Lectures can bore many students to sleep, which is why professors now utilize teaching techniques that directly engage students and offer real-world experiences.
Dr. Mona Sinha, an associate professor of marketing and a doctoral program coordinator for the Michael J. Coles College of Business, uses her experience in international marketing to offer students hands-on learning.
Teaching courses such as Principles of Marketing, Services Marketing, Consumer Behavior, International Marketing and Marketing Research to undergraduate students, Sinha also teaches Qualitative Research Methods to doctoral students.
“I am especially passionate about International Marketing, a subject I can weigh in on in unique ways given my life experiences, travel and research, and I have been fortunate to be able to teach it since 2015,” Sinha said.
In her International Marketing undergraduate class, each student signs up for one unique topic every semester that they research and present to the class.
“This way, it’s not just me but also the students bringing in new information to share with the class, and I learn something new in each class too,” Sinha said.
Sinha has worked in sales and marketing in India for the consumer products and entertainment industry. She has also published many case studies at the Harvard Business School and India Research Center.
“I did parts of my elementary school in Bangkok, Thailand, middle school in Nairobi, Kenya, undergrad and MBA in Mumbai, India, and then Ph.D. and post-doctorate in the USA.”
After receiving her postdoctoral degree in marketing from Emory University, Sinha joined the Southern Polytechnic State University marketing faculty in 2013 and became part of Kennesaw State’s Department of Marketing and Professional Sales after the merger with SPSU.
Sinha said that KSU is an excellent place for students to study marketing because of the faculty and diverse opportunities available to students at the university.
“We have a supportive ecosystem where we create experiences for students that transcend the classroom and help students connect the dots between what is in the textbook and their future corporate life,” Sinha said.
Speaking on the importance of global initiatives, Sinha said that she appreciates KSU’s “Year of” program that highlights a new country every year for educational seminars, classes and study abroad programs.
“It used to be that we live in a world with six degrees of separation,” Sinha said. “Now it’s probably little or none. This is especially true in marketing, and KSU’s efforts towards building this global awareness will be very valuable to students in their careers.”
Sinha encourages students to make use of the opportunities that professors can offer and to experience the world from the comfort of home by following current events, trying new foods and even watching shows from other countries.