Dr. Scott Cowley, assistant professor of marketing, has always been an academic trailblazer. He has helped to modernize and lead the digital marketing and eCommerce program, one of only a handful of its kind in the nation. The curriculum he crafted has proven to be highly effective, with many of his innovative projects being adopted by marketing educators at universities worldwide. This year, he received the faculty teaching award from the Haworth College of Business.
Scott teaches a popular digital marketing and social media course and his advanced digital marketing strategies course is an innovative capstone, both focusing on impact projects and career readiness. In 2019, he added a national social media case competition as part of the capstone class requirements. To date, he has helped multiple student teams reach the national finals in case competitions with one landing in the top spot and another placing second.
His expertise in the field of in-demand industry tools such as Google Analytics, SEMrush, and WordPress, give students an edge in a competitive and thriving industry. His students routinely tackle interesting client projects, including helping both the Kalamazoo Airport and the WMU Esports Arena transform their websites and an award-winning social media campaign for Miller Auditorium. Scott’s innovations at WMU have solidified his reputation as a leader in digital marketing education.
His genuine engagement with students and deep knowledge of industry make him a star in the classroom. His courses routinely score high on student evaluations, with one student noting, “Dr. Cowley’s care for his students goes far beyond what is required of a professor. He is committed to the success of his students, even beyond the walls of the classroom.”
“My personal measure of success as an educator is the number of students I can say I’ve helped make meaningful progress toward their life goals,” says Cowley. “A lot of that work happens outside of class, whether it’s helping students get jobs, or build their businesses, or connecting them with additional mentors. I work hard to create a positive impact in a short amount of time in the hope of building meaningful, professional relationships with my students long after graduation.”