Mary returned to the Paul Merage School of Business in the summer of 2015 to serve as the Senior Associate Dean after a two year term as Vice Chair and Chair of the Academic Council at the UC Office of the President. In earlier years, Mary served key administrative roles at the business school and on the UC Irvine campus. Some of these roles at the business school include PhD Director, Associate Dean, and Vice Chair, and Chair of Academic Personnel and Chair of the Academic Senate.
Mary is also an accomplished scholar in the area of marketing, with expertise in consumer behavior, focusing her research on the indirect and often unintended consequences of marketing actions. She conducts her research in a variety of organizations, such as hospitals, quick-service restaurants, high-tech firms, and small retailers.
Current projects include a study of household decision-making at a distance via new technologies, consumer compliance with debt management services, and the phenomenon of consumer generated advertising. Two of her research grants funded by the National Science Foundation have focused on older Americans’ use of the Internet.
Her research findings have appeared in the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Consumer Research, California Management Review, and the Journal of Retailing. She and a colleague recently wrote "Why Consumers Shop Online, Who They Are, and What They Want" for The Internet Encyclopedia.
Professor Gilly has made nearly 30 presentations on marketing to colloquia and conferences held across the United States, and internationally. She has co-chaired conferences and served as an officer in the American Marketing Association. She is currently Academic Director for the Association for Consumer Research, and is a member of the American Academy of Advertising.