2012 Teaching Awards
Gerald Smith,
Graduate Teaching
Gerald Smith is chair of the Carroll School's marketing department and an associate professor of marketing. His students singled him out for his dynamic and inspiring style, and for the expertise he brings to bear in classes like Strategic Brand Management, Pricing Strategy and Policy, and Marketing Communication and Promotion.
"I always focus more on learning than on teaching. What each class member learns is more important than what I teach," says Smith. "Learning is done by discovery, by sharing, by participating, by engaging in the class at a high level—if I ever relapse into one-way lecturing, I can feel the class begin to disengage.
"Do my students learn business, or brand management, or pricing? Yes, of course," Smith says. But what is more important, he adds, is "helping them shape the world in a way that taps their innate spirit, talent, and ability."