42 BRAND STORY PRODUCED BY THE OREGON BUSINESS MARKETING DEPARTMENT BY NATALIA HURT At Pacific University’s College of Business, professors draw on their academic research to keep coursework rooted in the real world, enriching classrooms with highly relevant experiential learning. By leveraging their research projects and professional networks, the school’s faculty give students a three-dimensional education that reflects this moment in time. “Academic research is advancing at an incredible pace, sometimes outstripping the examples found in textbooks,” says Dr. Lena Cavusoglu, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Pacific University. “Students value the opportunity to engage with current, real-world examples presented by their professors.” For her social media marketing class, for example, Cavusoglu created a chapter on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to ensure that the marketers of tomorrow are aware of the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of consumer groups—issues not always commonplace in textbooks. Pacific University Assistant Professor of Operations Management Dr. Hossein Rikhtehgar Berenji agrees: “We’re not just discussing hypothetical scenarios in the classroom. Instead, we’re actively linking our lectures to the world’s pressing problems and business challenges.” Research-driven experiences that bring lessons to life When teaching project management and concurrent design and manufacturing, Rikhtehgar Berenji turns to his COVID-19 research, which focuses on the strategic overlapping of production phases that occurred during vaccine development. Instead of simply learning about the concept, students step into a recent case of expedited project management and come to understand the gambles manufacturers take when time is of the essence. “This concept without the research has no meaning,” Rikhtehgar Berenji adds. “Students can better envision the challenge or the factors I’m discussing if they are presented with the actual scenario and problem within a specific context, along with strategies for addressing them.” Pacific University’s College of Business professors bring lessons to life further by calling upon their network of research collaborators—from coinvestigators sharing their experiences to corporate executives dissecting a case study. During a chapter on netnography, a qualitative marketing research method focused on understanding the cultures and behaviors of online communities, Cavusoglu brings in her coinvestigator, Professor Robert Kozinets, the founder of netnography, to lead a workshop on the topic: “To learn the method from the person who founded the method is a lifetime opportunity,” she says. “This is a very important part of experiential learning,” continues Rikhtehgar Berenji, who often invites industry executives to contribute to the classroom. “Today, the new generation knows how to collect information, and they are coming to universities to get more than that. The value is in starting conversations around business challenges, and we do that by inviting executives and researchers to class.” Business as an avenue for social and environmental impact Not only does the incorporation of research demonstrate the relevance of business topics, it also debunks misconceptions around the study of business, redefining it as a field in which students can positively impact the world, whether via public health, DEI, operaWhere Academic Research Fuels 360-Degree Learning
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==