This award recognizes world class marketing scholars and mentors of people of color while carrying on the legacy of Jerome Williams, Bill Qualls, and Thaddeus Spratlen.
The AMA Foundation (AMAF) is proud to recognize Samantha N. N. Cross as the recipient of the 2024 Williams-Qualls-Spratlen Multicultural Mentoring Award of Excellence! Click here to read more about Samantha and her impact.
Watch this video to learn how this award helps shape a more diverse industry:
Eligibility
The award will be given to a marketing professor who has made research contributions (such as publications in leading journals) and who has mentored students and professors of color from underrepresented groups in the field of marketing, particularly students and professors who are African American, Hispanic, and Native American.
It is anticipated that the award recipient will have had a sustained career commitment to mentoring, a significant positive impact on their mentees’ careers, and, through their mentees, have advanced research and education on issues where racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity intersect with the discipline and practice of marketing.
Application Process
All nominations must be made using the online application and self-nominations will not be reviewed.
This award has a two-part award process:
- To submit a nomination, please include the nominee’s current vita and a personal letter outlining the nominee’s qualifications for the award. The letter should contain a section on mentorship activities (covering the impact on his/her mentees’ careers and the impact on issues where racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity intersect) as well as research successes. The nominator will also have the opportunity to attach up to two additional letters of recommendation (not required) to the nomination.
- Once the nomination deadline closes, the award committee will select up to four finalists. At this time, nominees will be notified, asked to accept their nomination and have the opportunity to submit supporting documentation. If selected, the nominee should be available to accept his/her award in person at the upcoming AMA Summer Academic Conference.
History
The Williams-Qualls-Spratlen Multicultural Mentoring Award of Excellence (WQS) carries on the legacy of three world class marketing scholars, educators, and mentors of people of color: Jerome Williams, Prudential Chair in Business and Research Director-The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED), Rutgers Business School – Newark and New Brunswick; William (Bill) Qualls, Professor of Marketing, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Thaddeus H. Spratlen, Emeritus Professor of Marketing, at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington. Mentorship is one of the most important determinants of a successful career in marketing; yet, it is often a component of career development that, while prized by recipients, is rarely rewarded. In recognition of the value the field of marketing places on mentorship, the WQS Award recognizes the outstanding mentors in the market community in the molds of Williams, Qualls and Spratlen.
The purpose of the WQS Award is to encourage and reward outstanding mentors of people of color in the academic marketing community. Individuals receiving this Award will have demonstrated exceptional ability in guiding the academic and/or professional growth of his/her students and junior colleagues in marketing. Award recipients will have had a sustained career commitment to mentoring as well as a significant positive impact on their mentees’ careers. Moreover, through their mentees, they will have advanced research and education on issues where racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity intersect with the discipline and practice of marketing. By recognizing and rewarding such efforts, this Award can help to make a difference in facilitating the success of students and emerging scholars by encouraging and recognizing the contributions of outstanding marketing scholars who have helped to create opportunities for success.
Judging Process
A panel consisting of marketing experts will serve on the selection committee. All judges will be leaders and experts in the marketing field as well as mentors to emerging marketing leaders.
Recognition and Benefits
The recipient of the Williams-Qualls-Spratlen Multicultural Mentoring Award will be honored with an honorarium and plaque at the PhD Project dinner held in conjunction with the AMA Summer Academic Conference.
AMA Foundation
As the philanthropic arm of the AMA, the AMA Foundation champions individual marketers who are making an impact in our profession and community. We recognize marketing visionaries who have elevated the field, and we support the next generation of marketers who will transform the profession.
Previous Recipients
2023
Gail Ayala Taylor
Clinical Professor of Business Administration
Dartmouth College
2022
Tonya Bradford
Associate Professor of Marketing
University of California Irvine College of Business
2021
Maura Scott
Persis E. Rockwood Professor of Marketing in the Department of Marketing
Florida State University College of Business
2020
Vanessa Gail Perry
Associate Dean for Faculty and Research
Professor of Marketing, Strategic Management and Public Policy
GWU School of Business
2019
Tiffany Barnett White
Associate Professor of Business Administration and Bruce and Anne Strohm Faculty Fellow
Gies College of Business
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2018
Terry Esper
Associate Professor of Logistics
Fisher College of Business
The Ohio State University
2017
David Crockett
Associate Professor of Marketing
Darla Moore School of Business
University of South Carolina
2016
Jose Antonia Rosa
Professor of Marketing
Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Marketing
College of Business
Iowa State University
2015
David Wooten
Alfred L. Edwards Associate Professor
Department of Marketing
Stephen M. Ross School of Business
University of Michigan
2014
Geraldine Rosa Henderson
Associate Professor
Department of Marketing
Quinlan School of Business
Loyola University Chicago
2013
Sonya A. Grier
Associate Professor
Kogod School of Business
American University
2012
Ronald Paul Hill
Richard J. and Barbara Naclerio Endowed Chair
School of Business
Villanova University
2011
Mary C. Gilly
Professor of Marketing
The Paul Merage School of Business
University of California, Irvine
2010
Melvin T. Stith
Dean
Whitman School of Management
Syracuse University