Master of Marketing Research

Frank Staggers Award of Excellence in Marketing Research

The SIUE Foundation established the Frank Staggers Award of Excellence in Marketing Research Endowment in memory of Frank Staggers, MMR ’94. Mr. Staggers’ lifelong pursuit of knowledge and a strong desire for self-improvement led him into the Master of Marketing Research (MMR) program in the SIUE School of Business. He completed his MMR in December 1994 and continued his commitment to education by working with the SIUE Department of Management and Marketing and his employer, Southwestern Bell, to support internships and other MMR development opportunities. Mr. Staggers passed away in February 1997.

Established by family, MMR faculty, MMR alumni, friends and coworkers, the award recognizes the academic excellence of current graduate students in the SIUE MMR program, while commemorating Frank Staggers’ spirit of learning and pursuit of knowledge. The hope is that his lifelong quest for knowledge will serve as a standard for future graduates of the MMR program.

Recipients of the award must demonstrate superior academic standing and have a positive attitude and enthusiasm for learning. Recipients are selected based on their performance in the MMR program (including the final research project) and their commitment to the profession of marketing research. They each receive a plaque and a monetary gift.

2012 Recipients

Ms. Alice Kwok, MMR '11

Ms. Alice Kwok completed the Master of Marketing Research (MMR) degree from the School of Business at Southern University Edwardsville in August 2011. She also has a BS degree in Actuarial Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While completing her MMR degree, Alice interned at GfK Kynetec where she performed marketing science duties and provided ad hoc custom research study support for various clients. Before graduating from the program, Alice conducted her capstone project with Ad Club St. Louis to understand companies’ awareness, perception, selection, and service evaluation of advertising agencies in St. Louis area. Alice is currently employed as Search Engine Marketing Analyst in the ROImedia business unit at Juggle.com. Juggle.com was awarded the 'Best place to work in St. Louis metropolitan area' by St. Louis Business Journal in 2011 and 2012. In her current position, Alice manages over 300 e-commerce and informational content websites. She generates and monetizes online traffic for these websites by creating different campaigns that target different networks, regions, and devices. She enjoys analyzing complex data to apply different strategies to connect online searchers to the most relevant and high quality online content through campaign optimization, budget management, and search keyword expansion.

Mr. Michael Healy, MMR '11

Mr. Michael Healy completed the Master of Marketing Research degree from the School of Business at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in August 2011. Prior to his graduate degree completion, Michael attained a BSBA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (2009) and served four years with the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, having completed combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. While completing his MMR degree, Michael interned at GfK, where he was challenged to provide analytical and developmental support to various teams within the custom research organization while additionally solely managing several ad hoc research projects. Currently, Michael is the Customer Satisfaction Research Manger for the North American zone of Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) where he is responsible for the fulfillment, analysis, and reporting of longitudinal and ad hoc satisfaction research projects as well as stakeholder consultation on how to improve satisfaction with ABI amongst ABI’s channel partners.