James McKee

Professor

Division of Business

Ireland 213D

(802) 865-6495

M.B.A. - SUNY Buffalo
B.A. - St. Lawrence University

Jay McKee has taught in the Business Division since 1978. He has specialized in Marketing and Advertising and has been an active participant in many college committees, including serving as President of the Faculty Senate. He served as Program Director for the Marketing and Communications/Public Relations majors simultaneously for many years. He has a B.A. from St. Lawrence University and an M.B. A. from S.U.N.Y. Buffalo. Jay has also served in the U. S. Army, with his highest rank being First Lieutenant, Infantry and he attended Officer Candidate School in Ft. Benning, Georgia. His National Guard unit was called to active duty for floods in New York State and a blizzard in Buffalo.

Actively involved in the community, Jay heads the Kelley Marketing Group, which provides marketing advice to nonprofit organizations in our area. Students observe and participate in theses once monthly brainstorming sessions on campus. Its beneficiaries include hundreds of organizations that run the gamut from The Vermont National Guard to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Additionally, Jay also earned certification as a Professional Marketer in 2005.

Jay has been involved in many community groups including: the Chamber of Commerce, The Vermont Ad Club, First Night Burlington, the Vermont and International Special Olympics, First Night Burlington and Local Motion.

Jay is an avid cyclist and leads summer tours for Bike Vermont in Ireland and throughout Vermont. He is also a professional photographer whose images of Ireland and bicycle touring have appeared in The New Yorker magazine, hung on the walls of Burlington's City Hall, Champlain College and made been into postcards. He has done voice work for a documentary, and several radio commercials. In addition, Jay spends time training for and participating in century (100 mile) bicycle rides, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing, and hiking in the Green Mountains.
Teaching has been an opportunity for Jay to channel the energy of youth with the wisdom of experience.

Jay has been involved since the beginning supervising internships and the list of businesses where he has placed interns is long: Merrill-Lynch, The Burlington Free-Press, all our affiliate television stations-ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Vermont Public Television, Vermont Public Radio, ESPN, The State of Vermont, Stowe Mountain Resort, Sugarbush, Smugglers' Notch, Bolton Valley, Jay Peak, The Burlington Square Mall, The Gap, Caldwell-Banker, The Fletcher-Allen Medical Center, The University of Vermont Sports Information Office, The Vermont Expos, The Sheraton Hotel, The Doubletree Hotel, the American Morgan Horse Association and Fuse Sports Marketing to name a few. Jay is especially proud of the number of Champlain Graduates now mentoring Champlain interns.

Recent class projects in Marketing 110 include:

The Way We Get By, a documentary film about senior citizens in Bangor, Maine who serve as greeters to our troops as they depart for or return from overseas deployment. My students were involved in designing promotional materials. The film aired on PBS on November 11, 2009.
Millbourne Farms Drinkable Yogurt: after doing an in class taste testing, my students are developing a Marketing Plan for the product, with an emphasis on promotion. This business is located in Orwell, Vermont and it is distributed in four states so far.
East Coast Gear Review Blog: this was started by a freshman Marketing major. Others in the class will be doing a marketing plan for this blog which centers around snow sports.
Red Cross Blood Drive: In an effort to increase blood donations in this area, my students in Marketing 110 are doing a marketing plan to create an ongoing blood donation program among Champlain College students.
The Slam for Sudan: Last year this student conceived fund-raiser conducted a successful event which raised $14,000. for the Lost Boys of the Sudan. My students will be creating a marketing plan for the 2010 edition.

You'd never guess that:

As a youngster Jay was a guest on the Howdy Doody Show
As a high school student he was a frequent recipient of detention. He went on to win a New York State Regents Scholarship and a fellowship to graduate school.
Among his greatest accomplishments are: completing U.S. Army Officer Candidate School and cycling 200 kilometers (four gaps) in one day in the Wicklow, Ireland "Wicklow 200", a feat he did two years in a row.

Famous people Jay has met: