Armstrong Soule pursues love of teaching

Cat Armstrong Soule, an assistant professor of marketing at Western Washington University, wants to have a hand in changing the way people view marketing and consumption. Since getting her doctorate from the University of Oregon this past June, she has been teaching marketing classes at Western with multiple goals in mind. Not only does she want add important knowledge and value to students’ lives, she says, but she wants to encourage change and responsible consumption decisions in her students.

"Even if people don’t go into marketing, I like to think my classes at least help a little bit with consumer decision making, which is a huge part of everyone’s life," she says. "I want to help them professionally, but I also want to help them think about consumption decisions. Students are the ones who are going to go out and make things happen, and have the potential to make changes, and I can have a role in making that change. I actually do the opposite of what some people think marketing is."

Armstrong Soule grew up in Maine and received her bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Montana. While studying for her MBA in Montana, she found a mentor who inspired her to seek a career in marketing. Armstrong Soule believes teaching marketing is the ideal career path for her, as it combines art and creativity with a way to encourage sustainable consumption choices and ethical decision-making in future generations.

She has received a large variety of fellowships for her research, including the following:

• The Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego for Applying Field Experimentation to Behavioral Research Conference and the Spring School in Behavioral Economics
• The Kageyama Endowment fund for Research from the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon
• The 47th Sheth Foundation Consortium from Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington
• The Robert Mittelstaedt Symposium from the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska.

She also received the dean’s scholarship and Outstanding MBA Student Award from the School of Business Administration at the University of Montana.

After receiving her Ph.D, she found the perfect fit in Bellingham and at Western for both her and her family, she says. Armstrong Soule is a mother to a 3-year-old and a 3-month-old, so her free time is limited – but she says Bellingham is the perfect place for her family, as she can pursue her love of snowboarding while raising her children in an open-minded and laid-back community. She also loves how close Bellingham is to Seattle and Vancouver, which gives her and her husband (who were both radio DJs in college) the chance to go to concerts and immerse themselves in the music scene of the Pacific Northwest.

Much of Armstrong Soule’s research focuses on consumer behavior and decision-making, as well as behavioral pricing and de-marketing, and how consumers respond to messages about these concepts from companies.

She enjoys research, but says it was not her main motivation for getting for Ph.D – rather, she pursued her doctorate because she loves to teach. She finds interacting with students who are passionate about their careers and marketing the most rewarding part of her job as a professor.

"I feel really lucky to be able to interact with people who are enthusiastic and ready to go out and start their careers," she says. "They’re energized, they’re excited, and that feeds me and I hope that feeds my students too. It feels good to be real help for someone in a part of their life that’s so important to them."

She goes above and beyond to help students learn applications of the skills she teaches.

"There’s nothing special about a professor that is passionate about their field," says Ray Marocco, a former student of Armstrong Soule’s from her first quarter of teaching at Western. "It’s the level of care that Cat has for every student in her class that makes her a truly unique educator. She celebrates the bridge between social science and creativity that is marketing in a deep and engaging way. Her teaching style is analytical, fun, and relatable in a way that every professor should aspire to."

Armstrong Soule says she could have pursued a career at a marketing firm but finds teaching and researching it far more satisfying. By adding value to students’ lives through helping them make responsible and ethical decisions in both consumption and in their careers, she says, she will be able to have a small hand in changing future generations’ consumption patterns and how the world sees marketing.