Faculty Listing

Dr. Kelly Cowart

Title: Associate Professor
CV:  View CV
Phone: 941-359-4576
Email: cowartK@usf.edu
Office: C233

Dr. Kelly Cowart earned her PhD in Marketing from Florida State University.  She has a MBA in Organizational Behavior from Syracuse University and a BS in Business Management from University of Florida. Prior to joining the faculty at USF, she was an associate professor of marketing at Grand Valley State University. Her professional resume includes senior positions with JCPenney, American Airlines, and the U.S. Postal Service. She also started and operated a marketing firm prior to pursuing her PhD.

Dr. Cowart’s research interests revolve around digital marketing, marketing communications, and consumer wellbeing. She is especially interested in studying the impact of marketing and consumption on women, ethnic communities, and other marginalized populations. Her work has been published in top tier journals including Journal of Business Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Retailing, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, and Marketing Letters.

Dr. Cowart has taught classes on more than 10 different marketing topics and delivered courses on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. She teaches online and in-person. As an advocate for small businesses, Dr. Cowart takes a hands-on approach to education. Her classes have completed experiential marketing projects for emerging businesses in South Florida, Texas, Michigan and across the U.S.

Her awards include ACR Best Working Paper Award, Trio Professor of the Year Award, BΓƩ Favorite Professor Recognition and Ewald Award for Academic Excellence & Human Service. She has also been a long-standing member of NMB, AMA and SMA among a number other international organizations.

Recent Research

Cowart, K., Wagner, P. (forthcoming) “They/Them/Theirs: An Investigation of Androgyny and Sexual Orientation in Advertising,” Journal of Advertising Research.

Cowart, K. (2020) “Daddy Dearest: The Influence of Paternal Investment on Attitude toward the Advertisement,” Journal of Advertising, 49(2), 202-212.

Kemp, E., Cowart, K., Bui, M. (2020) “Promoting Consumer Well-being: Examining Emotion Regulation Strategies in Social Advertising Messages,” Journal of Business Research, 112, 200-209.

Cowart, K., Lehnert, K. (2018) “Empirical Evidence of the Effect of Colorism on Customer Evaluation,” Psychology & Marketing 35(5), 357-367.    

Pelet, J., Ettis, S. Cowart, K. (2017) “Optimal Experience of Flow Enhanced by Telepresence: Evidence from Social Media Use,” Information and Management, 54(1), 115-128