William L. Wilkie
Aloysius and Eleanor Nathe Professor of Marketing

Variously described by his enthusiastic nominators as a "pioneer," "fiercely committed," the "single most influential marketing academic," "genius" and "the Professor's Professor," Professor William Wilkie of the College of Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame is the 2001 American Marketing Association/Irwin/McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator Award recipient.

"Perhaps one of the most impressive features of Bill's career is the sheer breadth of his contributions to the marketing field," say Professors Patrick E. Murphy, Elizabeth S. Moore and Michael J. Etzel, all of Notre Dame, in their nominating letter. "He is widely recognized as one of the pioneers in the public policy area, is the author of a highly regarded consumer behavior text ... and has mentored several doctoral students who have gone on to have distinguished careers of their own."

Professor Joel Cohen of the University of Florida describes him as "the single most influential marketing academic in the public policy domain." Professor Peter Dickson of Florida International University says Wilkie has a "genius intellect with the ability to bring the best out of others," while UCLA Professor Emeritus Harold H. Kassarjian notes, "Bill Wilkie is the Professor's Professor."

Nevertheless, "I was very surprised—in fact, shocked—to hear that I had won this award. I hadn't known anything about even being nominated until shortly before the decision," Wilkie says.

The AMA/ Irwin/McGraw-Hill award recognizes marketing educators who are recognized as long-standing leaders in the field and have made "extensive and sustained contributions" to marketing education and to the discipline of marketing in general. The criteria includes creativity and innovation, teaching and mentoring, research, administration, public service and service to the marketing profession.

Past winners (there are 16) include Philip Kotler, William Lazer, Paul R. Green, Barton A. Weitz and James R. Bettman.

Wilkie attended Notre Dame, based in Notre Dame, Ind., receiving a bachelor's degree in 1966. He spent the rest of his studies at Stanford University in California, earning a Sloan degree in management in 1967, an MBA in marketing in 1969, and a marketing doctorate in 1971. Among many awards and honors, he received the Best Article Award from Journal of Public Policy and Marketing for the outstanding contribution to the journal in its first five years of publication and has been on the editorial boards of Journal of Marketing and Journal of Marketing Research as well as Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.

Besides Notre Dame, Wilkie has taught at University of Florida in Gainesville; Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Mass.; Marketing Science Institute, also in Cambridge; Krannert Graduate School at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.; and San Jose State University in California. He also has been an in-house consultant for the Federal Trade Commission and worked at Westinghouse Electric Corp. and United States Steel Corp.

"The award is a terrific honor," Wilkie says. "In my case, it personally is serving as a wonderful reinforcement of some of the choices I've made about ... my career. More broadly, I'm hoping the award represents ... encouragement to those pursuing issues in the broad sphere of public policy and marketing and society."

About marketing, he says: "From my earliest days as a student, I've seen marketing as a wonderfully complex and important field. ... It can be quantitative, but it's also always qualitative. It can be high-tech, but almost always also involves people and their limitations. It can involve duplicitous behaviors, but also can bring wonder to and improvements in peoples' daily lives.

"I've certainly never regretted my choice for a minute."

July 16, 2001