Wall Street Journal recognizes marketing professor

From This Week @Metro

Jan 13, 2010

Visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing Darrin Duber-Smith was recently recognized as a Wall Street Journal “In-Education Distinguished Professor” for 2009.

He is among 10 professors, out of more than 1,000 nominated nationally, to receive the honor for integrating the online and print version of the Wall Street Journal into their curriculum.

In a Dec. 29 congratulatory letter to Duber-Smith, Tom Cook, an educational representative for The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s wrote: “We are proud to have the opportunity to work with you in a common effort to prepare business students for success in class and in their careers.”

The award underscores how Duber-Smith uses the publication, among others, in his class to keep students engaged with current events and perspectives. It’s only one of the many ways that Duber-Smith, who has taught at the College for seven years, connects his students to real-world experiences.

He has also rejuvenated a program in the Marketing Department called “Open for Business.” Under his direction for the last two years, students have worked on marketing plans for about 20 organizations, including most recently Altitude TV in fall 2009. Eight students in the Seminar in Marketing Management course presented a social networking and sponsorship marketing plan to the station’s executives at the Pepsi Center board room.

“We had an informal competition with the marketing students from the University of Denver and University of Colorado,” says Duber-Smith. “We won.”

During the semester, the executives were required to come to campus for meetings with the students. “Students get connections through that,” says Duber-Smith, who has been in green marketing for more than 25 years, and has owned Green Marketing, Inc., a full-service marketing strategy and brand development firm, since 2000.

“Darrin is great,” says Marketing Department Chair Clay Daughtrey. “His real-world experience as a consultant and professional speaker helps students to understand what they’ll be facing in their careers.”

Having successfully navigated the business for years, Duber-Smith provides his students the following advice as they face their job search in a tough economy. “I think the recession is beating the fight out of some students, but I encourage them to be better than their peers and be willing to work harder,” says Duber-Smith, who is so committed to his students that each semester he gives out his cell phone number to his students – all 130 of them.

He is also an avid Roadrunner fan, having served as play-by-play announcer for three years for the men’s and women’s basketball games.