were featured in a WDBJ7 news segment, “Does Our Smart Home Come at a Cost?”, discussing how smart-home devices that automate daily life also create detailed digital footprints of household behaviors. The story, part of WDBJ7’s ongoing Voices of Privacy series, explored the balance between innovation and security—highlighting how connected systems enhance convenience but raise privacy risks. Their discussion emphasized the importance of awareness, transparency, and responsible technology design as homes become increasingly AI-enabled.

October 24: Congratulations to Michaela Scott (1st Place, Role Play, $3,500 prize) and Phoenix Brown (Speed Sell Finalist, $300 prize) for their outstanding performances at Duquesne University’s Steel City Sales Challenge, hosted by the Center for Leadership in Professional Selling. They led a strong team of 14 Virginia Tech Professional Sales Hokies who showcased professionalism and skill among 17 universities nationwide, highlighting the program’s excellence and competitive spirit.

October 17: Held at Virginia Tech – Academic Building One (Potomac Yard, Alexandria), the Tourism Without Barriers workshop brought together university, city, and industry partners to advance AI-enabled accessibility in tourism. Funded by the Pamplin Duo Grant, the project explores inclusive design, visitor experience, and technology-driven accessibility solutions, led by the Virginia Tech team of Meng Zhu, Luis Borunda, Andrew Gipe-Lazarou, Shreyans Goenka, Zheng Xiang, and Kristin Lamoureux, alongside partners from Visit Alexandria, City of Alexandria, Enable Ventures, ServiceSource, and VRLTA.

Past Monthly Editions

Dr. Shang Wang and Dr. Meng Zhu served as expert panelists at the 2025 American Marketing Association (AMA) Conference (August 22–24). They contributed to two invited workshops—New Data: Opportunities and Challenges and Interdisciplinary Research: Marketing Meets Medicine, Public Health, and Law—and their participation underscores Pamplin’s role in advancing conversations at the nexus of marketing, data, and society.

Dr. Jian Ni (Marketing) and Dr. Chris Zobel (BIT), as faculty co-hosts, together with postdoctoral associate Dr. Lecheng Zheng (Ph.D. in Computer Science, UIUC), were jointly awarded the Virginia Tech Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship. This competitive award, among the first in Pamplin, supports early-career scholars and interdisciplinary research.

Dr. Dipankar Chakravarti was recognized as a Global Marketing and Retailing Fellow at the GRBM Conference hosted by SMU’s Cox School of Business (June 2025). His invited talk on consumer vulnerability in the digital economy was based on joint work with Dr. Angela Yi (Cal State–San Marcos, VT Ph.D.) and Dr. Prashant Mishra (IIM Calcutta).

Dr. Broderick Turner and Dr. Shane Wang hosted the 3rd Annual Unconference on June 17–18, 2025 at Academic Building One, Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria, Virginia. The event brought together more than 50 global scholars for lightning talks, collaborative sessions, and a multi-method research seminar.

Dr. Shreyans Goenka was named Outstanding Reviewer by the Journal of Marketing Research (2025), and Dr. Joe Sergy’s article in Applied Research in Quality of Life (2024) received the Best Paper Award from ISQOLS. Dr. Goenka is also organizing a workshop on Philosophy and Marketing this October, while Dr. Wang is co-editing a POM special issue on Generative AI.

Professor Donna Wertalik and Marketing Advisory Board member Christina Daves were featured on WDBJ (September 5, 2025)—on Here @Home discussing deepfakes and on Living Ageless sharing fashion tips after 50, respectively. Voices of Privacy is launching Season 2 this fall, and Professor Wertalik was also interviewed by CBS Austin on city branding and polling on the new logo.

Professor Steve Matuszak secured five new VEDP/VITAL clients—Chocolate Paper, Pangea Chat, My SpectrumCC, Rising Tide, and Visual Workforce—with accompanying VEDP funding. These projects will receive cross-course, collaborative strategic marketing support from students, offering experiential learning and regional business impact.