Dr. Coupland has been a professor at PSU for 12.5 years. She teaches the Marketing Core Classes 301 & 303, Honors Marketing, and Marketing 422 (Advertising). In the beginning of her career, Dr. Coupland met her husband John Coupland who is a professor of Food Science at Penn State.
Coupland’s Advice to Students
1. Do something that you fundamentally believe in 2. Leverage your connections in advertising and feel free to come to her for connections. 3. When you start in your career there is more posturing (meaning you must speak a certain way and be part of the new culture/blend in) but you should also find ways to stand out that push the envelope for you. 4. Find out who you are, and as you progress in your career go back to that you (the real you) 5. Realize it's important to respect people and don’t talk down to people.
Since a young age Dr. Coupland has been very interested in product packaging. She remembered making commercials with her best friend for Brim coffee (whose slogan was “Fill it to the rim, with Brim!”) and at age 12 Coupland began creating print ads. Because she grew up in an Asian household with food based in Asian culture, she always loved seeing American products like Kraft Mac „n Cheese. She later went to Berkley where she graduated with her undergraduate degree. Then Dr. Coupland continued her studies at Northwestern University where she earned her PhD and M.S. in Marketing. Coupland loves spending time with her family. She has a 6 year old son, Michael and a 4 year old daughter Anna. They enjoy grocery shopping together and looking at all the products on the shelves. Coupland believes that her kids are “very consumer savvy.” “Michael is very aware of products,” Coupland stated. She enjoys when he sees a commercial and comes running to her to say, “I‟m going to get you this (usually a cleaning product) for your „birfday‟ (as he says it) Mom!” At age 2 he recognized a Pepsi truck and he was not even able to read.
Dr. Coupland likes to attach meaning to all the “little things in life” that she enjoys with her family including grocery trips, rides to ballet classes and building Jabba‟s palace with legos (as she is a big Star Wars fan!)