Scott Cuppari, a lecturer in the department of marketing at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, was named the 2026 recipient of the Lee Anne Seawell Faculty Recognition Award, according to an April 14 announcement.
The award is given annually by the UGA Career Center and recognizes faculty or staff who have made a positive impact on students’ career development. Recipients are selected based on feedback from the Career Center’s annual Career Outcomes Survey, which allows graduating students to identify influential mentors.
Cuppari has a background in business administration and marketing from West Virginia University and professional experience with companies such as Earthlink and Coca-Cola Co. After more than ten years in industry roles, he returned to West Virginia University for a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications before joining academia. He teaches courses on social media strategy, marketing principles, and will begin teaching within the Terry Executive MBA program at Buckhead campus in fall 2026.
“My goal every single day is to bring the real world into the classroom,” Cuppari said. “My courses aren’t about memorization and theory. It’s more geared toward application and building those real-world skills.”
Cuppari credits his time coaching youth soccer for shaping his approach to teaching. “Coaching taught me how to be a leader to young adults, how I could be a mentor, how I could be that figure in the lives of a lot of players and how that coaching mentality translates directly into the teaching and mentorship in the classroom,” he said.
Reflecting on his work with students beyond traditional coursework, Cuppari said: “I’m humbled and very grateful that the students in the Class of 2025 thought of me and the relationships that I built in and out of the classroom. Certainly, my primary job is to build their capability and teach, but I found more joy in the mentorship, the career coaching, the career advice, [and] resume skills workshops — some of the other things that I do outside of my normal teaching responsibility.”
The Lee Anne Seawell Faculty Recognition Award was endowed by its namesake who joined UGA as one of its first female administrators in 1947. The award has been presented annually since 2017.
