New Faculty: Meet Vanecia Fluelling, Department of Marketing and TU Alumna

This fall, CBE welcomes 8 new faculty members – here’s what you need to know.

Vanecia Fluelling
Visiting Faculty
Department of Marketing

Education:

Ph.D., Management Information Systems
Morgan State University

MBA
University of Baltimore

BS, Marketing and E-Business
Towson University

What are your research interests?

My research interests are in Influence Marketing, e-Marketing, Marketing Intelligence, Big Data, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence, Knowledge Management, and e-Business. Currently, I am finishing up my dissertation in Influence Marketing, where I am investigating current and new ways to identify and predict influence in online review communities.

What are you looking forward to in your new role at Towson University?

As a professor at Towson, I am most looking forward to showing Towson students how much they can accomplish and how finding their passion can really change their lives.

What is something few people know about you that might be surprising to some?

Few people that have met me after my freshman year of undergrad are able or were able to tell that I am an introvert. It was my experience at Towson that showed me that an introvert who is passionate may exhibit extravert behavior. My passion for eBusiness, way back when, helped me to overcome some of my introvert characteristics to bring awareness to an area I thought needed more of a spotlight.

How do you spend your free time?

I spend my free time with my son who is soon to be 2 and my stepdaughters who are 15, 10 and 9. Recently I have taken up cake decorating, so when I am not hanging out with my children, I am baking and decorating. Between March and August of this year, I have baked and decorated 17 cakes for family and friends. I also love to watch movies, hang out with friends and family, and read or listen to a good book.

If you could give your students one piece of advice from your life experiences, what would it be?

It is okay to fall down, to need to find yourself (multiple times), to discover the detour you took was not a good one; but what is not okay, is staying down, staying lost and not asking for help/guidance, and continuing down a bad path. Life is a journey and there is no straight path. There will be twists and turns along the way. That is part of learning and living, but the best thing about the journey is knowing it is always YOUR journey. You make the rules, so you can get up from a fall or change the path as many times as you need to.

Why did you choose to return to your Alma mater, TU?

I chose to return to Towson University because Towson feels like home.