UConn Today – Professor Gerlinde Berger-Walliser, head of the Marketing Department, was featured in the quarterly issue of the International Child Art Foundation’s ChildArt Magazine.
In the interview Berger-Walliser, an associate professor of business law in the School of Business, talked about growing up in a small town in Germany and loving music from a very young age.
After decades of service at UConn School of Business, including her long-standing role as Head of the Marketing Department, Robin Coulter retired on Aug. 31. Robin’s scholarship has been widely recognized and garnered international awards, while her leadership has shaped the careers of countless students and faculty. The entire University and School of Business community is grateful for her many contributions, and significantly better for it.
Robin completed her Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, and since joining UConn as an Assistant Professor in Fall 1987, she served with dedication, enthusiasm, accountability, and professionalism.
Throughout her tenure, Robin demonstrated exceptional leadership, scholarship, and service. Promoted to Associate Professor in 1993 and subsequently to Professor in 2006, she was notably the first woman in 18 years to achieve this rank within the School of Business. In January 2008, she was appointed Department Head of the Marketing Department, a role she held for over 16 years.
During this time, Robin was instrumental in the development of a robust undergraduate curriculum with concentrations and minors in digital marketing and analytics, professional sales leadership, and social responsibility and impact in business. Her leadership also guided the creation of graduate certificates and the launch of the M.S. in Social Responsibility & Impact in Business. Within the Marketing Department, she -served as steward of the Voya Financial Endowment.
Robin’s collaborative spirit fostered strong relationships within the School of Business and across the university. Remembering her colleagues throughout her career at UConn, Robin especially valued working alongside John Elliott, George Plesko, Chinmoy Ghosh, Cuihong Li, Brandy Nelson, Alana Adams, and Meghan Hanrahan. She acknowledged the significant contributions of marketing department members past and present, and of Nancy White, her trusted department manager.
When asked about her history at UConn, Robin recalled the leadership and mentorship of Peter Nichols (Provost, 2006–2012) and Sally Reis (Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, 2016–2022) as being important in shaping her career and giving her a voice. She expressed gratitude for the thoughtful counsel of colleagues Jim Wohl, Kelly Bannister, Renee Boggis, Johanna Gorgone, and Brandon Murray. Robin actively served on the University Senate, Scholastic Standards Committee, and Nominating Committee, and in these roles was exposed to myriad perspectives related to university actions. She, along with Senate colleagues and committee members Laura Burton, Holly Fitch, Jen Dineen, Hedley Freake, Jen Lease-Butts, Maureen Armstrong, Karen Bresciano, and Christine Wenzel, impacted many changes over the years. Across campus, Robin also noted her collaborations with Dave Kenny and Blair Johnson in Psychology, as well as Kathy Libal, Shareen Hertel, and Human Rights Institute colleagues.
In her instructor role, Robin taught and mentored undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral students. Robin chaired and served as advisor to many doctoral students, noting, “I am very appreciative of their engagement and insights and our joint scholarship.” Robin was a strong advocate of the Executive MBA (EMBA) program, having not only taught, but also served as the EMBA Academic Director and as chair of redesign task forces. Her Global Business Issues international trip course was a highlight learning experience for UConn’s EMBA students. She took great reward from the many students who said the trip changed their lives personally and professionally.
Over the years, colleagues suggested that Robin consider other administrative roles at UConn and elsewhere. Recalling these opportunities, Robin quoted a mantra from quotes Dr. Seuss: “Life is a great balancing act.” Robin’s many roles at UConn enabled her to contribute to the Department, School of Business, and University. She took on leadership positions at the American Marketing Association (AMA) Academic Council and served as AMA President.
In her remarkable career of scholarship, Robin’s portfolio of work, broadly speaking, focused on consumer behavior issues with attention to global citizenship and cross-cultural consumer behavior, branding in developed and emerging markets, and numerical cognition and pricing. Her long-term scholarly research program included award-winning, reprinted, lead article publications, including the recent 2025 Journal of Consumer Research article “Tournaments of Destruction: Consumers Battling for Visibility.” Robin known for her adeptness and advocacy of multi-method approaches to address interesting research questions. For this, Robin acknowledged her many co-authors over the years, particularly, her long-time colleagues, Linda Price and Yuliya Strizhakova.
Robin’s excellence in teaching, research, and service has been recognized through several honors, including being named a Voya Financial Fellow in 2015 and a nominee for Distinguished Board of Trustees Professor in 2023. She was honored as an American Marketing Association Fellow in 2023.
