Marketing professor will deliver commencement address

COLUMBUS – Roger Blackwell, professor of marketing and logistics at The Ohio State University’s Max M. Fisher College of Business, will be the speaker for summer quarter commencement on Aug. 30.

Approximately 1,800 students will receive degrees at the ceremony, which begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.

A nationally recognized expert on marketing and consumer behavior, Blackwell is also a popular teacher, a noted lecturer and a prolific author. The Blackwell Inn at Fisher College was named in 2001 in recognition of his gift to the college.

Blackwell joined the Ohio State faculty in 1965 and has earned a reputation as a favorite among students. He has won many teaching awards, including one of the highest honors bestowed on faculty, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching.

He is co-author of one of the leading textbooks in the study of consumer behavior, “Consumer Behavior, 9th Edition,” which is used by business schools throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, and has been translated into Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Korean and Portuguese. He has also written 26 other books on marketing strategy, research and global marketing.

During the 1990s, he became interested in teaching business leaders and wrote “From the Edge of the World,” a global analysis of why some consumers are wealthy and others are not. In 1997 he wrote “From Mind to Market,” which was listed as No. 3 on the CEO best-selling list and examined how to convert supply chains to demand chains. His most recent book, “Customers Rule! Why the E-Commerce Honeymoon is Over and Where Winning Businesses Go From Here,” hit No.1 on Amazon’s top selling business books last year and was co-authored by his wife, Kristina. He recently published an online course about e-commerce, and has published more than 40 journal articles.

Blackwell has been a visiting professor at Stanford University and has taught in executive programs at Northwestern, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Penn State and other universities. He also teaches in many corporate development programs, including IBM, General Electric, NCR, The Limited and other firms around the world.

He has been quoted as an expert by newspapers and magazines nationwide and has appeared on many television news programs.

Blackwell is also president of Roger Blackwell Associates Inc., a consulting firm in Columbus, through which he works with many of America's most successful companies.

In addition to numerous teaching and service awards from Ohio State, Blackwell has also been named “Outstanding Marketing Educator in America” by Sales and Marketing Executives International and “Best Marketing Professor” by Ohio State’s chapter of the American Marketing Association.

Blackwell earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from The University of Missouri and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

Commencement Awards
Four people will receive commencement awards. Honorary Doctor of Science awards will go to Harold A. McMaster, former research physicist and Optical Glass Laboratory Manager of Libbey-Owens-Ford and founder of McMaster Motor; and Andre Wambersie, chairman of the International Commission on Radiological Units and visiting professor at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. Distinguished Service Awards will be presented to George W. Hairston, Managing Parter, Baker & Hostetler LLP, and Curtis J. Moody, president and chief executive officer, Moody/Nolan Ltd., Inc.