Margaret A. Mi, professor in the College of Business’ Department of Management and Marketing, has received the O’Hara Leadership Award from the Direct Marketing Association of Washington’s (DMAW) Educational Foundation. She was chosen for the recognition from a field of marketing faculty from Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The award was presented at the association’s annual gala in December at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. The organization is the largest regional direct marketing association in the United States, according to its website. Its members include end-users, vendors, suppliers, agencies and educators in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas and central Virginia.
The award states, “During her distinguished career in academics, Dr. Mi has been an active participant in the DMAW Educational Foundation’s Professors’ institute for more than twelve years. ‘I was honored to be able to hear from speakers who were practitioners,’ says Dr. Mi. ‘They ‘brought alive” the field of direct marketing for me. By making me a student, the DMAW/EF knew that I, like other attending professors, would spread the message of direct marketing to many, many more.’
“Putting words into action, Dr. Mi created a course in e-commerce that was funded by a grant she received from the Educational Foundation. The course embraced many aspects of direct marketing, marketing communications and advertising, and was the first advertising-related course to be offered at the university. She then developed a prototype course that could be adopted by other colleges.”
“For many years, Dr. Mi personally drove a van of students to the Educational Foundation’s University Day. In her teaching, she made extensive use of examples, PowerPoint presentations, DVDs, manuals and directories that she brought back from the Foundation’s programs. And it is directly due to her encouragement that one of her students applied for and was awarded a scholarship from DMAW/EF, which the student used to help complete a Master Degree in Marketing Communications. This led the student to a job in direct marketing, and then to entering a Ph.D. program so she will be able to teach direct marketing. What better example of Dr. Mi’s dedication to the Foundation’s mission to facilitate training and education of young people and to encourage them to pursue a career in the direct marketing industry.”