Sunme Lee, a marketing professor at Texas A&M University–Central Texas, was named the first-place winner in the 2025 Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators Teaching Innovation Competition for her curriculum, “From Classroom to Boardroom: Empowering Students to Do Real Marketing Before Graduation,” which integrates artificial intelligence (AI) into each phase of learning to bridge the gap between academic theory and professional practice.
The competition, held annually by the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators, evaluates teaching innovations on uniqueness, adaptability, and proven impact. Finalists present their work at the organization’s conference, where the winner is announced during the awards luncheon.
Lee’s curriculum moves beyond traditional lectures, requiring students to execute real marketing projects using AI tools, design AI-based websites, and deliver client-ready presentations before graduation.
“Instead of learning about marketing in a vacuum, they live it,” she said.
The concept emerged from Lee’s observation of a gap between classroom performance and real-world application.
“Top students could ace exams but froze when asked to execute real marketing tasks,” she said. “This gap pushed me to design a curriculum that thoroughly bridges theory and practice.”
In the two years since its implementation, the program has involved hundreds of students. Lee said graduates now cite course projects as key differentiators in job interviews.
“Students highlight their AI-based website projects or crisis simulations in interviews, impressing recruiters with tangible, verifiable skills.”
The curriculum guides students through experiential stages: one-page concept visualizations, AI-driven brand redesigns, and crisis simulations, and capstone campaigns developed for actual clients.
“Rather than memorizing frameworks, students apply them in near-real business situations, gaining genuine boardroom-level readiness before graduating.”
Lee said students describe the curriculum as the first time they felt they were “doing marketing.” Employers have noted graduates’ ability to think strategically under pressure.
“Fellow faculty have responded enthusiastically, especially seeing how the repeated reflection cycles help students gain practical mastery, not just conceptual knowledge,” she said.
Lee is working to formalize the curriculum as a core track in the marketing major with the support of the College of Business Administration. She also plans to publish her teaching model in an academic journal.
Lee earned her doctorate in marketing from the University of Iowa, where she also completed a graduate certificate in informatics. She holds a Master of Science in public policy from the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management in Seoul, South Korea. Her research examines consumer decision-making, social risk-taking, and human-technology interaction, using tools like facial expression analysis, eye-tracking, and text analytics.
Recognition at the conference, she said, was both affirming and humbling.
“It’s thrilling to have peers affirm the model’s impact, and humbling because I see so many talented educators innovating in their classrooms, too,” she said.
Alongside teaching marketing concepts, Lee’s goal is to develop students’ intuition under pressure.
“The intangible skill of confidence in execution can’t be gleaned from a textbook alone.,” she said. “It emerges through hands-on, iterative experiences, because it bridges the gap between classroom theory and real-world challenges, ensuring students graduate not just with knowledge, but with experience, confidence, and portfolio-ready proof of their abilities.”