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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Most gift givers likely won’t choose a digital gift card over a physical gift card, even though many recipients would prefer the digital version.

That’s the key finding from new research by gifting expert Julian Givi, an assistant professor of marketing at West Virginia University’s Chambers College of Business and Economics. With Farnoush Reshadi and Gopal Das, Givi conducted five studies on givers’ and recipients’ reactions to scenarios involving digital and physical gift cards, analyzing the results in a paper forthcoming in Psychology and Marketing.

Originally from Fayetteville, WV, Mason Harp admits he chose marketing because he wanted to promote certain brands and businesses. Lucky for him, he got a small taste of that promoting both new and well-known products as the University’s Coca-Cola Ambassador. 

During his time as a business student, he has also been involved in Delta Sigma Pi, Niedermeyer Scholars, Career Readiness Program, and Public Relations Student Society of America.

West Virginia University’s (WVU) John Chambers College of Business and Economics Professional Sales Institute to offer hands-on sales training for students through the University’s Sales Accelerator program.  The Professional Sales Accelerator Program is designed to offer a unique opportunity for select WVU Sales Management students to engage in “real world” sales experience. 

According to Dr. David Brauer, Director of the Professional Sales Institute at WVU, “We are pleased to have OhanaLink Technologies on board as one of the business partners of the Sales Accelerator Program.”  Brauer explained, “The goal of the program is to partner with companies across a wide variety of markets where students can earn scholarship dollars while gaining practical hands-on experience navigating every part of the sales cycle in “real world” scenarios. 

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West Virginia University’s Professional Sales program within the John Chambers College of Business and Economics is developing the next generation of sales leaders, thanks to a collaboration of exceptional education, training and faculty.

Students in the program recently finished a busy season of sales competitions, most recently sweeping the competition held at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Another group of students was to compete in the National Shore Sales Challenge at Salisbury University the weekend prior to spring break; however, that was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  

For the fifth consecutive year, West Virginia University’s John Chambers College of Business and Economics held their annual Sales Competition on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. 

Sponsored by Fastenal­­­­–the largest fastener distributor in North America–the WVU sales competition is a tournament-style sales competition where students compete for cash prizes.

Whether this West Virginia native is cheering at sporting events or building her portfolio, Brooke Harlow knows how to keep busy.

In one of those positions, Brooke will be the Peer Career Coach with the Center for Career Development, where she will help students prepare for both their careers and their internship opportunities. In the other, she will be an intern at Fortune 500 company PepsiCo, where she will gain hands-on sales experience. 

West Virginia University has been named a Top University Sales Program for the eighth consecutive year by the Sales Education Foundation. The SEF “Top Universities for Professional Sales Education” has designated West Virginia University’s Professional Sales Institute, located in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics, as one of the top sales schools in the world.

The listing highlights the top sales programs at higher education institutions that include 134 schools in North America and 16 international schools. The SEF does not provide a numerical ranking for each school. 

The collegiate path taken by marketing senior Emily Broughton certainly isn’t a traditional one, but it is a path that helped her launch her professional career months before she receives her diploma.

After transferring to West Virginia University from Temple University, Emily wondered what the next chapter of her college life would look like. That is, until she took a sales class in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics. From the first day in that class, she said, everything clicked.