Meet the Marketing Faculty

Dr. Michael J. Harrison is in his 12th year  and is Chair of the Department of Marketing in Framingham State University’s College of Business where he teaches Marketing and International Business courses.

Dr. Harrison’s corporate experience spans the Aviation, Financial Services and Consumer Electronics industries with positions in Corporate Training, Marketing, Management, Sales, and Performance Consulting.

A former collegiate athlete, Dr. Harrison is the Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) for Framingham State University and the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) where he works closely with Athletics to ensure academic success and the health and well-being of student-athletes. He serves on the NCAA Division III Nominating Committee.

Courses:

Advertising & Promotion
International Business
International Marketing
Marketing Research
Sales
Sport Marketing

Promoting a love for marketing and branding is what Ella Karat probably is best known for. Before pursuing a  career in academia, she has worked for top 20 Global Advertising Agencies and handled clients that are Fortune 100 companies such as Coca-Cola, Proctor&Gamble, Unilever, MasterCard, Pfizer, MSD, Bayer and Nestle to name a few.  She has extensive knowledge in building results driven strategies and thrives in marketing related projects.

Ella Karat is also multilingual and multicultural, she has lived and worked on three continents, and is very accustomed to diversity.  She likes and prefers working on cross-functional events as well as with cross-cultural teams.

Courses:

Marketing Principles
Advertising and Promotional Strategy
Brand Management
Consumer Behavior
International Marketing

Dr. Sandra Sutherland Rahman is a professor of Marketing and former chair of the Department of Business at Framingham State University, USA.   She has published on international firm/stakeholder discourse regarding labor conditions in developing countries as well as issues related to stakeholder responsibility. Her dissertation is entitled “The Global Stakeholder's Message, The Firm's Response, and An Interpretation of the Ensuing Dilemma: From Tin Sheds to Brick Houses was based on the trade relationship and decision making influence of stakeholders on Bangladeshi garment manufacturers and US importers regarding the use of child labor. Dr. Rahman is active in promoting entrepreneurship and new business opportunities to undergraduate students in the US and abroad through guest lecturing, organizing a business plan competition in Bangladesh, and teaching workshops to faculty and students in Malaysia and Indonesia. Dr. Rahman has taught summer workshops on Teaching with the Case Study Method at the University Technology of Malaysia as well as marketing classes in Bangladesh, China and Malaysia. She has created and led over 10 international faculty led trips and was instrumental in developing the Doing Business Abroad course at FSU where students studied on campus at FSU and then traveled to China, Russia and Brazil.  For the past 25 years, she has continued her research and regularly presents her work at domestic and international conferences around the globe.

Marketing Principles
Doing Business Abroad
International Marketing

Zahra Tohidinia is an Assistant Professor at Framingham State University, Marketing Department.

Her research explores consumer dilemmas and consumer morality. In pursuing her research questions, she relies on experiments, field data, as well as text analysis.

Zahra is also interested in word of mouth and its influence on interpersonal perceptions. For example, in one of her projects she looks at personality cues in online language use and the way they affect perceptions of those who refer to the online review as a source of information. 

Zahra is passionate about interactive learning and teaching. She has taught a number of marketing courses at Framingham State University including Strategic Marketing, International Marketing and Brand Management.

Courses:

Marketing Principles
Marketing Research
Strategic Marketing

Dr. Werner J. Krings teaches in his 4^th year at Framingham State University, Marketing Department.

He gained management consulting experiences at KPMG Consulting primarily in the European and North American region responsible for clients in the cross-sector sector industry. Currently, he works for a UK-based company as a Senior Manager responsible for Fintech and Public sector customers.  

He holds a Certificate in Executive Coaching, an M.Sc. in Business and Management Research, and a DBA in Marketing and Reputation from Henley Business School at the University of Reading in the U.K., an M.Sc. in Financial Planning from Bentley University, and will update his business knowledge with a distant Executive MBA program at Warwick Business School, in the U.K. in 2023/2024. Dr. Krings is well-connected and equipped to inspire and teach students to pursue ‘pracademic excellence internationally.’ His research focus is on optimizing B2B Marketing and Sales processes with digital and social media platforms. His current research includes Social Capital and Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Krings is a Junior Professor at a French Grande Ecole lecturing in 2022 for the first time at their Hanoi, Vietnam campus, intensive courses in Entrepreneurship and Management Consulting for Master Students in the Financial Services and Fintech industry. He has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and co-authored books, including ‘The future of Business Schools’ and ‘The Global Impact of Social Innovation.’

Courses:

Marketing Principles
Digital Social Media Marketing
International Marketing