LARAMIE, Wyo. (May 24, 2018) -- Former Wyoming women's basketball player Marleah Campbell was recently awarded with the Top Thesis award at the Communication and Journalism Department's Honors Banquet. The award is given to the thesis that is high quality and has an impact on its audience. She was nominated by her thesis chair and Department Head Cindy Price Schultz.
 
"I nominated Marleah because I was her thesis chair and I saw how well the thesis was written and the importance of the topic," Price Schultz said.  "She is a very intelligent woman who really threw herself into the thesis project. Marleah basically completed her master's degree in a little over a year. That is incredible for anyone, much less someone who had the intense practice and game schedule that she had. I am monumentally proud of her."
 
Campbell's thesis was titled "How do social media marketing strategies differ in promoting men's and women's basketball attendance? An examination of the Mountain West Conference." 
 
The study looked at the Mountain West Conference – a Division I mid-major conference with 11 participating institutions spanning eight states ("Mountain West demographics," 2017). The study examines how Twitter marketing strategies differ in promoting men's and women's basketball attendance in the conference. Men's and women's basketball were chosen to determine differences in marketing women's sports in comparison to men's sports. By looking at basketball specifically, the differences in social media marketing strategies can be examined in a setting where all other variables other than the gender of the athletes are the same, including the sport, time of the year for the season, facilities, etc. Examining marketing efforts to promote attendance is important because while "promotion has found to be a strong predictor of attendance in major league sports . . . little is known about the different promotional strategies used by universities when marketing women's sports." (Shackelford & Greenwell, 2005, p. 146).
 
"My thesis examined differences in promotion on Twitter in the Mountain West Conference between men's and women's basketball on Twitter. I looked at 684 tweets over the course of three weeks throughout the 2017-2018 basketball season for all 11 Mountain West schools' athletic department Twitter accounts," Campbell said. "I found that there was a statistically significant difference in the amount of coverage between men's and women's basketball, with women receiving 243 tweets (36% of the total) compared to men receiving 441 tweets (64% of the total). There is a dramatic attendance divide between men's and women's basketball in the Mountain West (even wider than the national average), and research shows that online promotion directly influences game attendance. So, the current state of inequality in promotion on Twitter is a clear place to begin bridging that gap. Additionally, this study examined social media, a new marketing area that falls under the NCAA's Title IX aspect of "other benefits," and found that schools in the Mountain West do not seem to be meeting the equity standard."
 
A three-time Academic All-MW selection and Scholar Athlete, Campbell completed both her undergraduate and master's in four years. She finished her degree in journalism last May and recently graduated with her master's in communication. A four-year letterwinner for the Cowgirls, she played in 93 games along with one start. She is averaged two points and 1.2 rebounds this season and 2.7 points and 1.5 rebounds over four seasons.
 
"Marleah has been a leader on and off the court.  To receive a Master's degree within a four year time frame speaks volumes of her drive in the classroom.  Marleah's accomplishments from the academic side concluded with her thesis being selected as the top thesis in the Journalism and Communications Department.  Her thesis is a must read for women's basketball coaches and conferences throughout the country."
 
Campbell has currently returned to her home state of Kansas to pursue career opportunities in the field of journalism and communication.
 
"I'm very passionate about the journalism and communication field, so I'm really excited to see where my career takes me. I have so many interests and the field is so broad that it's hard to pinpoint exactly what I want to do. I think right now I'm really interested in the news and reporting side of things, but I'd also love to be a producer of a television or radio show someday. I know that wherever I end up career-wise, I will be successful thanks to the educational opportunities provided to me by the University of Wyoming and the support of the athletic department in my endeavors as a student-athlete."