Professor Mark Forehand appointed as Pigott Family Professor of Business Administration

SEATTLE, March 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University of Washington's Michael G. Foster School of Business has announced the appointment of Mark Forehand, associate professor of marketing, as the Pigott Family Professor of Business Administration.  The Professorship is funded through a generous endowment established by the Mark Pigott family. The Pigott family founded PACCAR Inc, a Fortune 200 global technology company based in Bellevue, Washington, and are longtime supporters of the University of Washington and the Foster School of Business.

Forehand joined the faculty of the Foster School in 1997 after receiving his doctorate in marketing at Stanford University.  Forehand's undergraduate and MBA students, at the University of Washington, have recognized his teaching skills by awarding him twelve teaching awards.  In 2006, Forehand earned the PACCAR Award for Teaching Excellence — the most prestigious graduate school of business teaching award in the country.

"The Foster School is proud of its faculty who are outstanding teachers as well as leading-edge researchers," said Jim Jiambalvo, dean of the UW Foster School. "Mark Forehand is a deserving recipient of the Pigott Family Professorship."

Forehand's research is focused on consumer psychology and branding. Several of his recent studies are forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Consumer Psychology, two of the world's premier marketing journals.  Forehand's work has also been the subject of local and national media, including Time Magazine and National Public Radio.

"My family is pleased to endow this professorship at the UW Foster School to recognize teaching excellence," shared Mark Pigott, chairman and chief executive officer of PACCAR.  "Professor Forehand's outstanding teaching and research leadership have been recognized by his students and peers. We are proud to have him as the inaugural holder of this professorship."

In addition to the new professorship, support from the Pigott family and PACCAR was instrumental in building PACCAR Hall, the Foster School's new 135,000 square foot classroom facility.  

The Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington was founded in 1917 and is the second oldest business school of the West Coast.  The school has approximately 2,500 students in undergraduate and graduate programs and its full-time MBA program was ranked 12th among public institutions in BusinessWeek's 2010 "The Best B-Schools."  BusinessWeek's specialty rankings placed Foster at number 2 in marketing and number 5 in accounting among all U.S. business schools.

SOURCE The University of Washington's Michael G. Foster School of Business