Since joining the SU community, Hualu Zheng has actively elevated the quantitative rigor of the marketing degree program. She has also taken the initiative to standardize the foundational marketing course across all sections within the business school, imparting a cohesive knowledge foundation and streamlining the path for students to adeptly navigate higher-level marketing courses.

In 2023, Zheng was named the recipient of the university’s Donald D. Housley Teaching Award. In their nominations, students described her as an exceptional professor who cares about the success of everyone, and one who makes time to listen to students’ concerns. Her nominators also lauded her innovative teaching that includes the incorporation of experiential learning and the skillful connection of theories with practical applications and her active contributions to the community.

Having made significant contributions to academia, Zheng has presented her research in esteemed marketing journals with interests in marketing analytics and marketing and public policy. Her teaching focuses on advanced marketing courses, including marketing research, consumer behavior, social media marketing and marketing analytics.

Zheng earned two master’s degrees from the Mississippi State University and a doctorate in agricultural and resource economics with a concentration in food marketing from the University of Connecticut. Before joining SU, she was a visiting assistant professor of marketing at the University of Connecticut, where she instructed a diverse range of marketing courses. Prior to immersing herself in academia, Zheng honed her marketing skills as a marketing analyst within the private sector.

Publications and working projects:

Chang, Xinyu, Hualu Zheng, Shuai Yang, Lu Huang, and William T. Ross Jr. (2025), “How Do Implausible Tensile Price Claims Affect Consumer Perceptions of Deceptiveness and Consumer Willingness to Purchase in Online Environments?” (first two authors share equal authorship), Journal of Interactive Marketing, 60(1), 100-21.

Yu, Ziyue, Shuai Yang,Hualu Zheng, and Xinyu Chang (2023), “Charity Ugliness Premium: Donors’ Empathy for Unattractiveness During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Implications for Charity Advertising,” Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 1-15.

Liu, Yahui,Hualu Zheng, Yang, Shuai, and Junjie Wang (2023), “How Pop-Ups Drive Online Sales: Moderating Effects of Online Promotions,” European Journal of Marketing, 57(8), 2112-41 (first two authors share equal authorship).

Zheng, Hualuand Lu Huang (2022), “Owned Social Media Advertising: Cannibalization and Competition,” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 57(3), 442-56.

Zheng, Hualu, Lu Huang, and William T. Ross Jr. (2019), “Reducing Obesity by Taxing Soft Drinks: Tax Salience and Firms’ Strategic Responses,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 38(3), 297-315.