Published: 12/05/2019
Twenty-six students presented marketing research projects at Gannon University's Center for Business Ingenuity this week.
Twenty-six Gannon students participated in five presentations throughout the week that showcased a semester’s worth of marketing research intended to solve problems within local businesses and organizations – Gannon University included.
Students Jacob Mertz, Bryan Carlson, Noah Corapi, Marissa Whiting, and Ben Verrico chose to analyze the effectiveness of Gannon's current recruitment strategies and delivered this research in a presentation titled, “Gannon Undergraduate Marketing and Recruitment Methods Research.”
The project evaluated Gannon’s traditional way of reaching out to prospective students and how these methods should be more integrated with modernized marketing strategies such as technology and social media. Faculty, staff, and students who were present had the opportunity to ask questions following the presentation.
Other students worked with the Diocese of Erie, the Church of the Covenant, the Erie Redevelopment Authority, and the YMCA of Greater Erie to conduct and deliver marketing and research analyses that offered solutions to a range of current issues.
Students were involved in these projects through a marketing research class led by Celene Kalivoda, Ph.D., assistant professor of finance and economics and director of the MBA program at Gannon.
The class provides students with real-world experience using marketing research concepts and techniques as problem solving aids in managerial decision-making. Kalivoda said this is the fourth year students in the course have done these service-learning projects and that they have gained remarkable perspective.
“The nonprofit client projects that are completed in this course give the students a hands-on perspective of doing marketing research. There is a mutual benefit to both the client and student by working together on a real project. There is much leadership, drive, and dedication that is shown through the projects that the students can highlight on their resumes and in job interviews,” Kalivoda said.