Prior to joining the faculty at the Clemson University, he was a professor at Kent State University. He has been a visiting professor at the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in Belgium. He has a PhD from the University of Connecticut, an MBA from Villanova University with a specialization in strategic marketing, and an undergraduate degree from Penn State. Rapp also spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Houston, where he researched and taught in the Sales Excellence Institute. Rapp has won teaching awards at the University of Houston and University of Connecticut and most recently won the overall business school teaching award at Kent State University.