“Being named an AMA Fellow is very meaningful and humbling,” she said, “Of course, there are many in my academic journey to thank for their support, but particularly my colleagues, Linda Price, June Cotte, Kelly Herd, and Jerry Zaltman.”
Importantly in regard to the “balancing act,” Robin recognized the enduring support of her husband, Keith, and their daughter, Alyssa. After many years at UConn, Robin looks forward to new adventures, but to also continuing with her scholarly work because, as she said, “That is who I am.”
Wallethub – Why have car insurance premiums been increasing over the past years?
There are multiple reasons for this. Real factors: The cost of repairing vehicles has increased (for example, electric vehicles could be more expensive to repair than traditional gas-powered cars). There has also been an increase in the number of accidents and other risk factors, all of which raise the real cost of providing car insurance.
Nominal factors: Since premiums are quoted in dollars (or in money), inflation also drives up the dollar (or money) amounts needed for coverage, contributing to premium increases.
UConn Today – Macy’s Inc. recently invited four UConn business graduate students to serve as consultants in a months-long project reviewing and analyzing the company’s sustainable business practices.
Each of the four students were enrolled in the “Social Responsibility and Accountability in Business” course taught by business law professor Rachel Chambers. The course is part of a newer graduate program on Social Responsibility & Impact in Business.
UConn Today – Something dangerous is happening to the U.S. economy, and it’s not inflation or trade wars. Chaotic deregulation and the selective enforcement of laws have upended markets and investor confidence. At one point, the threat of tariffs and resulting chaos evaporated US$4 trillion in value in the U.S. stock market. This approach isn’t helping the economy, and there are troubling signs it will hurt both the U.S. and the global economy in the short and long term.
The rule of law – the idea that legal rules apply to everyone equally, regardless of wealth or political connections − is essential for a thriving economy. Yet globally the respect for the rule of law is slipping, and the U.S. is slipping with it. According to annual rankings from the World Justice Project, the rule of law has declined in more than half of all countries for seven years in a row. The rule of law in the U.S., the most economically powerful nation in the world, is now weaker than the rule of law in Uruguay, Singapore, Latvia and over 20 other countries.
Originally published in The Conversation.
UConn 360 – When somebody scrolls through the top product categories on Amazon odds are some 60% of the brands for sale will be ones you’ve never heard of before. That poses a challenge for marketers looking for their brands to be chosen among the many options, including familiar ones. UConn marketing professor Danielle Brick has researched how novel brands can make inroads in a very crowded marketplace and it has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research. She joins us on the podcast and tells us about how she went about her research, which included offering candy bars to people that just worked out at a gym. Brick also tells us about how novel brands have affected her personal shopping habits and her research on spiteful brand choices in relationships.
UConn Today – Alumnus Rich Eldh ’81, an entrepreneur who created a $300 million global research and advisory firm, told business undergraduates that servant leadership is one of the most important, and misinterpreted, components of business success.
“Servant leadership means leading with strength, for the benefit of others,’’ he told more than 700 graduates, their family and friends, during the Commencement ceremony on Saturday at Gampel Pavilion. “It means empowering your team, fostering growth, and creating environments where others can shine.’’
UConn Today – Business Law professor Robert Bird has been selected as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar and will spend three months studying human-centered legal strategy and design in Finland next semester.
“I’m excited about this opportunity to collaborate with my peers in Finland, who are doing some interesting work on strategic legal design,’’ he said. “I believe this research will add value to organizations, make complex contracts easier to understand, and benefit my students as well.’’
UConn Today – It was, perhaps, the most talked-about wedding cake in the history of marriage ceremonies.
In 2012, Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., refused to make a custom wedding cake for the marriage of a same-sex couple. The bakery owner objected, saying that the ceremony conflicted with his religious beliefs.
Although the Colorado Civil Rights Commission found the bakery had discriminated against the couple, the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned that decision in 2018. The ruling said the Commission failed to maintain religious neutrality, sidestepping questions about anti-discrimination laws and human rights.
UConn Today – CEOs and corporations should integrate legal strategy – an often-overlooked competitive advantage – into the core of their business plans, says Business law professor Robert Bird.
“Legal knowledge is the last great source of untapped competitive advantage in organizations, and the corporations that recognize this can unlock a storehouse of value creation that their rivals might miss,’’ Bird says.