GCSU professor awarded 2023 Hall of Fame Faculty Award

Professor of Marketing Dr. Joanna Schwartz at Georgia College & State University (GCSU) has been awarded the 2023 Felton Jenkins, Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award by the University System of Georgia (USG).

Recipients of this award are recognized for a strong commitment to teaching and student success. According to the USG website, nominees must demonstrate a commitment to teaching and learning, use effective teaching strategies to enhance students’ learning, and have a strong commitment to fostering academic success through interaction with students outside of the classroom.

GCSU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Costas Spirou nominated Schwartz for her visionary leadership, innovative teaching and course design, and commitment to student success. In his nomination letter, Spirou highlights Schwartz’s teaching style of including real-world experiences in her marketing classes and extending out of the classroom with her students to offer transformative experiences.

For example, he mentions that her students have previously worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Habitat for Humanity to develop marketing and promotional plans.

“Her devotion to teaching is evident in her innovative pedagogies, impressive research portfolio, and commitment to student learning beyond the classroom. She is a true leader on the Georgia College campus where she exemplifies the college’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and community engagement,” wrote Spirou in the nomination letter.

Schwartz’s focus on inclusivity, diversity and overall love for teaching and researching in the field of marketing has been something that has followed her throughout her life. Before working at Georgia College, she worked for eight years with Cox Broadcasting, first as the vice president for its research subsidiary and later as the director of perceptual research for Cox Radio. Schwartz also worked in public relations photography at Georgia Tech and was also previously an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan - Dearborn. So, she brought a greater expertise with her when transitioning to Georgia College as an assistant professor of marketing in 2005.

Along with an extensive work background, Schwartz has also built her educational background alongside her work experience. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a minor in mathematics from the University of Georgia in 1985 and later received her Masters of Science in Management and a Ph.D. in Management (marketing-specific) from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“I’ve always valued growing. I worked in the corporate world for a long time but teaching is a life-changing experience. A teacher is a contributor to someone else’s journey in life and they can make a lasting impact,” said Schwartz. “I loved the idea of exciting people about marketing. From the moment we’re born, we are surrounded by marketing, and I want my students to notice it around them. My teaching style is built on the premise of providing a genuinely enthusiastic environment that fosters and encourages my students’ inspiration.”

As a professor, Schwartz prioritizes making her teaching style innovative and developmental to always affirm what her students know, but also grow their knowledge through inspiration and passion. According to Schwartz, she has always loved the field of marketing and teaching it in a variety of different ways. There are many opportunities to show her students how marketing applies to their interests and to the real-world.

Rather than focusing on a lecture style, Schwartz likes to get involved and take her students beyond the classroom. She believes that engagement is what grounds a student’s interest in a topic.

“It makes the world a better place if you can impact people creatively around the way you teach them. Everybody who takes these classes has a fascination in some way with the topic and if it can be conveyed to them in an enjoyable way, they will explore it outside of class and may even pursue that topic of interest as a potential career. It’s about helping ideas catch fire,” said Schwartz. “My students have remarkable talent and my greatest honor is watching them thrive and grow after they leave my class.”

When asked about her favorite classes to teach, Schwartz replied that LGTBQ+ Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and Sports Marketing have been the most interesting and fun to teach. LGTBQ+ Marketing was a class originally started by Schwartz and considers marketing to the LGTBQ+ community from both the consumer and corporate perspective. Consumer Behavior studies the consumer decision-making process and the factors that influence it. Sports Marketing is an academic analysis of the marketing and management process of sports with emphasis on activities designed to meet the needs and wants of sports consumers through exchange processes. Each of these classes covers a very defined area of marketing while also overlapping in aspects of studying consumer behavior and how marketing affects specific interests.

“I have never had a professor care about my future, and me as an individual, so much. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr.

Schwartz as my Consumer Behavior professor and immediately was intrigued with her teaching style,” wrote a former student in their recommendation letter. “I was so in awe of Dr. Schwartz’s teaching and impact on students that I signed up for another course with her: LGBTQ+ Marketing. For Dr. Schwartz to even get this course approved at the university and design the entire curriculum, left me in total awe.”

Another former student wrote, “She is an extraordinary professor, who lit an academic fire in me when I had none. She is truly brilliant. Her intelligence, outgoing personality and outlook, humor, exceptional teaching abilities, and kind heart are only a few of the characteristics that set Joanna apart from other professors.”

This care reflected from her students is also reflective in Schwartz’s herself. When talking to The Baldwin Bulletin, Schwartz continued to highlight the intellect and passion of her students in each of her classes.

Her students are what inspire her to continue her current research topics in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Business, Inclusivity in Teaching and Learning, LGBTQ+ Student Health, and High Impact Practices around student retention and success.

“My research is extremely varied and diverse. My students, fellow faculty, and family play a role in what I research and what I pursue,” said Schwartz.

“Beyond my students, my biggest support has been my wife and my children.

Both my immediate family and GCSU family are important to me and that’s why I put so much work into the classes I teach and the research I do.

Everything I put effort into will make an impact.”

Dr. Joanna Schwartz will be honored at the annual Regents’ Scholarship Gala on Sept. 8. According to the Dean of the GCSU J. Whitney Bunting College of Business and Technology, Dr. Micheal Stratton, Schwartz is the third faculty member of the college to win the Felton Jenkins, Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award in the last five years and has made the college very proud.

“Dr. Schwartz is an exemplary teacher-scholar who leans to important issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, access and belonging. Recognition from the University System of Georgia for her commitment to teaching and student success is a testament to the positive impact she has had on countless students, colleagues, and community members over the years,” said Stratton.

“She models the way for our students, staff, faculty and supporters as someone skilled in asking difficult questions and motivating others to question the status quo. Dr. Schwartz is very deserving of this award.”