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)
- GradCertEd. Higher Education (University of Queensland, Australia)
- B.PsySc Hons I (University of Queensland, Australia)
Employment
Current: Gerrish School of Business, Endicott College
Professor and Faculty Department Lead (2021 - present)
Associate Professor (2015 - 2021)
I teach undergraduate courses in Consumer Behavior, Business Analysis and Research, Senior Thesis, and Contemporary Issues in Marketing. 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 a faculty advisor for Charity Craft Club, and I co-advise DECA. I regularly serve on multiple college-wide committees. In my role as Faculty Department Lead, my duties include working with adjunct faculty and full time faculty to ensure courses with multiple sections are taught in a consistent manner. I also work with faculty to maximize people's comfort with various new technologies. I work closely with the Associate Dean on matters pertaining to planning the course of study, course design, curriculum design, and other administrative tasks (e.g. planning admissions events).
Current: Michigan State University
Assistant Professor, Dean's Office, College of Communication Arts and Sciences (2021 - present)
Assistant Professor, Advertising + Public Relations (2012 - 2021)
I held a full time position in ADPR from 2012-2015. In 2015, I moved to Massachusetts but retained a part time position with MSU, working 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 and continue to administer the research participant pools I established in 2014.
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.
2006 – 2009: Founder, FACTOR, (Brisbane, Australia)
I founded and managed a small market research company that worked in a niche market serving clients with relatively small needs and tight timelines. Clients included local sports teams, FMCG companies, and local food and beverage distributors.
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
Current: Gerrish School of Business, Endicott College
Professor and Faculty Department Lead (2021 - present)
Associate Professor (2015 - 2021)
I teach undergraduate courses in Consumer Behavior, Business Analysis and Research, Senior Thesis, and Contemporary Issues in Marketing. 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 a faculty advisor for Charity Craft Club, and I co-advise DECA. I regularly serve on multiple college-wide committees. In my role as Faculty Department Lead, my duties include working with adjunct faculty and full time faculty to ensure courses with multiple sections are taught in a consistent manner. I also work with faculty to maximize people's comfort with various new technologies. I work closely with the Associate Dean on matters pertaining to planning the course of study, course design, curriculum design, and other administrative tasks (e.g. planning admissions events).
Current: Michigan State University
Assistant Professor, Dean's Office, College of Communication Arts and Sciences (2021 - present)
Assistant Professor, Advertising + Public Relations (2012 - 2021)
I held a full time position in ADPR from 2012-2015. In 2015, I moved to Massachusetts but retained a part time position with MSU, working 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 and continue to administer the research participant pools I established in 2014.
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.
2006 – 2009: Founder, FACTOR, (Brisbane, Australia)
I founded and managed a small market research company that worked in a niche market serving clients with relatively small needs and tight timelines. Clients included local sports teams, FMCG companies, and local food and beverage distributors.
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