Contact: Jimmy Peltier
262-472-5474
peltierj@uww.edu
For the second year in a row and the sixth time in a decade, the student American Marketing Association at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was declared the Collegiate International Chapter of the Year.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Dana Aschaker, chapter president, after the award was given during the 32nd annual International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans from April 8 to 10.
Aschaker, a junior marketing major from Horicon, said UW-Whitewater students feared they couldn’t win the top honor two years in a row because “no other school has done it before.”
UW-Whitewater competed against schools of all sizes. Key rivals this year included the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Arizona, University of Illinois and Florida International University.
The contest is a year-long competition, with judges looking at a chapter’s record in terms of professional development, fundraising, community service, communications, membership and chapter operations.
UW-Whitewater AMA students submitted a 22-page annual report titled “Marketing in a Sea of Change: The New Normal” that detailed its extensive activities.
From hosting a successful regional conference that cleared a profit to organizing community fundraisers to conducting market research, the UW-Whitewater students documented their goals and achievements.
“We have a tradition of excellence and they work so very hard,” said Jimmy Peltier, chapter adviser and a professor of marketing. “Our goal for every year is to outdo ourselves.”
The UW-Whitewater chapter has collected other awards this year. It took first place in a the UNICEF fundraising challenge, placed in the top three in a water conservation plan competition sponsored by Kohler Co., won second place in a UNICEF video contest and won third place in Web site and video competitions. Two students were semifinalists in an entrepreneurial hero competition.
The Warhawk marketers were named Collegiate International Chapter of the Year in 2001, 2003, 2005, 20007 and 2009.
“We don’t do the minimum,” Aschaker said. “We do everything we can to make ourselves the best chapter we possibly can.”
The UW-Whitewater chapter won’t be resting on its laurels after returning from New Orleans.
Its water conservation project will be promoted on campus April 22 in conjunction with Earth Day activities and will feature speakers, information booths, games with prizes and research surveys.
The chapter also will host its largest community service event, a charity raffle, on April 23. Money raised will support a clean water project of UNICEF and heart research at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.
