Marketing Faculty

Dr. Michael J. Harrison is an Associate Professor in his 9^th year as a faculty member in Framingham State University’s Department of Business where he teaches International Business, Marketing Research, Managing Across Cultures, Sales and Sports Marketing.

He has over 22 years of business experience working with world class organizations as a Training and Development Manager, Program Manager and Performance Consultant. He is published in the International Business and Economics Research Journal, the Global Business Economics Anthology, the Journal of Critical Thinking, the Business and Management Review and he has presented scholarly articles at Oxford University and Cambridge University. Dr. Harrison authors the annual 495/MetroWest Partnership’s Regional Employer Survey & Forecast in conjunction with the MetroWest Daily News and Milford Daily News.

Dr. Harrison is in his 6^th year as the Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) for Framingham State University and in his 4^th year as the Conference FAR for the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC). He was named Faculty of the Year by the Framingham State University undergraduates in 2011 and in 2015 was nominated for the Oxford Journal Global Top 50 Educators Award which recognizes educators dedicated to the success of their students both inside and outside the classroom setting.  

He holds a Doctor of Business Administration, an MBA, a Master of Science in Management, a Bachelor of Science in Finance and the Professional Researcher Certification (PRC) from the Marketing Research Association.

Marketing Research
Sports Marketing
International 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
Brand Management
Advertising and Promotional Strategy
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

Courses:

Marketing Principles
International Marketing
Personal Financial Literacy

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