“There are so many opportunities for both faculty and students to make a difference for anyone on campus.”
Q: Tell us a little about yourself andhow you came to take your position at UC.
A: I’m originally from Erie, PA. My undergraduate degree is in communication arts with a minor in business from Gannon University in Erie. I have a master’s degree in business administration from Clarion University in Pennsylvania. I also received my teaching license from NC State University in Raleigh. Lastly on my long list of education, I received my doctorate of business administration with a focus in marketing from Walden University in Minneapolis. Previous to taking my position at UC, I was the director of graduate business and executive education at the University of South Dakota’s Beacom School of Business. Before that, I have taught marketing at the high school, undergraduate, and
graduate levels. When looking for my next position, I was looking for a college that was very teaching focused because at the end of the day, I consider myself a teacher first.
After being in the South and Midwest for many years, I have always wanted to go back to the Northeast. Utica was right for me both in size and geography, and I am very happy
where I am because I wanted to work with faculty who come from industry.
Q: How has your life path helped you to relate concepts of marketing to today’s college students?
A: The big thing that has helped me to do this is just coming from a whole range of experiences I have been through. I have worked in retail/commission sales, and I was a practitioner before I was a teacher. The one thing any student who has had me will say is that I have a story about almost every topic we cover, which is true. I have gone through and seen so much in my life, which is great because it helps me really teach the students and help them to fully learn it. For example, in my sales class I make them role play going through making a sale. I also like to make my classes fun. I like to say all of my classes are like a comedy show, and by the time class is done, they had a lot of
fun, but they realized they learned something. Another thing I think has helped me is that when I was younger I was a touring and recording musician. I was a drummer in a heavy metal band and about seven years of my life I was in the radio industry.
Assistant Professor of Marketing Chris Tingley discusses the changing field of marketing and his transition from hard rocker to marketing professor.
Q: Tell us about your transition from hard rocker to marketing professor.
A: When I was in the band, touring and recording, there were many times I would hear certain words or concepts that I didn’t necessarily know. I didn’t realize until I actually took a marketing class, “Oh, so that is what those concepts actually mean!” I already understood marketing because of being in the band, so it just came easy to me. The very first marketing class I took in undergraduate was suggested to me by another professor. I was hesitant about it, but I was told I need to take the professor who was teaching the class. The man who taught that class is the reason why I chose to go with marketing as my career path.
Q: What are some changes in the field of marketing?
A: The big thing that I have been seeing lately is that many people think when you talk about marketing, you have to attach social media to it. The problem with that is, so many big companies have gotten lost in social media, which has resulted in them letting go of actually understanding their consumers’ wants and needs. This may not necessarily be a change, but it is an effect of change. These big companies, for example two around here, Toys R Us and Kmart, these two are great proof that to be successful, you can’t wait for the bus, things are always changing so quickly, and those two companies didn’t grasp it.
Many companies have lost the actual sense of actual marketing, such as target marketing. This goes back to the basic principle of marketing, which will help any company be successful; deliver value to your customers, and they will shop there.
Q: You seem like a man of many traits. What else do you do for fun?
A: Well, more recently, a good friend and I started a podcast, completely out of fun. We both missed radio, but we knew we didn’t want to go back and do it as a job, that’s why with this podcast, we don’t allow ourselves to stress about it because it’s not our jobs. The podcast is called “Heavy Metal Hangover” for our love of heavy metal music. We mostly just discuss our opinions of heavy metal songs. We record the episodes every Friday, and we put them out on Mondays. It has been fun and getting on iTunes and Spotify has been awesome but also a learning experience going through the process. The other thing I love to do is almost every night, when I go home, I paint and assemble all types of fantasy and gaming miniatures. I do the podcast and painting because to me, it’s very therapeutic.
Q: What do you like most about UC?
A: There are so many opportunities for both faculty and students to make a difference on campus. At UC, I feel as if you don’t need to search for an opportunity. One of the best things I do on campus is to be the advisor to Chi Beta Sigma sorority. When I first got here, I was approached by my student who mentioned they needed a new advisor and because Greek life was important to me as an undergraduate, I immediately took it on.
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