Baylor ProSales Celebrates 40 Years of Excellence
Fall 2025 marked the 40th anniversary of Baylor ProSales, celebrated with two milestone events and international recognition. In September 2025, Baylor ProSales welcomed 50 leading sales scholars from around the world to celebrate the program’s 40th anniversary and explore the role of artificial intelligence in sales. Organized into cross-career teams, participants collaborated on research projects aimed at contributing to a 2027 special issue of the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management.
Participating sales scholars include:
Vishag Badrinarayanan, Texas State U.
Lisa Beeler, Clemson U.
Jim Boles, U. of North Carolina-Greensboro
Molly Burchett, U. of Wyoming
Nawar Chaker, U. of Tennessee
Kevin Chase, U. of Arkansas
Dayle Childs, Bournemouth U., England
Lenita Davis, U. of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Tom DeCarlo, U. of Alabama-Birmingham
George Deitz, U. of Alabama-Birmingham
Andrea Dixon, Baylor U.
Rhett Epler, Old Dominion U.
Amy Fehl, NEOMA, France
Karen Flaherty, Oklahoma State U.
Scott Friend, U. of Dayton
Katy Gilstrap, U. of Toledo
Valerie Good, U. of Arkansas
Ashley Goreczny, Iowa State U.
Aditya Gupta, Texas State U.
Alex Haas, U. of Giessen, Germany
Nathaniel Hartmann, U. of South Florida
Pia Hautamaki, LUT U., Finland
Douglas Hughes, U. of South Florida
Gary Hunter, U. of Mississippi
Jorge Fernando Jaramillo, U. of Texas-Arlington
Eli Jones, Texas A&M U.
Christine Lai, U. of North Carolina-Wilmington
Son Lam, U. of Georgia
Nick Lee, U. of Warwick, England
Bruno Lussier, HEC Montreal, Canada
Avinash Malshe, U. of St. Thomas
Stephanie Mangus, Baylor U.
Colleen McClure, U. of Alabama-Birmingham
Ryan Mullins, Clemson U.
Jess Ogilvie, Marquette U.
Nick Panagopoulos, Ohio U.
Karen Peesker, Toronto Metropolitan U., Canada
Ellen Pullins, U. of Toledo
Adam Rapp, Ohio U.
Keith Richards, Baylor U.
Brian Rutherford, Kennesaw State U.
Laurianne Schmitt, IESEG, France
Wyatt Schrock, Michigan State U.
Curtis Schroeder, Varicent
Arun Sharma, Miami U.
Huanhuan Shi, Texas A&M U.
Eric Swan, Baylor U.
Emily Tanner, West Virginia U.
Collectively, the scholars averaged 44 peer-reviewed publications and over 3,500 citations each, making this a prestigious gathering of thought leaders in the field. Dean David Szymanski officially welcomed the scholars to Waco during a special Welcome Dinner featuring world-renowned magician, John Michael Hinton.
The symposium featured dynamic research sessions, a keynote address by Dr. Robert Marks—Director and Senior Fellow of The Walter Bradley Center for Natural & Artificial Intelligence at Baylor—on the enduring value of human intelligence, and networking opportunities that fostered cross-institutional collaboration. This landmark event reinforced Baylor ProSales’ leadership in advancing sales scholarship and cultivating a global academic community.
In October 2025, Baylor ProSales hosted a formal Alumni Gathering as part of the 40th Anniversary celebration. While the program has previously welcomed alumni informally during Homecoming, this marked the first formal alumni dinner. The evening included a tribute to several founding administrators and faculty, with special recognition of Dr. Stan Madden, the Marketing Department Chair who originally proposed the Professional Selling major. Dr. Terry Loe, an early faculty member instrumental in launching the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC), traveled from Atlanta to join the celebration.
After dinner, ProSales alumni and friends joined an interactive exercise to support a strategic initiative: building meaningful ProSales alumni engagement for the future. Moving around the room, alumni shared ideas, which were captured by ProSales faculty and staff, on areas promising MAGIC for ProSales Alumni, guided by these prompts:
M – Meaning through connections, experiences, contributions…
A – Access resources, opps, research, continuing ed…
G – Growth in personal & professional development, mentorship, lifelong learning
I – Influence or having a voice in the program’s future, programs, culture
C – Community or involvement in a formal network
Capping off the fall, Baylor ProSales received the Outstanding Full Member Award from the University Sales Center Alliance (USCA), a global organization of collegiate sales centers across the U.S., Canada, and the European Union. The award recognizes Baylor’s innovative programming, commitment to experiential learning, alignment with USCA Certified Sales Student standards, and ongoing contributions to the USCA’s mission.