Marketing professor earns two top honors for teaching excellence

Wilson receives Hazleton
and Campbell awards

Marketing professor J. Holton Wilson has received the College of Business Administration’s first Hazleton M.B.A. Faculty Excellence Award, worth $2,600, and the first Jerry and Felicia Campbell Endowed Professorship, worth $18,000 a year for two years.

Wilson plans to use these professional development awards to fund activities he has not been able to afford previously, such as attending professional meetings to enhance his expertise in marketing research and forecasting.

“It’s important to keep up, and one way is to get out, talk to colleagues, and listen to what other people are doing. But that kind of travel gets expensive, so these awards will really help,” Wilson said.

What is the secret behind Wilson’s success
as a teacher?

“I don’t know. I just do my job. I grew up in Pittsburgh. It was very blue-collar; if you wanted something, you had to work for it. In teaching it’s wonderful to work with good students, to help them learn and guide them. When I wake up in the morning, I’m anxious to get to CMU, that’s how much I like what I do,” Wilson said.

Wilson passed on the torch to Gagnon

Marketing and hospitality services administration professor Gary Gagnon attributes some of his success as a professor to Wilson. Gagnon, who was recently named the 2005 Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has known Wilson since 1992 when Gagnon was both an M.B.A. student and a graduate assistant.

“While Dr. Wilson’s command of the subject matter was without question, it was his classroom presence that distinguished his class from all others,” Gagnon said.

“His gift is his ability to uncover complex concepts and theories in a systematic manner, tie these concepts back to real-world issues, and do it at a pace that keeps students from being lost in an erudite maze.”

Wilson, who has taught at CMU since 1985, coauthored what is considered a leading book in forecasting both in the United States and internationally. The text, Business Forecasting, written with Barry Keating at Notre Dame University, is published by McGraw-Hill and is in its fifth edition. Wilson teaches marketing analysis, sales forecasting, and economic analysis for managers. He has published more than 10 textbooks and numerous academic articles in economics, forecasting, and marketing journals. His research interests are in business economics, forecasting, and teaching pedagogy.

“The key to the Campbell professorship in particular was to honor truly outstanding faculty members in the college for their achievements and accomplishments over the years,” said Daniel Vetter, associate dean of the College of Business Administration. “The selection committee was very impressed with Holt and with our outstanding faculty. In fact, we had such strong candidates for this professorship, the college decided to recognize additional faculty for their achievements.”

Special recognition
for Love, Weirich, and Cook

The newly established Special Faculty Recognition Awards went to management professor Kevin Love, accounting professor Thomas Weirich, and marketing and hospitality services administration professor Robert Cook.
All three professors met the Campbell professorship award’s four criteria of being recognized at a national or international level for their expertise; demonstrating outstanding teaching ability; making significant contributions in their fields of study; and showing leadership in improving CBA academic programs.

Marketing professor J. Holton Wilson’s
passion for teaching makes an enormous
impact in the classroom. Here he discusses
statistical problems with Beth Bailey, left,
and Amanda Richards.

“Holt Wilson is one of the most exceptional teachers I have ever had.”

– Gary Gagnon, ’94, CMU marketing and hospitality services administration professor and 2005 Professor of the Year