“Professor John Summey is an institution, an icon, a legend,” says Terry Clark, chair of the SIU marketing department. “He has been loved, revered and respected by generations of students. He has given himself unselfishly, unstintingly, year in and year out to the students. I have heard from students that it is not at all unusual for student groups to caucus at Summey’s house for ad hoc help sessions late into the evening. This is commitment.”

Summey’s commitment has not gone unnoticed. In 2006, he became the first recipient of the Marketing Research Association's Impact Award, which honors those outside the industry who have contributed to the profession in meaningful ways.

John S. Heakin, SIUC marketing alumnus and president of North American Insights, a marketing research field data collection company headquartered in Olympia Fields, nominated Summey for the award.

Heakin noted that nearly one-sixth of the students enrolled in SIUC's College of Business and Administration plan to go into marketing and that all undergraduates must take Summey's class on marketing research.

"No matter what aspect of marketing they pursued as a career, all of John's students carry with them a basic knowledge of the hard work and skill it takes to be a research professional and a healthy respect for the role of marketing research in developing the new and improved products and services that keep our economy healthy and make American companies world leaders," he wrote in his nominating letter.

Summey said he felt quite honored by this recognition. "You work for many years to try to prepare students and to give them insights into what they're going to be doing when they get out, to enable them to succeed," he said. "To have someone say, ‘Wow, you have done a good job at this!'" — it's pretty cool. It makes you smile and it makes you cry."

In 2005, Summey was named SIUC’s best teacher and honored with an “Excellence Through Commitment Award.”

Summey teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in product strategy, sales management and marketing research -- MKTG 390 -- a class that has become synonymous with the man.

"He was that ‘one teacher' who many of us are fortunate to encounter during our studies -- the teacher that expands our horizons and changes the way we think about life," wrote former student Betty Brennan (now president of Taylor Studios Inc., in Rantoul) in a letter supporting Summey's nomination for SIUC's top teaching prize.

A faculty member since 1977, Summey earned his bachelor's degree in 1962 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his master of business administration and doctoral degrees in 1969 and 1974 respectively from Arizona State University.

Summey’s areas of teaching and research have included marketing strategy, product strategy, customer relationship management, ethnography of adventure travel, marketing education, and marketing research. He has published articles in academic journals and presented research papers at both national and international academic conferences. He has also worked as a consultant to a variety of organizations assisting them with strategic planning, marketing research, and product strategy.

Summey is the past president two national marketing education groups: the Marketing Management Association and the Society for Marketing Advances. While he was president, he initiated strategic planning activities in both those associations. Summey is also a builder of new associations. He was instrumental in starting a nonprofit foundation for each of those associations and served as founding President of the Marketing Management Association Foundation and Vice-president of the Society of Marketing Advances Foundation. In 2001, Summey was recognized as a "Fellow" of the Marketing Management Association in honor of his long and distinguished service to marketing education and to that academic organization.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Monte Carlo simulation of coefficient alpha reliability results in repeated studies
• Ethnographic research on adventure travel consumption experiences
• Product strategy
• Marketing management
• Customer relationship management
• E-commerce

PUBLICATIONS

Ramendra Thakur and John H. Summey “e- Trust: Empirical Insights into Influential Antecedents,” Marketing Management Journal, Accepted for fall 2007 Publication

Ramendra Thakur, John H. Summey, and Siva K. Balasubramanian (2006), “CRM as Strategy: Avoiding the Pitfall of Tactics,” Marketing Management Journal, Vol. 16 Issue 2, pp: 147-154.

Ramendra Thakur John H. Summey (2005), “Filtering Profitable from Not-so-Profitable Customers Using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Technology,” Marketing Management Journal, Vol. 15 Issue 2, pp: 43-54.

Ramendra Thakur and John H. Summey (2005), “An Exploratory Investigation of the Factors that Influence the Usage or Non-Usage of Web Sites,” Journal of Website Promotion, Vol. 1 Issue 2, pp: 79-96.

AWARDS

Selected CoBA Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher – 2004

Unanimously selected as the University’s Excellence Through Commitment Outstanding Teacher, the top SIUC teacher, graduate and undergraduate, for 2005

Awarded the title of “Distinguished Teacher” as an addition to academic rank.

Awarded the Marketing Research Association’s “Impact Award,” in recognition of contributions to the marketing research discipline by a non-industry professional.