Members of the college’s American Marketing Association (AMA) chapter heard the
good news in person when the chapter was honored as “Collegiate Chapter of the Year”
at the organization’s 28th Annual International Collegiate Conference in Orlando, FL.
Since the American Marketing Association (AMA) chapter in the College of Business Administration was revitalized in 2001, it has won one award after another, and this year it topped them all when it was named “Collegiate Chapter of the Year” at the 28th Annual International Collegiate Conference in Orlando, FL in March.
“We are now considered number one out of more than 300 chapters in the United States—a great recognition for our very hard-working student members,” said Tim Dugan Birrittella, lecturer in the Marketing department and the organization’s faculty advisor, who accompanied nineteen students to the conference. “The very first year we rejuvenated the chapter, we earned Outstanding Membership and Outstanding Chapter Planning, and in subsequent years, we were named Outstanding Regional Chapter (Top Ten in the United States) twice, and Top Regional Chapter (Top Four in the United States) once.”
Winning the award caps a long process that begins when each collegiate chapter submits a ten-page chapter plan at the start of the academic year. The document highlights the chapter’s goals, objectives, and strategies. A twenty-page annual report outlining the accomplishments and failures for the year follows. Judges evaluate the chapters based on professional development, community service, fundraising, membership, internal and external communications, operations (including financial results), and presentation.
“Our members accomplished a tremendous amount this year,” Birrittella said. “They successfully conducted more than 26 professional development programs, completed ten community service projects, raised more than $11,000 to subsidize the Collegiate Conference for twenty members, maintained an overall student membership of 125 students, and increased chapter awareness. It’s a testament to student involvement that the chapter won this prestigious award.”
The college directly supported the effort by contributing funds to help enable the students to attend the event.
