The  Center for Marketing Research was activated in 1999 and initially named the Center for Business Research, later adopting its present name, Center for Marketing Research. The appointing authorities asked Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes to create a Center that served the needs of the University, its students, the business community, and residents of southeastern Massachusetts.

Knowing that collaboration with  and gaining the  trust of the business community would  be key to the Centers long term success, a Center Advisory Board was created that attracted support from several prominent  leaders from a wide cross-section of the business and not-for-profit  organizations. These community leaders all share a vision of the Center’s potential and provide insights into how the Center can best integrate itself into the community and satisfy its needs.

The Center for Marketing Research is committed to helping the business and not-for-profits organizations of this area achieve and maintain a competitive advantage through affordable and customized marketing research. The Center’s mission is: To facilitate the economic development of the region by providing an affordable, high quality economic alternative to meeting business needs for research, training, and consulting in any and all aspects of Marketing.

Dr. Barnes also set as a priority the  recruiting and nurturing an on-going supply of high quality  marketing students to learn marketing research and work with the Center in providing marketing research to its clients. The senior marketing research class is divided into groups of marketing consulting teams to work with Center clients over the period of a college semester and  provide needed research. Additionally, post graduate, MBA students are hired, as needed, to work with clients whose needs can not be met during a semester time frame.

An Advisory Board scholarship sub-committee was established to facilitate an annual scholarship drive to raise money for scholarships. Each year has shown an increase in the number of scholarships made available through the CMR, cumulating in a total of 24 for the current year. Financial assistance, in addition to other tangible benefits, such as acquired practical experience while interacting with prominent members of the business community has made working at the Center a top  priority for most graduate and undergraduate marketing students.  Approximately 800 students have participated in  and profited from CMR Marketing Research Projects. Most of these students are working in the region with many moving into leadership positions.

Many SouthCoast  entrepreneurs have  turned to the CMR to provide  the Marketing Research they need for survival and growth. To date, the Center has provided marketing research to over 250 regional clients in addition to numerous national and international ones, many on a recurring basis. Due to its policy of pricing research projects reasonably, many local organizations have received services at a small fraction of commercial costs and, thereby, retained hundreds of thousands of dollars for use in other essential components of their business/organization.

For the past seven years, the CMR has organized and sponsored an annual Celebrity/Scholarship Dinner. This dinner, in addition to promoting scholarships, brings nationally recognizable, high profile  individuals, to the region to share their experiences. These dinners, celebrate the achievements  of the CMR students and the Center’s relationship to the community

UMass Dartmouth

The Office of Public Affairs, reporting directly to the Chancellor, is responsible for coordinating the strategic communications and advocacy strategies of the campus.

The office oversees media relations and publications, and works closely with the web development, alumni affairs, fundraising, admissions, and academic units to tell the UMass Dartmouth story in a manner that builds public and private support; and attracts talented faculty, students, and staff to campus.

View all articles by UMass Dartmouth