Smith Hosts 2006 AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium

The Smith School hosted the 2006 AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium, July 12-16. Smith's Roland Rust, David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing, and Gabriel Biehal, associate professor of marketing, were the co-chairs of the prestigious annual marketing event. All Smith marketing PhD students were able to attend event, which enables top doctoral students meet top marketing faculty for four days of academic sessions and social events.

A total of 98 Consortium Fellows and 76 Faculty Fellows attended the Consortium, representing the U.S. (80%), Europe (9%), Canada (8%), and Australia (3%). The Consortium also reflected the diverse nationality of students currently studying for their marketing doctorates; for example students came from Europe (21%), South Asia (16%), and China (10%).

The event was kicked off by an opening dinner and address by William Longbrake (Vice Chair) and Ron Gailey (Senior Vice President), from Washington Mutual Inc. Each day plenary sessions were held in the morning and concurrent sessions in the afternoon. In the evenings, attendees took excursions to area attractions, including a dinner cruise on the Potomac and dinner at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. A closing dinner was held at the Riggs Alumni Center on the University of Maryland campus.

"Attendees reactions were overwhelmingly very positive," said Biehal. One attendee wrote, Thank you both for a fantastic AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium. It was a wonderful experience for me to have the opportunity to attend. I met so many interesting people and felt thoroughly welcomed into a community of researchers. The programming was highly informative and gave me both some short term ideas for crafting my AMA and fly-out presentations, but also some long term ideas for managing my career in academia.

This year, the event was funded jointly by the AMA., the Sheth Foundation, the Marketing Science Institute, and contributions from the Smith School. Next year, the consortium will be hosted by Arizona State University.

> Highlights: http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/ama2006