Salve Regina’s AMA chapter wins honors, professor wins lifetime achievement award
Salve Regina’s chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) received multiple honors during the virtual 2021 AMA International Collegiate Conference, including “Outstanding Achievement in Internal and External Communications,” being named a “Top 20 Small School Chapter in the Country.” In addition to the honors, a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Traci Brady, Salve Regina’s AMA faculty advisor and professor of business and economics.
“Our chapter successfully invested time toward building up our media presence through creating a new AMA website and by communicating more frequently through our Instagram page postings,” said Kaitlyn Brilhante ’21, who served as vice president of communications for Salve Regina’s chapter.
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Brilhante said focusing communications efforts around the theme, “What will your 20/21 vision be?” opened the chapter to new perspectives, new ideas, new leadership styles and new communication opportunities within the community — where members’ marketing skills directly benefited organizations such as Amenity Aid.
“The idea of using eyeglasses and eyes within our marketing posts throughout the semester showcased how to have 20/20 vision, which is learning the willingness to see beyond a problem and find new ways to communicate,” Brilhante said. “Hence, we decided to take the 2020/21 academic year and make it our vision to improve our chapter, increase membership and enhance our community outreach to ultimately guide our chapter forward.”
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Stephanie Szelest ’22, the chapter president, said their mission is always to represent the University with the highest ethical standards of professionalism.
“Networking and developing strong ties with our school and community are among the chapter’s priorities,” she said. “Also, to ‘pay it forward’ by donating time and fundraising for local causes, learning some of life’s lessons while doing so and recognizing the personal rewards of philanthropy.”
Szelest said the chapter’s elected executive board allocates responsibilities in the pursuit of being successful, and she praised all club members for their presence and dedication in making these national awards possible.
In addition to Brilhante and Szelest, executive board members included Julia Sampayo ’23, Meaghan Corkery ’23, Caroline Chapell ’23, Ruby Palma ’21, Zoe Kasinskas ’23 and Samantha Rivera ’20, ’21 (MBA).
“A club is only as good as its members, elected E-board officials and administrative advisor,” said Szelest. “It was a privilege to work with fellow students and our advisor, Dr. Traci Brady, especially during this last past year.”
Dr. Tracy Brady earns lifetime achievement award
Dr. Tracy Brady
Szelest said the entire AMA chapter was excited and pleased to hear that Dr. Brady had been chosen among her peers for a lifetime achievement recognition. She said it was well deserved because of her exceptional personal dedication, contributions and hard work over these past few years.
“Her ability to listen and provide guidance when necessary was a vital part to the success of our club,” Szelest said. “She let us develop new ideas and encouraged our club to continue to persevere, especially through the last past year, which was full of uncertainty and unpredictably due to the COVID-19.”
Brilhante praised Dr. Brady for always taking the time to help her students and AMA members achieve skills that will carry well beyond Salve’s campus.
“[She] has shared her time, knowledge and insight … and has helped guide us toward achieving greatness by allowing us to expand our marketing skills beyond the AMA competitions,” Brilhante said. “She has supported our endeavors to reach out to different non-profits and organizations throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts, knowing that we could help support different accomplishments beyond Salve’s campus.”
Dr. Melissa Varao, chair of Salve Regina’s business and economics department, said no one was more deserving for the lifetime achievement award than Brady.
“This award, in particular, is a tremendous honor that is given to a marketing scholar who has made long-term and significant contributions to various streams of inter-organizational research, has a sustained record of research excellence in their domain, and has provided significant service to future leaders in academic and/or professional settings,” Varao said. “I think we can all agree that there is no one who deserves this honor more.”
The AMA is one of the largest marketing associations in the world with more than 30,000 members who work, teach and study in the field of marketing across the globe. The organization’s principal role is to serve as a forum to connect like-minded individuals and foster knowledge sharing, provide resources, tools and training and support marketing practice and thought leadership around the globe. The AMA Collegiate Chapters Council holds competitions throughout the academic year to help university chapters learn valuable marketing and networking skills before students graduate, as well as network within the AMA itself for job opportunities after graduation.
