2017 Top 40 Undergraduate Professors: Elizabeth Moore

Elizabeth Moore
Associate Professor of Marketing
University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business

Elizabeth Moore loves teaching and takes it seriously. So seriously that she earned a master’s degree in education in addition to her PhD in marketing as a way of enhancing her teaching abilities. In the classroom, she brings in the real world on a regular basis. Outside the classroom, she regularly assists with supporting student projects such as sponsoring a team in a national advertising competition. Students mostly comment on Moore’s engaging teaching style along with her willingness to advise students about their career paths. She’s received four outstanding teaching awards in the last five years.

In addition to her teaching excellence, Professor Moore has an excellent research reputation for her extensive work that examines how marketing to children impacts childhood obesity.

Age: Young at heart

At current institution since: 1999

Education: PhD in Business Administration, Concentration in Marketing, University of Florida, 1994; Master of Education, Concentration in Elementary Education, University of Florida, 1989; Bachelor of Arts, Major in Psychology (Magna cum Laude), Mount Holyoke College, 1980

List of courses currently teaching: Building Great Brands, Integrated Marketing Communications

Fun fact about yourself: Recently, I won the age division in my very first 10K. However, several of the women in the next older age group easily outpaced me.

“I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when…” I have always been attracted to an academic career, with grand visions of what it means to be a scholar. As an undergraduate psychology major, I thought that I would eventually become a developmental psychologist. However, after working in business for a few years after college, I realized that I was interested in applied issues affecting consumer decision making and behavior. These topics are better aligned with graduate study in marketing. My research today centers on the impacts of marketing activities on children and families, thus combining my two areas of interest.

“If I weren’t a business school professor…” I would be an elementary school teacher

“One word that describes my first time teaching…” Terrifying

What do you enjoy most about teaching undergraduate business students? I particularly enjoy my students’ enthusiasm, intellectual curiosity and creativity. They work hard, ask interesting questions, and bring thoughtful, sometimes unconventional, perspectives to what we are studying. When accompanied by a sense of humor, all the better.

What is the biggest challenge that comes with teaching undergraduate business students? One of the biggest challenges is convincing students who have little direct experience in the business world that what I am teaching has relevance to what they will be doing in the workplace. However, after returning from a summer internship or post-graduation they will tell me, often to their own surprise, how useful the content they learned in my class proved to be, and how empowering that feels.

What is the most impressive thing one of your undergraduate students has done?  I don’t think that I can answer this question with respect to just one student. I am continually reminded of how impressive my Notre Dame students are not only in the classroom but beyond it. The vast majority are heavily involved in service activities, sports, the arts or student governance. The nature of their involvements vary widely, ranging from multiyear commitments to tutoring at risk children, to playing a varsity sport or in the band, to fighting wildfires in California for the summer. They are generous with their time and talents, and terrific representatives of Mendoza’s broader mission.

What is the least favorite thing one has done? Come to class unprepared

What does a student need to do to get an A in your class? Engage deeply with the material as an individual learner, in class discussions, and in team projects. Read for mastery, write well and work hard.   

“When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as …” Fair, but not easy

“But I would describe myself as …” Fair, but not easy

What are your hobbies?  Reading (fiction, news, biographies), gardening, biking, hiking, finding French restaurants

How did you spend your summer?  It was a quiet summer. I worked on a couple of manuscripts, went to a professional conference, biked in Northern Michigan and logged many hours walking my dog.

Favorite place to vacation: Northern Michigan or Paris

Favorite book: I have always loved to read so it is virtually impossible to choose a single book.  So, in that spirit, my longest running favorite is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I read it first as a child, and again as an adult.

Favorite movie and/or television show: Masterpiece Theater

Favorite type of music and/or favorite artist: James Taylor and Johann Sebastian Bach

Bucket list item #1: Hike the Grand Canyon

What professional achievement are you most proud of? I worked with the Kaiser Family Foundation to investigate online food marketing to children a few years ago. This was one of the first studies to look beyond television advertising, and its results were of interest to government regulatory agencies and the public health community. I was able to provide expert testimony on this topic to the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Medicine), Federal Trade Commission, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was gratifying to see my work being used as input in ongoing public policy discussions.

What is your most memorable moment as a professor? I was very touched when a vote of the students resulted in my receiving an undergraduate teaching award.

Professor you most admire and why: It is very hard to settle on a single person, particularly given the fine colleagues that I have in Mendoza.  However, in terms of my personal development, the professor I most admire is Gail Hornstein, Professor of Psychology and Education, at Mount Holyoke College. She was my undergraduate thesis advisor, and an outstanding mentor. Her intellect, love of learning, and exemplary teaching had a tremendous impact on me. In my teaching, I have tried to ‘pay it forward’ in her honor. 

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? My research focuses on marketing to children, intergenerational family studies and the impacts of marketing in society. Of late, my work has centered on the impacts of food marketing on children and families.  My colleagues and I recently published an article that examined parents’ impacts on childhood obesity and outlined a detailed research agenda for consumer researchers.

Twitter handle: None. As my students will readily attest, I am far too wordy to communicate in 140 characters or fewer.

“If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this…” The Department of Marketing at Notre Dame has long focused on the impacts of marketing in society (e.g., consumer health and safety, ethics, government regulation). It was this scholarly emphasis that brought me to Notre Dame. The Mendoza College of Business further encourages our faculty, students and staff to ‘Ask More of Business.’ Other business schools have also taken up the charge in recent years.  It is my hope that such broader perspectives on business will be at the center of business education and scholarship in the future.

“And much less of this…” Historical overemphasis on profit as the sole focus of business

Looking ahead 10 years from now, describe what “success” would look like for you: Many of my former students will be successful business leaders, enriching people’s lives and serving society.

Students say…

“I can honestly say that Professor Moore has been my favorite Professor at Notre Dame, not only for her marketing knowledge but her kindness and genuine demeanor as well. She represents the idea of doing “something bigger,” “something for the greater good.” If you want to change the world and make it a better place, it is feasible to do so. Oftentimes in our classes we are focused so much on business and how marketing increases profit, but it was refreshing to hear about something more, a new perspective on how we can take our marketing knowledge and run with it to actually do good in the world.”

“Building Great Brands is one of my favorite classes at ND and Prof. Moore is certainly one of my favorite professors. Her class was always fun, engaging, and gratifying. She is an excellent example of an academic who continues to search for knowledge and is motivated by internalization. It is obvious that she has a real thirst for knowledge and passion for what she does.  I was also struck by how humble Prof. Moore is. Every time you would praise her for her teaching or research, she would kind of brush it off. For the amount of success that she has had in her career, it is refreshing to see that she remains down to earth, humble, and easy to relate to."