Mary Harrison is an assistant professor of marketing at Samford University. Her research centers on the intersection of health services and consumer wellness, with a particular focus on how consumers collect and use their own health data. She teaches Marketing Research, Social Media Marketing, and Design Thinking, and is the recipient of the 2026 Dr. Jennings B. Marshall Undergraduate Teaching Award. At Samford, Harrison founded the Brock Consultancy, an initiative that connects student teams with local businesses to provide strategic marketing recommendations. Since its inception, the Brock Consultancy has presented findings to more than 25 businesses and sports teams.
Harrison's work is published in Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice and Marketing Education Review, among others. She has delivered more than 30 presentations at academic marketing conferences.
From 2011–2024, she was a member of the faculty at Birmingham-Southern College (BSC), where she served in several administrative roles, including chairing the Business and Accounting department, Business Programs and the Wadsworth Area (a division of multiple interdisciplinary departments). While at BSC, she received the Omicron Delta Kappa Excellence in Teaching Award and the Bob Whetstone Faculty Development Award. She was selected for the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) Career Advancement Pathways Program and the ACS Summer Teaching & Learning Experience.
Harrison earned her PhD in marketing with a concentration in social psychology and her MBA from the University of Alabama, and her Bachelor of Science in business administration from Mississippi Christian University, where she spent a semester studying in London.
She and her husband Justin have two boys who play in symphonic and jazz bands and compete in futsal and cross country.
Degrees
- PhD, Marketing with a concentration in Social Psychology, The University of Alabama
- MBA, The University of Alabama
- BSBA, Mississippi Christian University
