The AMA Foundation (AMAF) is thrilled to announce Peggy J. Liu, Ben L. Fryrear Endowed Chair and Professor of Marketing at the University of Pittsburgh, as the recipient of the 2026 Erin Anderson Award for an Emerging Female Marketing Scholar and Mentor! The Erin Anderson Award recognizes emerging female marketing scholars and mentors, while honoring and celebrating the life of Erin Anderson. Erin was a widely respected mentor and scholar whose research made significant contributions to the field of marketing.
This award is given annually to a female marketing scholar anticipated to become a leading marketing academic in the mold of Erin Anderson. Finalists for the 2026 award include Silvia Bellezza, Ayelet Israeli, Xiao Liu and Stephanie Tully.
About the Winner
Peggy J. Liu is the Ben L. Fryrear Endowed Chair and Professor of Marketing at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Business. She received her Ph.D. in Marketing at Duke University in 2016 and her B.S. in Psychology at Yale University in 2011. Liu’s research expertise is consumer behavior, with a focus on the health and social domains. Her research has been published in top marketing, management, and psychology journals, such as the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Management Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin. She has also published extensively in public health and medical journals.
The same commitment that Peggy shows to her own research is extended to her dedication to collaboration and mentorship. Whether it’s chairing a dissertation committee, serving as the University of Pittsburgh’s marketing Ph.D. program coordinator, or supporting junior faculty, her guidance is described as practical, generous, and encouraging.
After working with Peggy on a dissertation essay for Ph.D. candidate Yuting Pang, Assistant Professor of Marketing Nicole You Jeung Kim reflected on her experience: “Throughout the years of working with Peggy as a scholar and interacting with her on an individual level, I have been constantly amazed at her genuine willingness to share her time and effort to provide meaningful and insightful advice for junior colleagues and her efforts to lift them up. Not only have these qualities made her someone that I thoroughly enjoy working with, but I also find myself trying to emulate similar qualities in my own interactions with more junior colleagues and students.”
Peggy models for the academic marketing community how rigorous, high-impact scholarship can be advanced alongside a deeply supportive academic culture. “I can think of no one more deserving of the Erin Anderson Award than Peggy,” shared Assistant Professor of Marketing Soo Kim. “She embodies everything that Erin Anderson stood for: outstanding research, exceptional mentorship, and an unwavering commitment to supporting and uplifting others, especially women in academia.”
Peggy Liu has won awards across the marketing, psychology, and public policy disciplines, including the ACR Early Career Award, SCP Early Career Award, AMA Marketing & Society Emerging Scholar Award, AMA Retail & Pricing Emerging Scholar Award, MSI Young Scholar, APS Fellow, APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, APS Rising Star Award, and Behavioral Science and Policy Association New Investigator Award. She has also won the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award. Peggy currently serves as an Associate Editor at Journal of Consumer Research and serves on the Editorial Review Boards of Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Psychology. She has received the Journal of Consumer Research’s Outstanding Reviewer Award. Finally, Liu is also an award-winning teacher – she was a Poets & Quants Top 50 Undergraduate Business School Professor in 2020 and has won the Katz Excellence in Teaching Award multiple times
Peggy will be honored at the AMA Foundation Award Luncheon during the 2026 AMA Winter Academic Conference, February 13-15, 2026, in Madrid, Spain.
The AMA Foundation (AMAF) strengthens and elevates the marketing profession by advancing knowledge, building a global community of marketing leaders, and supporting marketing initiatives that drive innovation and societal impact. Gifts to the AMA Foundation empower the next generation of marketing students, develop forward-thinking faculty, support passionate professionals, build a dynamic community, and celebrate influential and transformative marketers and their work. Learn more about the AMA Foundation’s impact and ways to get involved here.