The 37th Annual American Marketing Association (AMA) International Collegiate Conference, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, was a high-water mark in the history of the SUNY New Paltz AMA.
New Paltz was named the top Silver chapter, the equivalent to being ranked eighth nationally among a field of more than 350 collegiate chapters, and also saw longtime faculty advisor Ted Clark awarded the AMA Lifetime Achievement Award for his 28 years of dedicated service to the AMA.
“A preponderance of my time here at the College has been devoted to the AMA, and so this accomplishment was both rewarding and immensely gratifying,” Clark said. “It’s been a thrilling experience to watch the chapter grow to become the highest scoring Silver chapter. I am justifiably proud of the commitment made by my students as members of a very professional student organization.”
Founded in 1987, the New Paltz AMA has grown every year of its existence, both in terms of its membership and its activities. It first competed at the AMA International Collegiate Conference over a decade ago, when it joined more than 200 other AMA chapters in submitting an Annual Report and Chapter Plan for evaluation in categories including community service, chapter planning, fundraising, communications, membership and student professional development.
A vast majority of the chapters New Paltz is ranked against represent schools with larger business and marketing programs, and significantly greater memberships and resources, than the New Paltz AMA, making this year’s “elite eight” finish all the more impressive.
“We’re doing with a far smaller number of students equivalent work to what much larger chapters are doing on other campuses,” said Kristin Backhaus, newly appointed dean of the School of Business. “When I went to this conference and saw the caliber of students our chapter was up against, I was really impressed. It’s a testament to our students’ commitment to their own professional development. The work they’ve been able to do, and the guidance and leadership that Ted has provided over the years, have really put us on the map.”
Kim Kallansrude ’16 (Management, Marketing), vice president of programming for the New Paltz AMA, attended the conference and gave a presentation on her chapter’s contribution to its members’ professional development.
For Kallansrude, the highlight of the weekend was seeing her advisor honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. “I got a little emotional,” she said. “He got a standing ovation. He’s been there so long, and so many people at the conference are incredibly proud of the work he’s done. We all are too. He just helps us in so many ways, it would be impossible to thank him enough.”
More information about the New Paltz AMA is available at http://www.newpaltzama.com/. The full list of 2014-2015 AMA Collegiate Chapter Award winners is available at https://www.ama.org/students/Pages/2010CollegiateChapterAwardWinners.aspx.
