Professor Maria Marshall conducts an applied research, teaching, and Extension program in small and family business management, disaster recovery, and entrepreneurship. Dr. Marshall is the Director of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development. She is also the director and founder of the Purdue Institute for Family Business (PIFB).

Her research and Extension programs focuses on small business development and family business management. Her small and family business research is focused on areas such as the resource exchange between the household and the business, family business management, and disaster recovery. She is particularly focused on the resource exchange between household and business when each system experiences a normative and non-normative shock. Dr. Marshall’s outreach and teaching programs seek to increase economic development through entrepreneurship and firm growth. She received her M.A. from the University of Missouri, Kansas City and her Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Kansas State University.