World Class Faculty & Research / May 14, 2026

Smith’s P.K. Kannan Named Distinguished University Professor

P.K. Kannan smiling while standing in a classroom, wearing a suit and tie.
The University of Maryland named marketing professor P.K. Kannan a Distinguished University Professor, its highest faculty honor, recognizing his global impact in marketing science. The appointment follows multiple recent awards, including AMA Fellow and INFORMS Society for Marketing Science Fellow honors.

The University of Maryland has named P.K. Kannan, Dean’s Chair in Marketing Science at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, a Distinguished University Professor, the highest academic honor bestowed on tenured faculty at UMD.

Kannan is internationally recognized for his contributions to marketing modeling, attribution, and digital marketing. He has served as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Research in Marketing and held leadership roles within the American Marketing Association and INFORMS.

He joins a select group of Smith School faculty who hold the title, including marketing professors Roland Rust and Michel Wedel and finance professor Albert “Pete” Kyle.

The appointment adds to a series of recent honors for Kannan. He was named a 2026 AMA Fellow and, in 2025, was inducted as a Fellow of the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science, a distinction held by only about 40 scholars worldwide. He also received the AMA Tech SIG Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025 and the EMAC Distinguished Marketing Scholar Award in 2024.

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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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