Dr. Xie: Bridging Scholarship and Market
The professional trajectory of an academic is often a narrative of specialization, of delving deeper into a defined field of research. The path of Dr. Xuan Xie, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, tells a different, more integrative story. It is a deliberate journey from the structured rigor of a top-tier doctoral program in marketing to the dynamic, community-focused application of that expertise in a tenure-track role. Her work demonstrates how foundational training in consumer behavior and market analysis can be purposefully directed toward tangible educational and local economic impact.
Dr. Xie upon completing her Ph.D. in Management (Marketing Specialization) at the University of California, Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, where she concurrently developed her research and teaching practice.
Dr. Xie’s formal academic foundation was established at the University of California, Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business. Her acceptance into the Ph.D. in Management program with a specialization in Marketing in 2017 was accompanied by a detailed financial support package, a competitive award covering five years of study. A critical component of this package was its structure, which wove together fellowship support with guaranteed employment as both a Teaching Assistant (TA) and a Research Assistant (RA). This dual appointment was not merely financial aid; it constituted the core of her early professional development. It required a constant negotiation between the demands of advanced scholarly research and the practical responsibilities of pedagogy, forging an intrinsic link in her professional identity between deep theoretical inquiry and the craft of teaching.
Her doctoral research in marketing focused on social identity and consumer psychology, examining how individuals perceive inclusion and exclusion. This scholarly work, grounded in the methodologies of market research, demanded precision in experimental design and data analysis. Concurrently, her TA duties engaged her with the challenges of translating these complex consumer insights for students. This parallel development throughout her doctorate proved formative, shaping her view that the roles of marketing scholar and educator are synergistic pillars of a professorial career.
Upon earning her doctorate, Dr. Xie transitioned to a tenure-track role at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo in 2024. She arrived at an institution with a pronounced commitment to place-based learning and community engagement, ideals that resonated with her developing philosophy. As a new faculty member, she quickly identified an opportunity to implement her integrated approach through her introductory marketing course, transforming it into a platform for applied market analysis.
In the Fall 2024 semester, she redesigned the curriculum around a single, immersive project: student teams would serve as consulting groups for The Locavore Store, a local Hilo business. This was not a simulated exercise but a real-world engagement in market research, requiring competitive analysis, consumer insights, strategic development, and formal presentations of a marketing campaign to the business co-owner. This initiative, later profiled in the College of Business and Economics newsletter, was directly informed by her earlier experiences. Her understanding of marketing as a research-driven yet applied field stemmed from her doctoral work, and her desire to create meaningful, resume-building student projects reflected an awareness of the professional bridge that education must provide.
Dr. Xie (second from left) at the event recognizing her students’ award-winning marketing project for The Locavore Store, presenting outcomes alongside students, the business owner, and university representatives.
The project's success was multifold. Top-performing student campaigns were recognized in the university newsletter. More significantly, it established a sustainable template for community collaboration rooted in professional marketing practice. Julie Mowrer, EdD, Director of UH Hilo’s Center for Community Engagement, noted that this project led to further partnerships with other local businesses. The student response was so positive that they later organized a formal club, with Dr. Xie as faculty advisor, to institutionalize this form of community support. The professional validity of this market-based model was confirmed when Dr. Xie was invited to present its outcomes alongside students and the business co-owner at a Chamber of Commerce "Business After Hours" event in early 2025.
As an invited university representative, Dr. Xie provided one-on-one feedback to a student during Honoka‘a High School’s senior mock interviews in November 2024.
Dr. Xie’s drive to connect her marketing expertise with the community extends beyond the marketplace into broader educational outreach and cultural context. As an invited university representative, she contributed her professional perspective to senior mock interviews at Honoka‘a High School in November 2024, helping to bridge the gap between academic preparation and professional expectations for local youth. Simultaneously, she actively roots her marketing pedagogy in the local context. In a deliberate move, she invited Pelehonuamea Harman, the university’s Director of Native Hawaiian Engagement, to guest lecture in her class. This session explored how indigenous values and perspectives could inform ethical and effective business and marketing practices.
In her University of Hawai?i at Hilo classroom, Dr. Xie (second from left, bottom row) facilitated a discussion on weaving indigenous wisdom into business education with the Director of Native Hawaiian Engagement.
The outcomes of her applied approach are documented in official university course evaluations. Across multiple sections of her marketing class, her student ratings consistently and significantly exceed college and university averages. In one Spring 2025 in-person section, 97 percent of students awarded an overall "A" rating. Specific metrics were particularly strong, with unanimous agreement on her creation of an inclusive environment and over 90 percent strong agreement on her success in connecting marketing theory to real-world application. Qualitative feedback frequently highlights the transformative nature of the hands-on projects and her effectiveness as an instructor.
Beyond her classroom, Dr. Xie’s professional activities reflect ongoing engagement with the scholarship of teaching and learning in her field. She participated in a university workshop focused on integrating career readiness into curricula. Furthermore, her pedagogical insights as a marketing educator are recognized by her peers; she was invited to serve as a panelist for the New Faculty Orientation in 2025, sharing her experiences in adapting teaching methods to UH Hilo’s specific student body.
The career path of Dr. Xuan Xie thus illustrates a purposeful arc: from a doctoral program in Management where she specialized in Marketing and simultaneously cultivated research expertise and teaching skill, to a faculty position where she systematically applies that dual capability to create community-engaged learning. Her story models an approach to marketing professionalism where disciplinary knowledge, pedagogical innovation, and community service are intentionally blended. By deploying her doctoral training as a toolkit for designing impactful educational experiences, she demonstrates how expertise in market research and consumer behavior can be expansively directed toward fostering student growth and contributing to the vitality of the local community. Her ongoing work continues to define what it means to be a marketing scholar-educator in a public university setting.
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