Biography

Mackenzie Bland is a doctoral student in the marketing Ph.D. program at the University of Central Florida. She obtained her B.S.B.A. from UCF in 2020 with University Honors, Honors in the Major, and Cum Laude status. She completed and published an undergraduate thesis as part of the Honors in the Major program in 2020, which was featured virtually at the 2020 UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research. In 2021, she received the UCF Graduate Dean’s Fellowship valued at $5,000, and has received multiple conference travel awards from UCF since starting her doctoral research journey. Throughout her academic career, Mackenzie has been a prominent service leader, serving as President of Athena Women Empowered, the first collegiate chapter of the Athena International women’s leadership program, as well as Vice President and other leadership roles in the Theta Sigma chapter of Delta Sigma Pi, of which she is now a proud alumna.

Mackenzie’s research interests are focused in consumer behavior, with particular attention to digital consumer and user experience (UX), sensory marketing, compliance and cooperation, virtual reality (VR) and other extended realities, video games, and immersive commerce. Please connect with Mackenzie via email or LinkedIn here.