Dr. Close researches, teaches, and serves in the marketing community. She embraces consumer research in event marketing and the Internet. A main area of expertise focuses on how attendees' event marketing experiences impact affect and behavior towards event sponsors. This research spans contexts including electronic services, e-tail, health care, and holiday/leisure sectors. Her research ties theory with implications for consumers, society, or consumer-focused business practice. Her research appear in the Journal of Advertising Research, Advances in Consumer Research, and Journal of Business Research, among others.  Professor Close presents current research with national and international audiences at meetings of the American Marketing Association (AMA), Association for Consumer Research (ACR), and Academy of Marketing Science (AMS).

Prior to joining faculty of UNLV, she studied advertising and marketing at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication (ABJ 1997; MMC 2000) and the Terry College of Business (Ph.D. 2006). Much of her training is credited to Dr. George Zinkhan, Coca-Cola Company Professor of Marketing. He served as the editor of the Journal of Advertising and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and she served as an editorial assistant—gaining invaluable first hand experience with academic research, editing, and the review process. Throughout the years spent at UGA, she worked at the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. and studied abroad in Madrid, Spain, and Avignon, France.

Dr. Close teaches marketing courses including Marketing Management, Advertising/IMC, International Marketing, Research, and Personal Selling/Sales Promotions. She brings in current research and experiences to the classes, to share new ideas and to show the importance of research to consumers, business, and local economies.

Professor Close also serves the local and national marketing and academic communities. She serves as Chair of the Consumer Behavior Special Interest Group (CBSIG) of the AMA. As Vice President of Research for the doctoral student chapter of the AMA (DocSIG) from 2004-2006, she provided the Who Went Where and Salary Survey. Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors to current doctoral students in DocSIG. She reviews research on an ad-hoc basis for the JA and JAMS. She also has served as discussant and a session leader at AMS and AMA conferences.

Dr. Close has experience as a marketing research consultant for a grocer and as an internet marketing consultant for an electronics etailer. She has also contributed research projects to Coca-Cola, The New Media Institute, Hallmark, Dodge, Ford, and Cingular/AT&T. Outside of the classroom, she stays active via USTA tennis, travel, and the outdoors.