Anna McAlister is a consumer psychology expert who researches the impact of marketing messages on children, teens, and young adults. McAlister's research evidence contributes to public policy discussions on topics such as fast food marketing, alcohol advertising, promotion of healthy foods, unit pricing, and cyberbullying.
Native to Australia, Anna McAlister has lived and worked in the US since 2010. She has a wide range of experience teaching undergraduates at every level, as well as Masters and doctoral students. She has taught courses relevant to consumer psychology and child socialization in various contexts (i.e., Departments of Business, Psychology, Consumer Science, and Advertising & Public Relations).
Education
- Ph.D. Developmental Psychology (University of Queensland, Australia)
- Diversity and Inclusion Certificate (Cornell University)
- GradCertEd. Higher Education (University of Queensland, Australia)
- B.PsySc Hons I (University of Queensland, Australia)
Employment
2015 – present: Associate Professor, Gerrish School of Business, Endicott College
I teach undergraduate courses in Consumer Behavior, Marketing, Business Analysis and Research, and Contemporary Issues in Marketing. Consumer Behavior and Marketing are offered as online courses, as well as in the classroom. Business Analysis and Research is taught using a service learning approach with a real world business client. I also maintain a research stream focused on children’s responses to marketing, including food and beverage marketing. I advise 25 undergraduate students and am the faculty advisor for Charity Craft Club and Mortar Board. I regularly serve on multiple college-wide committees.
2012 – present: Assistant Professor, Advertising + Public Relations, Michigan State University
This was a full time position from 2012-2015. I am now working part time as an online instructor. In my full time position, I taught a graduate seminar in public policy issues surrounding marketing to children as well as undergraduate courses in Consumer Behavior and Advertising Management. I advised Masters and doctoral students. I also served as the coordinator of two separate research participant pools for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. In my current part time appointment, I teach two core courses in the online Master's in Strategic Communication program.
2010 – 2012: Lecturer, Consumer Science, University of Wisconsin - Madison
This role involved teaching undergraduate courses in Consumer Behavior, Consumer Information (including theories of information processing and memory), International Retailing, Direct Retailing, Applied Economics, and the capstone course in Consumer Science. I also served on the committees of doctoral students from the Nelson Institute, and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
2007 – 2010: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia)
My postdoctoral fellowship was supervised by Professor Cornwell. One research stream focused on children’s responses to marketing communications. Another stream focused on adults’ memories for learned sponsorship information. I also taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in Consumer Behavior, Research Methods, and Ad Management.
2003 – 2006: Research and Teaching Assistant, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia)
I taught a junior level course in Psychological Testing, and was TA for a variety of undergraduate courses including Research Methods, Survey Design, and Statistics. One RA job involved working in an organizational psychology lab. I conducted research on links between personality and employee satisfaction, as well as assessments of social deviance and delinquent behavior. In a different RA position, I conducted research to examine preschool children’s social and cognitive development.
2005 – 2006: Research Consultant, Colmar Brunton (Brisbane, Australia)
My primary role was as a data analyst, using SPSS and Excel, as well as other specialized programs to assess the effectiveness of various clients’ advertising campaigns. Working in small teams, we dealt with large datasets for each client, to run media analytics and assess ROI across different segments.
2005: Research Assistant, School of Psychology, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
In this role I collected and analyzed data for personality studies among adults.
2002 – 2003: Telephone Counselor, Quitline, Queensland Health (Brisbane, Australia)
I used my knowledge of Applied Behavior Analysis to develop tailored behavior change plans for individual clients. Smokers would phone in to receive information and advice about quitting smoking, as well as receiving counseling. I used a CATI system to respond to calls, and maintained a database of caller information.
2003: Data Analyst / Consultant, Chandler Macleod Group and Marketshare (Brisbane, Australia)
My primary role was to analyze survey data using SPSS. I also dealt with syndicated data that were used to generate demand forecasts, mostly for FMCG.
1997 - 2003: Various Retail Jobs and ESL Teaching
2015 – present: Associate Professor, Gerrish School of Business, Endicott College
I teach undergraduate courses in Consumer Behavior, Marketing, Business Analysis and Research, and Contemporary Issues in Marketing. Consumer Behavior and Marketing are offered as online courses, as well as in the classroom. Business Analysis and Research is taught using a service learning approach with a real world business client. I also maintain a research stream focused on children’s responses to marketing, including food and beverage marketing. I advise 25 undergraduate students and am the faculty advisor for Charity Craft Club and Mortar Board. I regularly serve on multiple college-wide committees.
2012 – present: Assistant Professor, Advertising + Public Relations, Michigan State University
This was a full time position from 2012-2015. I am now working part time as an online instructor. In my full time position, I taught a graduate seminar in public policy issues surrounding marketing to children as well as undergraduate courses in Consumer Behavior and Advertising Management. I advised Masters and doctoral students. I also served as the coordinator of two separate research participant pools for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. In my current part time appointment, I teach two core courses in the online Master's in Strategic Communication program.
2010 – 2012: Lecturer, Consumer Science, University of Wisconsin - Madison
This role involved teaching undergraduate courses in Consumer Behavior, Consumer Information (including theories of information processing and memory), International Retailing, Direct Retailing, Applied Economics, and the capstone course in Consumer Science. I also served on the committees of doctoral students from the Nelson Institute, and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
2007 – 2010: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia)
My postdoctoral fellowship was supervised by Professor Cornwell. One research stream focused on children’s responses to marketing communications. Another stream focused on adults’ memories for learned sponsorship information. I also taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in Consumer Behavior, Research Methods, and Ad Management.
2003 – 2006: Research and Teaching Assistant, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia)
I taught a junior level course in Psychological Testing, and was TA for a variety of undergraduate courses including Research Methods, Survey Design, and Statistics. One RA job involved working in an organizational psychology lab. I conducted research on links between personality and employee satisfaction, as well as assessments of social deviance and delinquent behavior. In a different RA position, I conducted research to examine preschool children’s social and cognitive development.
2005 – 2006: Research Consultant, Colmar Brunton (Brisbane, Australia)
My primary role was as a data analyst, using SPSS and Excel, as well as other specialized programs to assess the effectiveness of various clients’ advertising campaigns. Working in small teams, we dealt with large datasets for each client, to run media analytics and assess ROI across different segments.
2005: Research Assistant, School of Psychology, James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
In this role I collected and analyzed data for personality studies among adults.
2002 – 2003: Telephone Counselor, Quitline, Queensland Health (Brisbane, Australia)
I used my knowledge of Applied Behavior Analysis to develop tailored behavior change plans for individual clients. Smokers would phone in to receive information and advice about quitting smoking, as well as receiving counseling. I used a CATI system to respond to calls, and maintained a database of caller information.
2003: Data Analyst / Consultant, Chandler Macleod Group and Marketshare (Brisbane, Australia)
My primary role was to analyze survey data using SPSS. I also dealt with syndicated data that were used to generate demand forecasts, mostly for FMCG.
1997 - 2003: Various Retail Jobs and ESL Teaching