Meet Our New Faculty: Alexander Fulmer

Meet Alexander Fulmer, a new faculty member from across the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Fulmer earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, completed a postbaccalaureate psychology certificate program at Columbia University, and received his PhD in marketing from Yale University. He joins the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration as assistant professor of marketing and management communication.

Alexander Fulmer | Assistant Professor of Marketing and Management Communication | Nolan Hotel School

What are your research and teaching areas of focus?

I love to research intangible aspects of products or services that influence how consumers construct value. For instance, how might learning the story behind a product’s creation, or an element in the history of an object’s discovery make consumers feel differently than they otherwise would? This focus helps me to identify what companies should and should not communicate to consumers beyond the practical features of their products and services. Companies continuously improve the functionality of their products and services, but as a marketing researcher I feel as though understanding the intangible aspects which influence preference and perceptions is the value-add that I can offer.

What class(es) will you be teaching this year? 

I will be teaching one section of HADM 2430 (Marketing Management for Services) and one section of HADM 4480 (Brand Management) this spring.

What attracted you to the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business? 

The level of scholarship at Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business is unparalleled—I have been inspired by the research of many of the faculty for years and am thrilled to be able to join them as a colleague. Additionally, in line with Cornell’s informal motto “Any person, any study,” the larger university is home to leading experts in every field imaginable. As someone who loves interdisciplinary research, I wanted to surround myself with opportunities to collaborate with top academics in many different areas. Finally, as an alumnus of the Nolan School, I know firsthand how special a place Nolan is. There is no other program like it in the world. The Hotelies at Nolan are incredibly intelligent, wonderfully curious, and extremely talented, and the thought of being able to help mold the next generation of leaders in hospitality and business was very exciting to me. I love that the curriculum at Nolan combines instruction in the technical aspects of hospitality and business with pedagogy in the soft skills of social interaction and communication to provide a uniquely comprehensive education. Being a student at Nolan was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I wanted to continue to be a part of Nolan’s exhilarating and dynamic culture as a professor. At Nolan, there is magic in the air.

What first sparked your interest in your research/area of study?

Both of my parents are psychologists, which made me interested in the study of human behavior from a young age, but the Consumer Behavior elective at Nolan that I took in my junior year helped to focus that interest and led me to marketing research. Consumption of products, services, and experiences is a daily and widespread occurrence, and the Consumer Behavior course at Nolan opened my eyes to the myriad of ways in which consumption could be shaped and influenced by both tangible and intangible factors. After taking that course, I felt as though pursuing a career as a marketing researcher could help me best to understand myself and others and would be the most rewarding path that I could take.

What are you most looking forward to during your first year at Cornell?

The pasta at Mac’s Café! It is absolutely delicious. I haven’t had it since I was an undergraduate and have missed it and several of the other dishes at Mac’s dearly. I also can’t wait to start teaching a new generation of Hotelies! The students at Nolan are fantastic, and I am incredibly excited to be able to contribute to their experience and education at Cornell.

What do you do to recharge?

My girlfriend Julia (who is also a Hotelie, Class of 2015) and I love watching scary movies to unwind. We especially like the Scream franchise and The Conjuring universe and hope that they continue to make sequels for many years to come! When we are not watching scary movies, we also like to recharge by taking Charlie, our three-year-old Chihuahua, on walks. Charlie loves the slope between West Campus and the Arts Quad and is much better at running up it than I was when I lived in Flora Rose House.