Rhodes Forum

Peggy Cunningham (Canada) Dean, Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University

Dr. Cunningham joined Dalhousie University in January 2009 when she took over the roles as the Director of the School of Business Administration and the Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Management.  Her aim in taking the position is to foster a new model of responsible, values-led business education and research.  Prior to joining Dalhousie, she worked at the Queen’s School of Business.  She joined Queen’s in1989 and served the School in a number of capacities including being the Director of the Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility.  In 2005 and 2008, she received the Marie Shantz Teaching Professorship of Marketing. She was the creator and founding Director of the Accelerated MBA program for business graduates (2001-2004). She previously was the Co-Chair of the E-Commerce Research Program (1998-2001) for the Centre for Knowledge-Based Enterprises. She also served on the Board for Queen’s Centre for Enterprise Development which specializes in helping small and medium sized enterprises.  She is a member of the Board of Trustees.
 Dr. Cunningham teaches courses in marketing ethics, strategic brand management, marketing management and strategy.  She has taught in almost all of the various programs at the School of Business.  She is one of Queen’s most acclaimed and awarded teaching professors. In 2004, she received the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Leaders in Management Education award.  She was named the Academy of Marketing Science’s Outstanding Teacher in 2001. She has been nominated twice for the Frank Knox Award for Teaching Excellence, one of the most prestigious awards given at Queen\'s for undergraduate teaching. She won this award in 1993.  Dr. Cunningham also does a considerable amount of research and writing to further educational practice. She has written over 40 cases that have been used in case competitions and have been published in a number of leading North American marketing textbooks. She is also the co-author of the Canadian edition of Principles of Marketing (co-authored with Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong), and Marketing Management (with Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller).  These texts are among the top selling marketing textbooks in Canada.  They have been widely praised by both educators and practitioners for their focus on ethical marketing practices and their innovative and comprehensive coverage of technology-based marketing in Canada.
 Dr. Cunningham has practitioner and international experience. She has been a visiting professor at universities and government training programs in China, France, Germany, the UK, and the US.  She is currently a member of the ‘core team’ for the new Global Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI) which is a coalition of Business Schools and businesses from around the world that are focusing on understanding globally responsible leadership and acting to promote its practice worldwide.  She has served her profession in a number of capacities including being voted into the office of Vice President for Membership, International (2002 – 2004) of the Academy of Marketing Science and Board of Governors.  She has been the editor of the Review of Books section of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science for the last five years (2000-present). She also is an Executive Member of the Concerned Children’s Advertisers Board of Directors and is a Member of the Board of Directors of Bioniche (a Canadian biotech company).
 Dr. Cunningham\'s research interests centre on two related themes: marketing ethics and marketing partnerships (international strategic alliances and partnerships between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations). While these may seem like totally divergent areas of study, they are linked by their focus on the concepts of trust, integrity, and commitment which are the core elements to both ethical behaviour and successful partnership behaviour.  She has received a number of awards for this work including the ANBAR citation award for her Strategic Alliances article written with Rajan Varadarajan, a nomination for the 2006 Accenture Award for her work in Social Alliances with Ida Berger and Meme Drumwright, and a number of best conference paper awards for her work with doctoral and masters students. Her research is published in a number of journals including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the California Management Review, the Journal of International Marketing, Social Marketing and Fundraising, and the Journal of Marketing Education.