RMU CelebRates 90 YeaRs of Changing lives - Robert Morris ...

AND PERSONAL
When professor of marketing Jill Maher, Ph.D., looks at a box of “fruity” cereal or a bottle
of juice, she sees an opportunity for parents to make better choices. She has researched how
food and beverage products often refer to fruit on the packaging without necessarily
including it in the product, such as Berry Berry Kix and Sunny Delight. Her goal is to
encourage policymakers and the food industry to ensure that brand names and product
packaging accurately and prominently reflect ingredients and nutritional value.
Maher enjoys helping students with their honors theses, especially those focusing on her
field of expertise in consumer protection and the consequences of marketing. With Maher’s
help, a paper by Danette Bailey Palmer ‘04, M‘11 about stereotypes of male models
in magazine ads won Best Paper in Track at the 2004 Atlantic Marketing Association
Conference. “Jill kept me focused on my interests, while helping shape the project into one
that was relevant to the research field,” says Palmer, now a market research analyst at
Schmidt Consulting Services. “She had a great vision and inspired me to see how far we
could take the project.”
Maher has been the advisor for the RMU
chapter of the American Marketing
Association for a decade. The
year she started, RMU won
Most Revitalized Chapter at
the annual AMA collegiate
conference. The chapter has
brought back numerous awards
at conferences since then.
“I’m a mom first, before I have
the title of marketing professor,”
Maher says. “In my classroom, I try
to teach my students first to become
better people and do the right thing
in the business world when
marketing to consumers.”
WRITTEN BY
SARA MEIER ‘11
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
VALENTINE J. BRKICH
FACULTY PROFILE Jill Maher
rmu.edu/foundations
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