Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Stephanie Noble
Dr. Stephanie Noble, Nestle Professor in Marketing and William B. Stokely Faculty Research Fellow, spent 10 years as a faculty member at another before applying for a job at UTK. She sought her new position for both professional and personal reasons. Professionally, the marketing department (marketing and supply chain management at that time) had a shopping marketing forum that brought world renowned companies to campus to connect with students and faculty. As a teacher, bringing industry professionals into the classroom enhances the learning experience. As a researcher, she observes, “these industry contacts make research fun and exciting.” This forum (and another one hosted by the Supply Chain group) offered novel connections and opportunities related to teaching and research.
On the personal side, I have 4 kids and my husband and I were looking for a vibrant, yet family-oriented place, to raise our children. After having been here for 12 years I can say that UTK and Knoxville have proven to be the perfect fit both professionally and personally!
She feels her biggest strength as an instructor is “my passion for helping students learn material in a hands-on, interactive, and caring environment.” She deploys four main tactics to improve classroom learning: increasing student participation, tailoring material to real-world marketing research issues in the news, using her work experience to demonstrate key concepts, and creating a welcoming and caring learning environment.
First, she says, “I believe that students need to be involved in the classroom in order to truly learn the class content.” For example, in a marketing research course, she has the students begin each class with an activity that helps the students become active learners in the material.
As one example, for a topic on the wording of questionnaires I have the students review a short questionnaire in class first and tell me what questions they think are good vs. bad. Most students will say they felt that half the questions were good and half were bad. When they learn that every question on the survey has serious problems, they are shocked. We then go through each question and discuss the problems with it.
This type of activity helps students understand that the material to be covered in class is relevant and critical to successfully creating surveys and gets students actively thinking about the topic rather than passively sitting in class.
Second, “I attempt to bring the latest marketing research topics to the students. I am constantly reading practitioner magazines and on-line sources to come up with current marketing research examples that would appeal to the college age student.” Additionally, in her marketing research classes, the students have a semester long project where they implement all the topics discussed in class. The topics of the projects are real companies that are facing difficult times. This allows students to understand how marketing research could aid a company in these situations. Every semester the company chosen is different depending on which companies are in the news at that time that are struggling financially so that students are learning about current topics in the news. “Finally, I invite brand managers/consumer insights managers from industry to speak to the class about their job and how the concepts in class relate to what they do each day. I find that tailoring classes and topics in the ways discussed above taps into diverse interests of the students, brings the latest marketing research topics to the students, and improves learning.”
Third, “I use my experience from working in the marketing research industry for several years to directly relate the content of the class to real-world scenarios. I have found that this not only helps students in learning the concepts, but it also shows them the importance and relevance of the concepts.” At the end of every semester, she hears students telling her how much they enjoyed the richness of the real-world experience that she brings to the table. This seems to help the students learn the material and understand real world issues faced in the workforce.
She believes she teaches a manner that “shows my welcoming, caring, and encouraging nature.” As she puts it:
I have been called an “academic mom” on more than one occasion by my students and this brings me great joy. On paper I am hired to teach primarily marketing research courses; however, I realize students often look to professors for more than guidance about class material. With this in mind, the ‘mom in me’ has strived to create a positive and nurturing learning environment where students can ask questions about class material, as well as seek guidance on issues out of class (e.g., internships, jobs, work/family balance, etc.).
Dr. Noble cherishes any and all emails she receives from students after they graduate, especially those who mention they are using what she taught them in class. For instance:
Dr. Noble,
I hope that you have had a wonderful Summer! I started my MS in Marketing at [University] this week and just wanted to let you know how well your Marketing 360 class prepared me for the quantitative marketing class I’m taking.Our class revolves around SPSS, and I feel very comfortable using it! So far, the things we are learning feel natural since our projects [in your class] were in-depth. It was also relieving to feel confident identifying the different types of variables.
Overall, I just want to thank you for teaching an awesome class that transfers into our next steps after undergrad.
It is these types of messages that make Dr. Noble smile and want to help every student reach their potential.
Asked about the future of higher education, Dr. Noble remarks, “I do fear that faculty are pulled in many directions (i.e., teaching, research, service) and to excel in each could cause burnout. On the teaching front, it is hard to capture students’ attentions with all the technology around them. To engage them requires constant re-working of classes and activities to keep material fresh and relevant.” On the research front, Dr. Noble worries that university standards for tenure expectations are increasing, while on the service front, there is no shortage of activities to engage in such as student groups, forums, national conferences, journal duties, and so on. “I hope the importance of connecting with students and engaging them in the classroom doesn’t get lost in the future with all these other pressures faculty experience.”