Teaching Philosophy
Analogy | Innovation | Solutions
It often takes years for marketing personnel in the corporate world to practice the robust and rigorously tested theory in which marketing scholars dedicate their lives. As researchers, we have the unique opportunity to help facilitate the acceleration of marketing theory being put into practice by immersing our students in break-through marketing science. This in turn allows our students to be distinct; Rather than simply teaching students to be good at their field, as researchers, we give them tools to disrupt the marketing industry.
Through this lens, I attempt to teach my students theory derived from consumer behavior through example. To facilitate the learning of key concepts I challenge my students to exemplify these core ideas in case studies and peer to peer discussions. This dual approach of concept learning and application through analogy allows students to not only learn content that will set them apart from other students, but also how and when to apply this new found industry equity.
Teaching Stats
Consumer Behavior
(Summer Semester 2021)
Select Student Quotes
Instructor Excellence | 8 out of 8
Instructor Interaction | 8 out of 8
Instructor Communication | 8 out of 8
"He was always trying to make our classes enjoyable."
"I learned a lot about consumer behavior and specifically what techniques/ methods used by marketers. I can put a lot of these things to good use in everyday life!"
"Professor Gaffney is a great professor. He teaches well and is very attentive to what members of his class have interests in and incorporated that in the examples he gives. He is a great communicator and replies to emails really quickly, and provides excellent feedback on assignments. His feedback and the way he structured the class helped with the final case study. Overall, a great professor. He is an asset to UC."
"Always talked about assignments and expectations and was open to answering any questions we had about things."
Marketing Research
(Summer Semester 2020)
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Instructor Excellence | 7.7 out of 8
Instructor Interaction | 7.7 out of 8
Instructor Communication | 7.9 out of 8
"Great course! Would recommend Professor Gaffney to anyone and was able to learn a ton! I was already somewhat interested in Market Research before this class but am now even more so. Leaning towards this for my career field post-graduation!"
"This professor was a good communicator, fair grader, was timely with grading, and open to student questions and concerns."
"Thank you for making this class challenging, but fun at the same time. I really like how the discussion boards were different. I liked that we used the present time and location-based (Cincinnati) case studies."
"I really enjoyed this class. Even while doing this survey, I can't help but think about the concepts we learned."
Consumer Behavior
(Summer Semester 2019)
Select Student Quotes
Instructor Excellence | 7.8 out of 8
Instructor Interaction | 7.7 out of 8
Instructor Communication | 7.8 out of 8
"I feel that I genuinely learned in this course. I enjoyed learning these materials"
"Overall, one of my favorite subjects and classes."
"[He] Cared about the subject matter and [made] sure we understood what was going on."
"Related well to students and what was going on in the real world outside the classroom."
Introduction to Marketing (Summer Semester 2018)
Select Student Quotes
Instructor Excellence | 7.8 out of 8
Instructor Interaction | 7.9 out of 8
Instructor Communication | 8 out of 8
“Probably one of my favorite classes and favorite professors for online courses. It was really well done.”
"I got to see that he actually read my posts and what he thought of them. It felt more personal in such a large, online class.”
“His comments on our discussion board posts were informative, helpful, and communicated that he cared about our success in the class.”
“As hard as the concepts are for this material, Professor Gaffney was very professional and acute.”