To Ram Mohan Pisharodi, associate professor, marketing, serving as a faculty advisor is a natural extension of teaching.
“I feel it’s very important for me to work with the students and expose them to business,” says Pisharodi, faculty advisor of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and its honor society, Alpha Mu Alpha.
“To understand the field you need to network and meet others, and AMA provides those opportunities.”
Pisharodi, who has worked with OU’s AMA chapter for 11 years, was recognized for his devotion earlier this spring when he received the Faculty Advisor of the Year Award from OU’s Center for Student Activities and Leadership Development. (CSA). This is the second time he has received the award for outstanding advising to a student organization. He initially received the award in 2002.
"The award is well deserved," says Ravi Parameswaran, chair, Department of Management and Marketing, and marketing professor. "The CSA awards combined with the awards chapter earned at the international conference this year, means this has been a great year for the AMA. Congratulations to all involved."
The AMA also received the Outstanding Student Organization of the Year Award from the Student Activities Funding Board (SAFB), and an honorable mention for the co-sponsored program of the year “So You Think You Can Dress?” Business Fashion Show, co-sponsored with the Association for Women in Communications.
“Of course I feel very proud, and I’m very thankful, but most of the credit goes to the students,” says Pisharodi, who accepted his award during the 33rd CSA Student Activities and Leadership Awards presentation, held April 18. “They work so hard.”
It hasn’t hurt, Pisharodi says, that two of his three children are still in college. “That improves my role as faculty advisor because I understand college-age students quite well.”
In addition to his role with Oakland’s AMA chapter, Pisharodi serves as the collegiate relations director for the Detroit AMA. That role has helped create meaningful opportunities for OU AMA members to line up area professionals to speak at the Oakland AMA’s weekly meetings and to coordinate occasional events with AMA chapters from other institutions.
Pisharodi, who holds a doctorate degree from University of Tennessee, earned an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of the University of Western Ontario and also from Panjab University in India. He specializes in marketing logistics, supply chain management, distribution channel management and international marketing.
He is a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), and the Academy of Marketing Science (AMS).
Pisharodi, also the chief editor of the Alliance Journal of Business Research, was the recipient of the 2005 Distinguished Service Award and 2003 Paul F. Lorenz Teaching Excellence Award. He has received the Highly Commended Award from Emerald Literati Network twice, once in 2003 and again in 2009, for his research articles in the International Marketing Review and in the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.
An avid Red Wings hockey fan, Pisharodi says being a faculty advisor is similar to being a coach. “You’re there to guide the students,” he says.
To Ram Mohan Pisharodi, associate professor, marketing, serving as a faculty advisor is a natural extension of teaching.
“I feel it’s very important for me to work with the students and expose them to business,” says Pisharodi, faculty advisor of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and its honor society, Alpha Mu Alpha.
“To understand the field you need to network and meet others, and AMA provides those opportunities.”