7 minute read
Pondering the Big Picture
By Emily Daniels
Photo by Beth Wynn
Growing up, Nicole Ponder had a love for writing and dreamed of one day being a lead writer for a television sitcom. Her father – a financial planner and accountant – however, dreamed of her one day leading the family’s financial planning business.
She did become a leader, though not in the way either of them planned.
A Professor of Marketing at Mississippi State University, Ponder has held a range of leadership positions for both the College of Business and the University. Since 2016, she has served as Assessment Coordinator, in addition to Director of Graduate Studies in Business. She has been a member of MSU’s Institutional Effectiveness Committee since 2008 and the Teaching Effectiveness Committee since 2014. But this year, she began serving in a new capacity, as the COB’s Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Assessment. In the new position, she oversees all the College’s graduate programs and assessment efforts.
How did she get here? Let’s look at the big picture.
“My father said if he was going to pay for my education, I would have to major in something under the business category,” she recalls. “After looking at all the majors to choose from, I landed on marketing. ‘That could be pretty interesting,’ I thought.”
The Mobile, AL, native instinctively chose the University of South Alabama (USA) for her undergraduate degree, as she was already familiar with the nearby campus. She remembers being worried that she had chosen the wrong major after taking her very first class. But Ponder decided to stick with it, and luckily, she found all her other marketing courses to be fascinating – especially Marketing Research.
After graduation, she wanted to pursue a master’s degree in marketing. She learned that The University of Alabama had a one-year program and decided she could handle the hour-long commute between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, where she had just accepted a position with a field service marketing research company.
“I loved the research side of marketing, so I jumped at the opportunity to get paid to do it,” says Ponder. “My job was to help companies collect data for their new or different products. I would go out in the mall (where our company was located) with my clipboard and ask mall patrons if they would like to participate in a survey. If they qualified, I would take them back to our office. We did a lot of in-depth interviews and had a fully functional kitchen where we would conduct taste tests. I remember one time we were testing I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!, so we cooked baked potatoes and had participants guess which one was topped with real butter.”
While Ponder enjoyed working in the field of marketing research, she often felt frustrated because she never knew what decisions would be made as a result of her team’s findings. She always wondered if the makers of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! changed its flavor or if Chips Ahoy! had more chocolate chips added to each cookie because of their research. She couldn’t see the big picture. And though she was paid above minimum wage, she ended up spending most of her earnings on gas money for the commute. After working in Birmingham for six months, Ponder decided to turn her focus to school entirely.
Shortly after completing the master’s program, Ponder returned home to Mobile with her newly acquired knowledge and luggage in tow. Ponder was optimistic about the future, as thoughts of all the available career opportunities swirled around in her head. It was when she picked up the Sunday newspaper that the swirling abruptly stopped. Right on the front page of Mobile’s Press-Register, there was a big article describing a new partnership between the paper and the University of South Alabama called the USA Mobile Register Poll. A political science professor at USA had started a polling organization on campus that would conduct weekly surveys or polls, with the results reported on the front page of every Sunday paper.
For Ponder, it seemed like a match made in heaven – combining marketing research, data analytics and the opportunity to write. She went straight to campus to track down the professor to discuss the possibility of working with the group.
“I started out working a few nights a week helping the polling group with cold calling, but I quickly moved up the ranks and was given the title of Assistant Director of the Polling Group,” states Ponder. “I supervised the student workers at night, collected and entered all the data and analyzed it. And sometimes I would write the articles for the paper.”
She and the professor became friends. While attending a christening party for his son, she engaged in a casual conversation with the Head of the Division of Business at Spring Hill College, also in Mobile. After Ponder mentioned her educational background in marketing, he asked if she had ever thought about being a marketing instructor because they had an opening. Ponder admits that the thought had never really occurred to her.
“I wouldn’t say I’m an extrovert by nature, but I agreed to try it out,” she says. “I ended up spending two years there, teaching as an instructor as well as serving as the Assistant Director of the MBA program. I thought, ‘Well, if teaching is going to be my career, I’m going to need a PhD.’”
So, Ponder left for The University of Alabama again – this time to earn her doctoral degree in marketing. While there, she met another marketing doctoral student by the name of Jason Lueg. The two became close friends over the next few years and considered dating, but they knew the chance of getting dual placement at another school would be slim to none.
After defending her dissertation in 2001, Ponder met with Dr. Ron Taylor at Mississippi State to discuss a tenure-track marketing position.
“What initially piqued my interest at MSU was that they had a doctoral program, because I was interested in doctoral education in measurement and statistics, and I really wanted to work with students,” says Ponder. “MSU is also a research school, so I knew that my research would be valued.”
During the meeting, it came up that they had a second position open, and Dr. Taylor asked if she knew of anyone who would be interested. Ponder knew just the person for the job, and she and Lueg – now married – have been here ever since. “Starkville was the perfect location for us,” she shares. “Jason is from Tuscaloosa, which is nearby. My mom lives in Fairhope, AL, and I have family in Mobile, New Orleans, and Atlanta – they’re all about four and a half hours in every direction, so it’s very convenient and pretty centrally located. There’s lots to do in Starkville, but we also like to Halloween in particular. be able to hop in the car and get our big city fix every now and then.”
Ponder says one of the couple’s favorite pastimes is attending concerts, but the pandemic shut down the concert and festival industry last year.
“It was pretty depressing,” says Ponder. “So like many others, we got a COVID dog. Biscuit is 75 percent cattle dog and 25 percent Great Pyrenees. He certainly keeps us active!”
In addition to marketing, concerts and dogs, Ponder and Lueg have a mutual love for the holidays – Halloween in particular. Their house has become a favorite destination for Starkville’s trick-or-treaters, with their elaborate decorations and full-size candy bars.
Dr. Jason Lueg and Dr. Nicole Ponder share a love for the holidays, Halloween in particular.
Photo by Mary Hulbert
“Jason and I add to our decorations every year, and every piece has a fun little story to go along with it,” says Ponder. “It’s not just outdoor decorations; we have decorations everywhere. Skeletons are taking over our house! But it’s all in good fun, and we love it as long as the trickor-treaters do.”
While Ponder says that while dual placement was the driving force that led the two to Starkville, what keeps them here is the stress-free lifestyle.
“Even though Jason and I talk about where we would live when we retire – and we could go anywhere – we are still very comfortable here, and in the South in general.”
Does she regret not becoming a major screenwriter for prime-time TV?
“It’s funny how things evolved. When I was young, I didn’t plan on becoming an instructor or to end up loving marketing research and assessment. I also didn’t plan to go back and get a PhD and move to Mississippi with my husband,” says Ponder. “But I make it a point to tell my students to always be open-minded and receptive to new ideas. It’s really cool when you finally see the big picture.”
