Marketing Communication / Advertising

From the first week of your foundational course, Advertising Fundamentals, you will collaborate with peers in your major to engage in hands-on projects while building your portfolio:

• Analyze consumer research to identify key insights
• Brainstorm messaging to resonate with consumers
• Identify the right influencers to reach your niche audience
• Design a PR kit to inspire a collaboration
• Write scripts for podcast ads
• Illustrate storyboards for a Super Bowl commercial

In other courses in your major, you will strengthen your critical and creative thinking skills by learning the psychology behind creative problem-solving, and by developing a critical understanding of media, culture, and narrative storytelling across various forms of media.

Dive deeper into writing original copy and designing compelling visuals while exploring the pros and cons of experimenting with generative AI. Debate ethical issues in the field and analyze cultural and societal patterns portrayed in the media. Sharpen your business acumen, and think from the perspective of organizations managing media budgets and the phases of the consumer decision process.

Courses challenge students to collaborate on complex challenges with hands-on projects and to persuasively pitch their ideas.

While conducting research, developing strategy, and leveraging the right media channels to produce relevant content for brands and organizations, you are also perfecting your presentation skills and practicing how to justify your strategic choices by answering the ever-important question: “Why?”

With your two 120-hour internships completed, you are starting to get a stronger sense of your future career track. On campus, your junior year centers on advanced coursework in media analytics, research methods, and critical thinking. In your 300 and 400-level classes, you are developing research and data-informed creative strategy and engaging in real world problem-solving. Finding the answers to complex issues is not easy, but you are developing the skills to tackle the challenge. As you engage in rigorous course work, you continue to practice applying consumer, media, and cultural insights to create content that is persuasive and influential while delivering emotional resonance.

This is also the year many students spend a semester abroad. Australia. Italy. Ireland. France. Whether you choose Madrid, Athens, or Beijing, the junior year is a powerhouse of cultural and academic exploration.

Senior year begins with a semester-long, full-time internship completely immersing you in the workplace. On Fridays in the fall, you will be back on campus kicking off a year-long capstone project researching and developing a comprehensive marketing communication campaign you will design and pitch in the spring. Between your internship and the capstone, you are building a robust portfolio of diverse deliverables, fully preparing you for your future in industry.

In the spring, you complete your final coursework and your ongoing capstone project. You also take a course where the learning objectives focus on curating a professional portfolio that represents your unique skills and approach to creative and strategic work.

Some seniors continue on part-time with their internships from the fall while others engage in student activities and other opportunities. You decide how to make the most of your senior year.