College Announces New Bank of America Endowed Professor

Karin Braunsberger selected for prestigious endowment for demonstrating commitment to teaching business students importance of engaging community groups.

(St. Petersburg, Fla.) Nov. 5, 2007—College of Business Associate Professor Karin Braunsberger, PhD, has been named the Bank of America Endowed Professor in Business for the 2007-2008 academic year.

The Bank of America Endowed Professorship in Business was created in 1990 to recognize USF St. Petersburg faculty doing outstanding work in the community. USF St. Petersburg is dedicated to enhancing the curriculum through the Citizen Scholar model and providing students with unique educational opportunities through coursework that includes community involvement. Braunsberger’s appointment recognizes her dedication to instruction through community engagement, and the commitment that Bank of America has to benefit its local communities. 

“The Bank of America Endowed Professorship was developed to promote partnerships between the university and our local community,” said Bernie Craig, Pinellas County president, Bank of America.  “The valuable resources available at the university when linked to community groups are able to affect change and improve our community. We are honored to have Professor Braunsberger serve as the Bank of America Endowed Professor.”

Through this year’s endowment, Braunsberger’s MBA students will focus on three main projects. The first will offer business consultation and develop marketing plans for the CASA Thrift Store, to enhance the store’s visibility and profitability. For the second project, students will raise awareness in the boating community to increase reporting of collisions with manatees. Another team of students will work with The Arts Center to create marketing plans to increase its membership and retention.

All organizations will receive marketing services they might normally find beyond their resources. The students, on the other hand, benefit by being exposed to real-life projects that require the translation of theory into practice.

USF St. Petersburg College of Business Dean Geralyn McClure Franklin said, “Dr. Braunsberger’s class projects allow our students unique experiences that reinforce our institution’s commitment to community engagement and make our students aware of their responsibilities as citizens.”

Braunsberger’s research focuses on marketing research methods, ethical behavior and corporate social responsibility and consumer boycott behavior. Most recently, her research has been published in the Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing, Journal of Business Research and The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.

In 2006, Braunsberger won both the USF St. Petersburg College of Business Researcher of the Year Award and Corporate Social Responsibility Researcher of the Year Award that recognizes scholarly papers focused on research on corporate social responsibility. She teaches Marketing Strategy for MBA students and the undergraduate capstone Marketing Management Problems.  

Braunsberger joined USF St. Petersburg in 2001. She earned her Master of Arts degree from Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitaet and both her MBA and PhD in Marketing from the University of Texas at Arlington.

--USF St. Petersburg—

Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy

Bank of America has embarked on an unprecedented 10-year goal to give $1.5 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the quality and vitality of their neighborhoods.  The Bank of America Charitable Foundation will give more than $200 million in 2007, making the bank one of the most generous corporate donors in the world.  Bank of America approaches giving through a national strategy called "neighborhood excellence" under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities.  Through Team Bank of America, bank associate volunteers contribute more than 500,000 hours each year to improve the quality of life in their communities nationwide.  For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit www.bankofamerica.com/foundation.