Dr. Ania Rynarzewska (B.S. ‘08, M.S. ‘10, Ph.D. ‘12), a School of Communication alumna, was promoted to Associate Professor of Marketing and granted tenure at Georgia College & State University (GCSU).

“I am relieved and honored to have been granted tenure not only because of the acknowledgement of my work but also because my colleagues see the value in it and my contributions to the community,” Rynarzewska said.

Having joined the GCSU faculty less than four years ago, Rynarzewska had quite a hill to climb to achieve tenure. With her prior research not considered for tenure purposes, she kicked her research into high gear to produce enough new publications for consideration.

This hustle earned her not only tenure but also multiple research-related awards, including the Best Paper in Conference from the Society of Marketing Advances, the Excellence in Scholarship award from the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology at GCSU, and the Excellence in Scholarship & Creative Endeavors Award from GCSU.

Her research journey has already been rife with success; a journey which began at Florida State University. Rynarzewska credits her communication professors—including Drs. Jay Rayburn, Gary Heald, Laura Arpan, and Philip Grisé—with laying the foundation for her passion for statistics, analysis, research methods, and ethics.

“Every single one of my professors has left a tremendous mark. I hope that one day I can become a fraction of what they were for me,” Rynarzewska said.

Looking ahead, Rynarzewska does not plan to slow down her scholarship anytime soon as she pursues new research projects on topics like the negative effects of AI and the intersection of social media and the justice system.

“Tenure is a chapter, not a book. There are more chapters to be written and more growing and learning to do, but I am thankful that I can write these new chapters with a bit of peace of mind,” Rynarzewska said.